Helped by numerous people during my evacuation, separated from family – You must always insist on whatever you think is right –
Helped by numerous people during my evacuation, separated from family
- You must always insist on whatever you think is right -
Witness: Kayoko Tamanaha (09玉那覇香代子)
Date of birth: February 20, 1934
Place of birth: Onaga, Nishihara town
Age at the time: 11 years old
■ I was born in Onaga, Nishihara town. I was an elementary school student at the time. I experienced the 10-10 Air Raid (that took place on October 10), since I refused to evacuate to Kunigami because I did not want to get separated from my family.
Following the 10-10 Air Raid (October 10), shells started to drop frequently up until around April. The enrollment ceremony in April was not held at the school because all the schools were being used by soldiers, and I was attending a school at a place called Amuro, close to where I was from in Onaga. About a week later, we heard the siren for an "air raid warning" being broadcast from Yonabaru. When this siren sounded, we all escaped from Amuro to an air raid shelter in Onaga. As we were escaping the teacher told us "Always run under the trees to go to the air raid shelter. Run through the sugar cane fields. Don't run on the main streets because US armed forces will aim at you with their bullets. Make sure that you understand this. Alright then, take your bags and escape quickly!" We escaped from school, and when we reached the air raid shelter we were shot at with machine guns, rat tat tat tat tat, rat tat tat tat tat, like that. It was like a miracle that I did not get hit by those bullets.
When night fell and the air raid warning was turned off, we said to each other, "Why don't we go home, why don't you go home" and so we left the air raid shelter and went home. When I got home my father was preparing food for the next day.
He was cooking potatoes and beans as food for the next day, so when the "air raid warning" sounded the next morning, we had time to escape from home and get to the air raid shelter.
This time the barrage was from Kudakajima Island, with naval gunfire coming in like whee bang bang, whee bang bang. The foxhole next to ours was completely demolished.
■ Friends of mine were in the foxhole. Evacuation to Shimajiri
I saw my friends being killed, but I could not even make my tears flow. The best I could do was to just try and save myself. "Oh, those poor friends of mine. They were just there in the other foxhole. It is such a pity that they have passed," was about the extent of feelings I could evoke. We just needed to escape.
■ A bombing raid killed my little sister as she hid in the sugar shack at Shimajiri, to which we were evacuated
"Hey dad, my little sister doesn't speak any more. She is bleeding a lot." My father then picked up my little sister's body and buried her in a hole behind the sugar shack. "I am so sorry Tsuruko." That was all I could say. I had no more blood or tears to spare. We were barely keeping ourselves alive.
My older brother came back from the home guard, with injuries to his foot and arm after being shot.
The day after he came back I noticed there were a lot of maggots on him, so I started brushing away all the maggots with a bunch of silver grass. In the morning I thought all the maggots had gone but no, they were there again. I brushed them off again.
■ Departed the sugar shack as we came under attack by US armed forces
I had to bid farewell to the body of my little sister. My brother had an injured foot, so he found it difficult to walk. My father helped him by locking their shoulders together, and we moved on to evacuate. I walked to move on. As we were walking I was told "You must catch up with those relatives up there. Don't look back at your father or your brother. Hurry up and move up" so I obeyed. I was carrying just my own belongings and walking when all of a sudden whee bang, naval gunfire flew in between me and my brother. I could not see what happened to my brother or my father. I just ran as fast as I could and got separated from my family. I was on the run all by myself. All my relatives were gone, and I didn't know where they went. I was all alone.
■ One older lady I knew, who was at a horse stable right in front of me, began climbing a mountain with me.
I decided to climb a mountain with an older lady I knew, and before we even made it up the mountain, a bomb destroyed the horse stable. People from Onaga, eight families in all, were all killed.
The children of the older lady, all of them, were killed in the horse stable. I still remember how she ran down the mountain, screaming "Why Toshiko (name of her child), why Jiro (another child), why the children?" I can still hear her voice in my ears as she made it down the mountain to where the horse stable had been.
As I continued to walk, I saw another horse stable.
When I got near the horse stable, I saw a soldier who asked me "Please give me some water, give me some water." "I didn't even have any utensils to draw any water. Why do I even have to get him some water?" I thought to myself. So I used the leaves of a taro plant to fetch him some water, but then someone told me "If you give water to an injured soldier he will die. Don't give him any water" I was told. "I want water, oh mom, please give me some water" he was saying." Pity, I still could not give him any water.
That horse stable was also hit by a bomb, and I landed on the ground like this, pinned down by a board. It was unusual for me but I remember shouting "Help me, help meee!" and when I was screaming, Mr. Giko Yonamine, my third grade class teacher, happened to be passing by. "Hey, it's you Kayobo (my nickname)!" he said and moved the board off me. "Come on, just follow me" he said. "Yes sir" I said.
"Don't tell anyone that I am a teacher. If you tell them I am a teacher, they might arrest me, so just call me grandfather." he said. I answered, "Yes, I understand" and followed him.
■ Separated from teacher and alone again, I had stomach cramps when I was taking a rest and I met a kind lady.
"My stomach hurts, lady" I said. "Does your stomach hurt? I guess you haven't been eating any food. It must be painful for you" and she let me lick on sugar cane. She told me to lie on my side and she tapped my back to ease the pain. She was going tap, tap, tap, tap on my back when all of a sudden her hand stopped. She had been shot. This lady had a daughter and a son. The daughter and son were crying, screaming "What happened mom, mom?" I could not stay there screaming with them, so I left the lady with the two children and ran away.
■ Reunited with the teacher, we went into a foxhole at Cape Kiyan-misaki (cape). I was encouraged to get out of the hole by an American soldier. My teacher told me "they don't kill children," so I went out.
That American soldier must have been saying "Come on, come on." My teacher Mr. Giko told me "Go out there" because they were telling us "Come on, come on." I said, "No, I will not go out there. If I go out there they will kill me." He said, "They won't kill you. They don't kill children, so go out there. Do you disobey your teacher?" he said, so I said "Yes sir, I will go out" and so I took my things and went out of the foxhole.
Once I was out they said to me "Here's some chocolate, have some. Go ahead, have some," but I did not eat any at first. They asked me, "Are there many people hiding in that foxhole?" I said "Yes, there are many in there hiding. There are many people in there" I said. "If there are so many people in there, you must tell them to come out. If they don't come out, we will fire at them. They will all die when that happens. Do you want them to die?" He was a second generation Japanese American from Hawaii who spoke to me. I said "No, I want them all to live" so he said "If you want those people in the foxhole to live, you must tell them to come out. They can come out and die if they want. But they should all come out at any rate" he told me. So I said, "Mr. Giko they are saying if you do not come out they will fire bullets into the foxhole. Do you want them to shoot bullets into the foxhole?" Mr. Giko asked, "What kind of people are out there" so I said, "There is a half burned man and a Japanese soldier and he said eat this and eat that, but I haven't eaten any and I am waiting. I am going to eat when everyone comes out." "Let's get out of here Mr. Giko, they are saying they will fire bullets in here so let's get out" I said. Everyone came out of the air raid shelter with their hands up. The people who came out were from the hamlets of Tsuha, Nago, Goya and Kohatsu. Nobody was from Onaga among all those that came out, no one but me from Onaga. I was very sad.
■ Captured as prisoner of war and moved to Adaniya in Nakagusuku
After a while, my fellow prisoners started looking after me kindly. "Kayoko you stay here. I will wash your clothing so take it off. I will lend you my regular clothes to wear so you just wait here" they would say and they taught me many things. I did not have to worry about meals or when I was sleeping as all the older ladies looked after me.
It was a truly pitiful world we lived in back then. We will not cease to pray for peace as long as we live. That is the way we feel.
■ Brother and father saved and transported to Hawaii (as prisoners), and I was reunited with them.
My brother and father were taken prisoners and transported to Hawaii. My brother and my father thought they would be killed on the ship as they were transported to Hawaii, but they weren't and when they arrived in Hawaii, they came across many people from Onaga. A lot of people from the Okinawan Prefectural Association (kenjinkai) in Hawaii gathered and told them "You came to Hawaii and did not participate in the war," "Yes, that's admirable, admirable" they said and welcomed them all.
That is how my brother and my father were reunited. When I returned to my hometown of Onaga 68% of the village was destroyed. Onaga had the most war victims among all areas in Nishihara Town.
Among the surviving members, I am the only one that was not left with scars. I did not have a scratch. All the other people were talking about where they were injured, which ear was damaged, how they got hurt in their back and so on, but they were all fine. Injuries have healed.
■ A message for younger generations
Militarism no longer exists here, and I think it is good that we have education that teaches peace. Once a war like that gets started, it is already too late. So what we insist on, as our assertions, I wish this (peace) to always be demanded.
- You must always insist on whatever you think is right -
Witness: Kayoko Tamanaha (09玉那覇香代子)
Date of birth: February 20, 1934
Place of birth: Onaga, Nishihara town
Age at the time: 11 years old
■ I was born in Onaga, Nishihara town. I was an elementary school student at the time. I experienced the 10-10 Air Raid (that took place on October 10), since I refused to evacuate to Kunigami because I did not want to get separated from my family.
Following the 10-10 Air Raid (October 10), shells started to drop frequently up until around April. The enrollment ceremony in April was not held at the school because all the schools were being used by soldiers, and I was attending a school at a place called Amuro, close to where I was from in Onaga. About a week later, we heard the siren for an "air raid warning" being broadcast from Yonabaru. When this siren sounded, we all escaped from Amuro to an air raid shelter in Onaga. As we were escaping the teacher told us "Always run under the trees to go to the air raid shelter. Run through the sugar cane fields. Don't run on the main streets because US armed forces will aim at you with their bullets. Make sure that you understand this. Alright then, take your bags and escape quickly!" We escaped from school, and when we reached the air raid shelter we were shot at with machine guns, rat tat tat tat tat, rat tat tat tat tat, like that. It was like a miracle that I did not get hit by those bullets.
When night fell and the air raid warning was turned off, we said to each other, "Why don't we go home, why don't you go home" and so we left the air raid shelter and went home. When I got home my father was preparing food for the next day.
He was cooking potatoes and beans as food for the next day, so when the "air raid warning" sounded the next morning, we had time to escape from home and get to the air raid shelter.
This time the barrage was from Kudakajima Island, with naval gunfire coming in like whee bang bang, whee bang bang. The foxhole next to ours was completely demolished.
■ Friends of mine were in the foxhole. Evacuation to Shimajiri
I saw my friends being killed, but I could not even make my tears flow. The best I could do was to just try and save myself. "Oh, those poor friends of mine. They were just there in the other foxhole. It is such a pity that they have passed," was about the extent of feelings I could evoke. We just needed to escape.
■ A bombing raid killed my little sister as she hid in the sugar shack at Shimajiri, to which we were evacuated
"Hey dad, my little sister doesn't speak any more. She is bleeding a lot." My father then picked up my little sister's body and buried her in a hole behind the sugar shack. "I am so sorry Tsuruko." That was all I could say. I had no more blood or tears to spare. We were barely keeping ourselves alive.
My older brother came back from the home guard, with injuries to his foot and arm after being shot.
The day after he came back I noticed there were a lot of maggots on him, so I started brushing away all the maggots with a bunch of silver grass. In the morning I thought all the maggots had gone but no, they were there again. I brushed them off again.
■ Departed the sugar shack as we came under attack by US armed forces
I had to bid farewell to the body of my little sister. My brother had an injured foot, so he found it difficult to walk. My father helped him by locking their shoulders together, and we moved on to evacuate. I walked to move on. As we were walking I was told "You must catch up with those relatives up there. Don't look back at your father or your brother. Hurry up and move up" so I obeyed. I was carrying just my own belongings and walking when all of a sudden whee bang, naval gunfire flew in between me and my brother. I could not see what happened to my brother or my father. I just ran as fast as I could and got separated from my family. I was on the run all by myself. All my relatives were gone, and I didn't know where they went. I was all alone.
■ One older lady I knew, who was at a horse stable right in front of me, began climbing a mountain with me.
I decided to climb a mountain with an older lady I knew, and before we even made it up the mountain, a bomb destroyed the horse stable. People from Onaga, eight families in all, were all killed.
The children of the older lady, all of them, were killed in the horse stable. I still remember how she ran down the mountain, screaming "Why Toshiko (name of her child), why Jiro (another child), why the children?" I can still hear her voice in my ears as she made it down the mountain to where the horse stable had been.
As I continued to walk, I saw another horse stable.
When I got near the horse stable, I saw a soldier who asked me "Please give me some water, give me some water." "I didn't even have any utensils to draw any water. Why do I even have to get him some water?" I thought to myself. So I used the leaves of a taro plant to fetch him some water, but then someone told me "If you give water to an injured soldier he will die. Don't give him any water" I was told. "I want water, oh mom, please give me some water" he was saying." Pity, I still could not give him any water.
That horse stable was also hit by a bomb, and I landed on the ground like this, pinned down by a board. It was unusual for me but I remember shouting "Help me, help meee!" and when I was screaming, Mr. Giko Yonamine, my third grade class teacher, happened to be passing by. "Hey, it's you Kayobo (my nickname)!" he said and moved the board off me. "Come on, just follow me" he said. "Yes sir" I said.
"Don't tell anyone that I am a teacher. If you tell them I am a teacher, they might arrest me, so just call me grandfather." he said. I answered, "Yes, I understand" and followed him.
■ Separated from teacher and alone again, I had stomach cramps when I was taking a rest and I met a kind lady.
"My stomach hurts, lady" I said. "Does your stomach hurt? I guess you haven't been eating any food. It must be painful for you" and she let me lick on sugar cane. She told me to lie on my side and she tapped my back to ease the pain. She was going tap, tap, tap, tap on my back when all of a sudden her hand stopped. She had been shot. This lady had a daughter and a son. The daughter and son were crying, screaming "What happened mom, mom?" I could not stay there screaming with them, so I left the lady with the two children and ran away.
■ Reunited with the teacher, we went into a foxhole at Cape Kiyan-misaki (cape). I was encouraged to get out of the hole by an American soldier. My teacher told me "they don't kill children," so I went out.
That American soldier must have been saying "Come on, come on." My teacher Mr. Giko told me "Go out there" because they were telling us "Come on, come on." I said, "No, I will not go out there. If I go out there they will kill me." He said, "They won't kill you. They don't kill children, so go out there. Do you disobey your teacher?" he said, so I said "Yes sir, I will go out" and so I took my things and went out of the foxhole.
Once I was out they said to me "Here's some chocolate, have some. Go ahead, have some," but I did not eat any at first. They asked me, "Are there many people hiding in that foxhole?" I said "Yes, there are many in there hiding. There are many people in there" I said. "If there are so many people in there, you must tell them to come out. If they don't come out, we will fire at them. They will all die when that happens. Do you want them to die?" He was a second generation Japanese American from Hawaii who spoke to me. I said "No, I want them all to live" so he said "If you want those people in the foxhole to live, you must tell them to come out. They can come out and die if they want. But they should all come out at any rate" he told me. So I said, "Mr. Giko they are saying if you do not come out they will fire bullets into the foxhole. Do you want them to shoot bullets into the foxhole?" Mr. Giko asked, "What kind of people are out there" so I said, "There is a half burned man and a Japanese soldier and he said eat this and eat that, but I haven't eaten any and I am waiting. I am going to eat when everyone comes out." "Let's get out of here Mr. Giko, they are saying they will fire bullets in here so let's get out" I said. Everyone came out of the air raid shelter with their hands up. The people who came out were from the hamlets of Tsuha, Nago, Goya and Kohatsu. Nobody was from Onaga among all those that came out, no one but me from Onaga. I was very sad.
■ Captured as prisoner of war and moved to Adaniya in Nakagusuku
After a while, my fellow prisoners started looking after me kindly. "Kayoko you stay here. I will wash your clothing so take it off. I will lend you my regular clothes to wear so you just wait here" they would say and they taught me many things. I did not have to worry about meals or when I was sleeping as all the older ladies looked after me.
It was a truly pitiful world we lived in back then. We will not cease to pray for peace as long as we live. That is the way we feel.
■ Brother and father saved and transported to Hawaii (as prisoners), and I was reunited with them.
My brother and father were taken prisoners and transported to Hawaii. My brother and my father thought they would be killed on the ship as they were transported to Hawaii, but they weren't and when they arrived in Hawaii, they came across many people from Onaga. A lot of people from the Okinawan Prefectural Association (kenjinkai) in Hawaii gathered and told them "You came to Hawaii and did not participate in the war," "Yes, that's admirable, admirable" they said and welcomed them all.
That is how my brother and my father were reunited. When I returned to my hometown of Onaga 68% of the village was destroyed. Onaga had the most war victims among all areas in Nishihara Town.
Among the surviving members, I am the only one that was not left with scars. I did not have a scratch. All the other people were talking about where they were injured, which ear was damaged, how they got hurt in their back and so on, but they were all fine. Injuries have healed.
■ A message for younger generations
Militarism no longer exists here, and I think it is good that we have education that teaches peace. Once a war like that gets started, it is already too late. So what we insist on, as our assertions, I wish this (peace) to always be demanded.
