Joining the home guard
Joining the home guard
Name: Chotoku Yoshihama (07吉浜朝徳)
Date of birth: November 10, 1927
Place of birth: Kadena Town
Age at the time: 18 years old in the home guard
■ Guerrilla warfare training
I joined the home guard (Gokyoutai) on March 1, 1945. I signed up at the public elementary school at Atsuta in Onna Village.
The training was extremely hard.
We got up at five in the morning, and since we had no washrooms, we ran down to the river that was flowing through the hamlet and washed our faces there. We arose at five in the morning, ran down to the river, came back up singing some war songs and ate a meal.
As soon as we finished eating, there was a roll call. Once a roll call was over, it was time for special training.
We were in a guerrilla unit, so we had a variety of guerrilla training. We were trained for instance in covert actions and infiltrations, the sort of things even regular soldiers were not trained to do. The training also included handling explosives. More specifically, we were taught to walk without making a sound and a way to sneak into an enemy camp.
The explosives training included walking while carrying gunpowder on our backs that weighed ten kilograms. We carried out such training at sea, offshore during low tide, however there was no theory or written studies, so we just dove straight into practical training. Consequently, there were instances when the explosives went off while we were training. At times, we failed to properly handle the gun powder. People did die during this training.
■ Off to guerrilla warfare
Once the training had finished, we were sent to sneak in and set off explosives in a garrison at the entrance to Onnamo of Onna Village, where tanks and trucks for troops of the American armed forces were located.
On another day, we were sent to sneak into the barracks of the American armed forces at Onna Public Elementary School to set off explosives, but by the time we got there, the American armed forced had already pulled out. In such instances, our mission ended in failure, but these are part of what we experienced.
■ Death of a comrade
The most vivid memories I have are about my comrades. I would talk to them in the morning before they went off on a sortie and when they came back, they were all bloodied, then collapsed and just turned cold where they lay. I encountered situations like this many times, and they are the memories I cannot forget. I still remember all of their names.
For example, Chotoku Ogimi (大宜見長徳) from Ogimi Village was a really good friend of mine. When he died, I was extremely mortified, I can remember that even now.
■ Commander graduated from Nakano School
An officer, who graduated from Nakano School, was my commander.
The battalion commander was a captain by the name of "Hisashi Iwanami." The company commander was called "Tomomichi Hata" and he was a first lieutenant. Most platoon commanders and those of lower ranks were from Okinawa Prefecture.
We were trained to obey the orders of our superior officers, so we only heard what our superior officers were saying. When close combat started and we began firing at each other, we could not hear anything other than the orders issued by our superior officers.
What I will never be able to forget as long as I live is the offensive and defensive battles we had at Mount Sankakuyama near Mount Onnadake. My comrades in arms, including our platoon commander, fell one after another and it turned out to be a battle of attrition.
I lost a comrade in arms there, one who had been with me since elementary school up until we became soldiers. He had been hit in his chest.
There were active offensive and defensive battles until around the beginning of May. From that point on, we were involved in attacks on enemy camps during the night, like guerrilla warfare. We withdrew from our camp in the latter half of June. We were completely out of food and ammunition, so we decided to abandon the camp and retreat to Higashi Village.
The unit was disbanded in Higashi Village. At the start, there were about 370 people participating, but I believe by the end only about 200 people remained.
(Since our communications were cut we were completely unaware of the suicide of Commander Ushijima at Mabuni on June 23.)We were totally unable to communicate with people at Shimajiri, therefore we had no idea about the war situation. The surrender of Japan on August 15 became known to us only because flyers were dropped from airplanes. Someone picked up a flyer and brought it over. The commander had a look at it and made a decision. He said, "This group will surrender, we will deal with ourselves as Japanese officers should, but you must surrender." So we walked down the mountain.
■ We continued with guerrilla warfare until September, not knowing that the commanders had committed suicide
In the end, there were only four of us, the commanders and a soldier from Nakagami.
After the disbandment of the unit, we hid in a mountain cabin and finally surrendered to the prison camp in September.
■ Three trials by US armed forces in a single day
I went down the mountain with the intention of surrendering, but in the beginning, I was still wondering what to do. I was sneaking into the ceilings of people's houses and doing all sorts of things. One night the four of us sat on the riverbank near Taira in Haneji Village, because the reflection of the moon on that misty night shone on the surface of the river, creating such a great sight.
All of the sudden, I don't know where they came from, but some MPs from the US armed forces came over and pushed their guns against our backs. We were arrested on the spot, taken to a prison camp and thrown into a war prisoner cage (isolation room) where trials were held, three in a single day. We were soldiers and part of the troops stationed at Mount Onnadake so we were tried three times in one day.
In the end, they let us go because we were members of a "student corps."
Name: Chotoku Yoshihama (07吉浜朝徳)
Date of birth: November 10, 1927
Place of birth: Kadena Town
Age at the time: 18 years old in the home guard
■ Guerrilla warfare training
I joined the home guard (Gokyoutai) on March 1, 1945. I signed up at the public elementary school at Atsuta in Onna Village.
The training was extremely hard.
We got up at five in the morning, and since we had no washrooms, we ran down to the river that was flowing through the hamlet and washed our faces there. We arose at five in the morning, ran down to the river, came back up singing some war songs and ate a meal.
As soon as we finished eating, there was a roll call. Once a roll call was over, it was time for special training.
We were in a guerrilla unit, so we had a variety of guerrilla training. We were trained for instance in covert actions and infiltrations, the sort of things even regular soldiers were not trained to do. The training also included handling explosives. More specifically, we were taught to walk without making a sound and a way to sneak into an enemy camp.
The explosives training included walking while carrying gunpowder on our backs that weighed ten kilograms. We carried out such training at sea, offshore during low tide, however there was no theory or written studies, so we just dove straight into practical training. Consequently, there were instances when the explosives went off while we were training. At times, we failed to properly handle the gun powder. People did die during this training.
■ Off to guerrilla warfare
Once the training had finished, we were sent to sneak in and set off explosives in a garrison at the entrance to Onnamo of Onna Village, where tanks and trucks for troops of the American armed forces were located.
On another day, we were sent to sneak into the barracks of the American armed forces at Onna Public Elementary School to set off explosives, but by the time we got there, the American armed forced had already pulled out. In such instances, our mission ended in failure, but these are part of what we experienced.
■ Death of a comrade
The most vivid memories I have are about my comrades. I would talk to them in the morning before they went off on a sortie and when they came back, they were all bloodied, then collapsed and just turned cold where they lay. I encountered situations like this many times, and they are the memories I cannot forget. I still remember all of their names.
For example, Chotoku Ogimi (大宜見長徳) from Ogimi Village was a really good friend of mine. When he died, I was extremely mortified, I can remember that even now.
■ Commander graduated from Nakano School
An officer, who graduated from Nakano School, was my commander.
The battalion commander was a captain by the name of "Hisashi Iwanami." The company commander was called "Tomomichi Hata" and he was a first lieutenant. Most platoon commanders and those of lower ranks were from Okinawa Prefecture.
We were trained to obey the orders of our superior officers, so we only heard what our superior officers were saying. When close combat started and we began firing at each other, we could not hear anything other than the orders issued by our superior officers.
What I will never be able to forget as long as I live is the offensive and defensive battles we had at Mount Sankakuyama near Mount Onnadake. My comrades in arms, including our platoon commander, fell one after another and it turned out to be a battle of attrition.
I lost a comrade in arms there, one who had been with me since elementary school up until we became soldiers. He had been hit in his chest.
There were active offensive and defensive battles until around the beginning of May. From that point on, we were involved in attacks on enemy camps during the night, like guerrilla warfare. We withdrew from our camp in the latter half of June. We were completely out of food and ammunition, so we decided to abandon the camp and retreat to Higashi Village.
The unit was disbanded in Higashi Village. At the start, there were about 370 people participating, but I believe by the end only about 200 people remained.
(Since our communications were cut we were completely unaware of the suicide of Commander Ushijima at Mabuni on June 23.)We were totally unable to communicate with people at Shimajiri, therefore we had no idea about the war situation. The surrender of Japan on August 15 became known to us only because flyers were dropped from airplanes. Someone picked up a flyer and brought it over. The commander had a look at it and made a decision. He said, "This group will surrender, we will deal with ourselves as Japanese officers should, but you must surrender." So we walked down the mountain.
■ We continued with guerrilla warfare until September, not knowing that the commanders had committed suicide
In the end, there were only four of us, the commanders and a soldier from Nakagami.
After the disbandment of the unit, we hid in a mountain cabin and finally surrendered to the prison camp in September.
■ Three trials by US armed forces in a single day
I went down the mountain with the intention of surrendering, but in the beginning, I was still wondering what to do. I was sneaking into the ceilings of people's houses and doing all sorts of things. One night the four of us sat on the riverbank near Taira in Haneji Village, because the reflection of the moon on that misty night shone on the surface of the river, creating such a great sight.
All of the sudden, I don't know where they came from, but some MPs from the US armed forces came over and pushed their guns against our backs. We were arrested on the spot, taken to a prison camp and thrown into a war prisoner cage (isolation room) where trials were held, three in a single day. We were soldiers and part of the troops stationed at Mount Onnadake so we were tried three times in one day.
In the end, they let us go because we were members of a "student corps."
