“War experiences in the south of main island Okinawa”
“War experiences in the south of main island Okinawa”
Tomio Kamizato, 80 years old
(Place of birth: Tsukazan, Haebaru Village, Okinawa Prefecture)
We were able to go to school throughout the year when I was in the first grade at Haebaru national elementary school. However, because the school became an army hospital when I was in the second grade, we no longer could attend the school after the end of the first term. We had the community center called “Muraya” in the community. We gathered there and studied, although the classes we had there were not regular classes and all teachers were local teachers.
When the war started, I was in the third grade. One of our textbooks says “Soldiers, soldiers, press on, press on!” I saw the planes flying in a three-plane formation from Nakagusuku Bay in the direction of Yonabaru. I believe now that they must have flown to Naha Airport.
Before we had a large-scale shelter for evacuation, we hid in a home shelter which was just a pit with logs lined up over the pit and covered with soil. I remember my older brothers storing food in our home shelter for us. Every family had its own home shelter, a pit covered with soil, with entrances on both sides.
After the 10/10 air raid, the sea surrounding the island was filled with enemy warships. I had three brothers and four sisters. My oldest sister, her nephew and niece and my third oldest sister were in the Ordinary Family Evacuation Program and evacuated to Miyazaki. My oldest brother was drafted and killed in a battle on Bougainvill Island. My second oldest sister, second oldest brother, third oldest brother, younger sister and I stayed in Okinawa.
(During our evacuation)
We often saw children crying and running away on roads during bombardments which, I believe, was naval gunfire. They would escape into shelters dug by the Japanese Army. We hid in a shelter dug out by hand 1.5 m wide and 5 m deep. It was raining hard and terribly uncomfortable due to the rain water dripping on us.
After the fall of Shuri, we met a wounded soldier who said, “Because I could not die leaving things this way, I walked over from Shuri” who took a week to crawl over on his hands all the way from Shuri.
We heard a rumor that the places called Yoza and Nakaza in Gushikami Village were calm and peaceful. We started moving on May 22 or 23 which, I believe, was just about the same time when Himeyuri Student Corps started moving from Kuganimui Shelter to the south.
We were raising pigs at my parents’ home, but we killed them all to prepare abura-miso (miso-paste with sautéed minced pork). I am not sure if my father was expecting a long battle, but he told my brothers that any wild grass would be edible if we had pork fat, and instructed them to fill a can with the pork fat and carry with us.
We arrived at Nakaza at about 10 o’clock. We were moving together with our relatives and we were told that it no longer was safe there at Nakaza or Yoza. We then started moving to Kuniyoshi.
After arriving at Kuniyoshi, we hid in a horse barn. However, the horse barn was hit by a cannon shell and the horse barn was burnt down. It was disastrous.
As the naval gunfire became fierce, we hid in a big shelter dug by the Japanese Army and stayed there for half a day. We found another big shelter on our way to Itoman. There was a wounded old man who was shouting, “For the glory of the Emperor!” Although I am not sure if he died there or survived, I remember the scene vividly.
We arrived at Maezato Village in the late afternoon. What we saw there was so horrible, it was like a scene from hell, that it still remains in my memory. We were offered a boiled horse leg which was cut off from a dead horse, but we were too frightened to eat. We stayed there for a couple of days, I believe.
A few days after our arrival in Maezato, we saw the Americans entering Maezato Village and Ishiki Village. We left the shelter in Ishiki Village and started moving that night.
Makabe Village was full of dead bodies as well and it smelled so terrible that we had to hold our noses. While we were going through Makabe Village, we found a wounded mother and her baby lying alive beside her. She knew she was going to die due to her wounds so she asked us to take her baby with us, but it was not at all possible under the circumstances.
We got to the beach, called Odo Beach, and it was so quiet there. There were many clumps of pandanus palm. We thought that it would be safe there and took a break. However, at around 10 o’clock, the American Forces suddenly started attacking from the sea. They were firing machineguns which seemed to be smaller than naval guns and sounded like “Bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!” Since we were on a sandy beach, we stayed as low as possible for a few hours from 10 o’clock in the morning.
When my mother picked up my six-year-old sister and tried to escape from the beach, she was shot in the ribs. The bullet penetrated her body from the right ribs to her mouth so that water drained out of her mouth when she was given some water. She passed away there. We buried her and arranged a wooden stick as a grave. Then each one of us whispered, “Mother, please watch over us,” as we were taught by our father and put our hands together.
We arrived at Komesu Village in the late afternoon. There was a shelter just covered with soil and we found some people from our home, Tsukazan. After staying overnight there, we got out of the shelter to go back to Tsukazan. However, the Americans were already waiting for us to come out with their guns and we became prisoners of war.
Shortly after being captured, one man tried to escape, although I am not sure if he was a soldier or a member of the civilian defense force. As soon as the man started running away, an American soldier fired his machinegun and shot him dead even before he could run 50 meters away from us. I was impressed by the performance of the machinegun. While the Japanese guns sounded slow and weak, the American machineguns sounded fast and powerful. I remember quite well what I saw and heard when the machinegun was fired.
All prisoners were gathered. Small children were lined up with their hands held up and people who seemed to be soldiers were lined up with nothing but a loincloth on them.
Then, we were forced to walk all the way to Itoman. On our way to Itoman, we stayed overnight somewhere, I do not remember where it was. While we were there staying overnight, we were attacked by Japanese soldiers. The next morning, I saw some dead bodies of the captured Japanese soldiers there.
We were taken into an amphibious vessel at a beach near current Nishizaki. There were about 10-20 of us in total, two families and a few others. Some of the people were wounded and being carried on stretchers. When the amphibious vessel was recovered by a larger ship, I felt that I could actually survive the war.
We were dropped off at a beach. After a short rest, we were taken to the camp in Goeku, Okinawa City by an American military vehicle. That was the beginning of our camp life.
(At the camp)
The only food available at the camp was rice gruel. Since we did not have any tableware, we picked up empty cans from the drum, in which American soldiers cooked their canned food, and used them as cups to eat rice gruel. Although the cans were burnt and black, we poured the rice gruel into the empty cans and ate the rice gruel while blowing the rice gruel to cool it down, I remember.
All captured evacuees were interned in the village. There was an MP guardhouse on a nearby hill, and one day it was attacked by Japanese soldiers. The following day, I went over there and found some dead people, cut down with a Japanese sword and fatally wounded in the head. There also was a bent Japanese sword. It seemed that there still were some remnants of the defeated army around the village.
Although the situation was still rough, we studied under the trees in Awase. We called it “open-air class” and it was my first experience in such a class. I was in the third grade then and we repeatedly wrote the alphabet in cursive letters on wastepaper which was thrown away at the nearby beach by the Americans that we picked up and bound.
(What was the most painful incident?)
It was absolutely my mother’s death. I cried and kept crying. My older brothers told me at later date that even when we got to Komesu Village and were hiding in the shelter there, my younger sister and I kept calling “Mother, Mother,” in tears all through the night even in our sleep.
(Looking back at the war)
No one should ever start war again. War makes humans inhuman. Those who do not mind speaking about their war experiences should do so to pass their stories down to the following generations. Whenever a school asks me to speak, I actively try to go out and speak out about my war experiences.
I heard many other stories. For instance, a baby was suffocated to death with a diaper. It was done to stop the baby from crying while hiding in a shelter. People jumped off a cliff after shouting, “The Americans are coming. I’d rather kill myself before they kill me!” There is a man whose parents tried to strangle him and his sister. His sister was suffocated to death, but he somehow survived. He has a mark around his neck made by being choked with rope.
This is how horrible war is.
Tomio Kamizato, 80 years old
(Place of birth: Tsukazan, Haebaru Village, Okinawa Prefecture)
We were able to go to school throughout the year when I was in the first grade at Haebaru national elementary school. However, because the school became an army hospital when I was in the second grade, we no longer could attend the school after the end of the first term. We had the community center called “Muraya” in the community. We gathered there and studied, although the classes we had there were not regular classes and all teachers were local teachers.
When the war started, I was in the third grade. One of our textbooks says “Soldiers, soldiers, press on, press on!” I saw the planes flying in a three-plane formation from Nakagusuku Bay in the direction of Yonabaru. I believe now that they must have flown to Naha Airport.
Before we had a large-scale shelter for evacuation, we hid in a home shelter which was just a pit with logs lined up over the pit and covered with soil. I remember my older brothers storing food in our home shelter for us. Every family had its own home shelter, a pit covered with soil, with entrances on both sides.
After the 10/10 air raid, the sea surrounding the island was filled with enemy warships. I had three brothers and four sisters. My oldest sister, her nephew and niece and my third oldest sister were in the Ordinary Family Evacuation Program and evacuated to Miyazaki. My oldest brother was drafted and killed in a battle on Bougainvill Island. My second oldest sister, second oldest brother, third oldest brother, younger sister and I stayed in Okinawa.
(During our evacuation)
We often saw children crying and running away on roads during bombardments which, I believe, was naval gunfire. They would escape into shelters dug by the Japanese Army. We hid in a shelter dug out by hand 1.5 m wide and 5 m deep. It was raining hard and terribly uncomfortable due to the rain water dripping on us.
After the fall of Shuri, we met a wounded soldier who said, “Because I could not die leaving things this way, I walked over from Shuri” who took a week to crawl over on his hands all the way from Shuri.
We heard a rumor that the places called Yoza and Nakaza in Gushikami Village were calm and peaceful. We started moving on May 22 or 23 which, I believe, was just about the same time when Himeyuri Student Corps started moving from Kuganimui Shelter to the south.
We were raising pigs at my parents’ home, but we killed them all to prepare abura-miso (miso-paste with sautéed minced pork). I am not sure if my father was expecting a long battle, but he told my brothers that any wild grass would be edible if we had pork fat, and instructed them to fill a can with the pork fat and carry with us.
We arrived at Nakaza at about 10 o’clock. We were moving together with our relatives and we were told that it no longer was safe there at Nakaza or Yoza. We then started moving to Kuniyoshi.
After arriving at Kuniyoshi, we hid in a horse barn. However, the horse barn was hit by a cannon shell and the horse barn was burnt down. It was disastrous.
As the naval gunfire became fierce, we hid in a big shelter dug by the Japanese Army and stayed there for half a day. We found another big shelter on our way to Itoman. There was a wounded old man who was shouting, “For the glory of the Emperor!” Although I am not sure if he died there or survived, I remember the scene vividly.
We arrived at Maezato Village in the late afternoon. What we saw there was so horrible, it was like a scene from hell, that it still remains in my memory. We were offered a boiled horse leg which was cut off from a dead horse, but we were too frightened to eat. We stayed there for a couple of days, I believe.
A few days after our arrival in Maezato, we saw the Americans entering Maezato Village and Ishiki Village. We left the shelter in Ishiki Village and started moving that night.
Makabe Village was full of dead bodies as well and it smelled so terrible that we had to hold our noses. While we were going through Makabe Village, we found a wounded mother and her baby lying alive beside her. She knew she was going to die due to her wounds so she asked us to take her baby with us, but it was not at all possible under the circumstances.
We got to the beach, called Odo Beach, and it was so quiet there. There were many clumps of pandanus palm. We thought that it would be safe there and took a break. However, at around 10 o’clock, the American Forces suddenly started attacking from the sea. They were firing machineguns which seemed to be smaller than naval guns and sounded like “Bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!” Since we were on a sandy beach, we stayed as low as possible for a few hours from 10 o’clock in the morning.
When my mother picked up my six-year-old sister and tried to escape from the beach, she was shot in the ribs. The bullet penetrated her body from the right ribs to her mouth so that water drained out of her mouth when she was given some water. She passed away there. We buried her and arranged a wooden stick as a grave. Then each one of us whispered, “Mother, please watch over us,” as we were taught by our father and put our hands together.
We arrived at Komesu Village in the late afternoon. There was a shelter just covered with soil and we found some people from our home, Tsukazan. After staying overnight there, we got out of the shelter to go back to Tsukazan. However, the Americans were already waiting for us to come out with their guns and we became prisoners of war.
Shortly after being captured, one man tried to escape, although I am not sure if he was a soldier or a member of the civilian defense force. As soon as the man started running away, an American soldier fired his machinegun and shot him dead even before he could run 50 meters away from us. I was impressed by the performance of the machinegun. While the Japanese guns sounded slow and weak, the American machineguns sounded fast and powerful. I remember quite well what I saw and heard when the machinegun was fired.
All prisoners were gathered. Small children were lined up with their hands held up and people who seemed to be soldiers were lined up with nothing but a loincloth on them.
Then, we were forced to walk all the way to Itoman. On our way to Itoman, we stayed overnight somewhere, I do not remember where it was. While we were there staying overnight, we were attacked by Japanese soldiers. The next morning, I saw some dead bodies of the captured Japanese soldiers there.
We were taken into an amphibious vessel at a beach near current Nishizaki. There were about 10-20 of us in total, two families and a few others. Some of the people were wounded and being carried on stretchers. When the amphibious vessel was recovered by a larger ship, I felt that I could actually survive the war.
We were dropped off at a beach. After a short rest, we were taken to the camp in Goeku, Okinawa City by an American military vehicle. That was the beginning of our camp life.
(At the camp)
The only food available at the camp was rice gruel. Since we did not have any tableware, we picked up empty cans from the drum, in which American soldiers cooked their canned food, and used them as cups to eat rice gruel. Although the cans were burnt and black, we poured the rice gruel into the empty cans and ate the rice gruel while blowing the rice gruel to cool it down, I remember.
All captured evacuees were interned in the village. There was an MP guardhouse on a nearby hill, and one day it was attacked by Japanese soldiers. The following day, I went over there and found some dead people, cut down with a Japanese sword and fatally wounded in the head. There also was a bent Japanese sword. It seemed that there still were some remnants of the defeated army around the village.
Although the situation was still rough, we studied under the trees in Awase. We called it “open-air class” and it was my first experience in such a class. I was in the third grade then and we repeatedly wrote the alphabet in cursive letters on wastepaper which was thrown away at the nearby beach by the Americans that we picked up and bound.
(What was the most painful incident?)
It was absolutely my mother’s death. I cried and kept crying. My older brothers told me at later date that even when we got to Komesu Village and were hiding in the shelter there, my younger sister and I kept calling “Mother, Mother,” in tears all through the night even in our sleep.
(Looking back at the war)
No one should ever start war again. War makes humans inhuman. Those who do not mind speaking about their war experiences should do so to pass their stories down to the following generations. Whenever a school asks me to speak, I actively try to go out and speak out about my war experiences.
I heard many other stories. For instance, a baby was suffocated to death with a diaper. It was done to stop the baby from crying while hiding in a shelter. People jumped off a cliff after shouting, “The Americans are coming. I’d rather kill myself before they kill me!” There is a man whose parents tried to strangle him and his sister. His sister was suffocated to death, but he somehow survived. He has a mark around his neck made by being choked with rope.
This is how horrible war is.
