My Post-War Years as an Educator: Instilling a New Ideas
Mr. Touroku Oshiro
Birth year：1930
Birth place：Itoman City
Prewar education
The Battle of Okinawa started when I was 15 years old in the second grade of national school’s higher course. In 1941, ordinary higher elementary schools became national schools. National school had 6 years of elementary courses and 2 years of higher courses. Only those who wished to went on to the higher course. Those who did not go on to the higher course went to Young Men’s School. These schools had a preparatory course, and children who didn’t attend the higher course of national school went to Young Men’s School from 2 or 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Teachers at Young Men’s Schools took charge of group training for national school’s higher courses. At that time, there were several teachers who survived the war, and students of the elementary course also had this training. The students were taught how to do military movements such as standing at attention, saluting, and making a right about face. There was a test of physical strength at that time. Students from the 5th grade of the elementary course to the higher course had a pocketbook of certification. There were 3 levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. We measured our speed in a 50 meter dash and were told to run it within a certain number of seconds. We counted how many pull-ups we could do and did both a high and long jump. The grenade throw was called a “stick throw,” and involved throwing an oak stick about 30 centimeters long. Regarding the stick throw, our teachers told us to make every effort to reach the advance level.
What I enjoyed was making model planes. Until around 1944, there were various contests of model planes. We flew model airplanes near the airfield, and competed by measuring the flight duration. For third graders and up, students in odd number grades attached propellers and students in even number grades made glider models. Us older students were taught the functions of main wings, horizontal tails, and vertical tails and how planes can fly. I remember being scolded by my father when he found me throwing my model plane instead of helping with mowing.
You know Hima (castor beans)? The school gave us each 3 seeds of castor beans to use as lubricating oil for machines, and we were told to deliver them to school when they were grown. That’s what we were taught in school. We were also told to make a 1-tsubo (3.18 square meter) farm by ourselves, and not to plant them in our parents’ field. During the war, students had to work on weekends. We visited the families of Japanese soldiers who left for battle fields, and we drew water from a well, dug up sweet potatoes, mowed, cleaned, and sent soldiers comfort bags with messages or drawings. We sometimes got a reply from soldiers working in a battle field, which made us very pleased.
Preparing for ground battle
Around June 1944, before the battle of Okinawa started, Japanese soldiers came to our school from Manchuria and began to build up a position. Then the building of the camp began. We cut the grass to level the ground for the barracks, and built cliffs for the tanks. To do this we built a bank so that when enemy tanks attacked our position, we could predict their path of travel and prevent them from breaking through. We piled up stone walls, dug into the ground in front and piled up stone walls in the rear, about three meters high. We made these to surround the position. We were forced to dig a shelter at home. We dug a hole one meter in depth, and put tree branches and bamboo and covered everything with dirt. Then, we were forced to dig a very big hole large enough to fit all students a single grade at the court yard of school. There were air defense drills as well. We carried pond water to the roof of the school building in a bucket relay and the teachers and students of higher courses put out the fires.
The Battle of Okinawa begins
I don’t have a graduation diploma. The graduation was scheduled for March 24, 1945, but it was just one day before the Battle of Okinawa started. So we couldn’t have the ceremony. I am a graduate of the national school who doesn’t have a certificate of graduation. On March 23, an air-raid alert was issued. The number of planes flying overhead increased as me and my sister were on our way to the cave shelter. When I looked at the shore of Komesu, south of Itoman City, I saw dust going up due to the explosion of a bomb, so we rushed into the shelter. The attack by U.S. aircraft didn’t take place early in the morning. So, we left the shelter just after dawn, and got some sweet potatoes at a field and brought them to the shelter. We carried some water as well. Us young people did all of this cooperatively. The elderly stayed in the shelter, but those who were well and healthy left the shelter and went to their homes and back. In the beginning of May, since some houses had remained intact, some would rest outside the shelter or sometimes spend the night at home, and others didn’t even go back the shelter. Then, the war gradually intensified.
On May 20, my father died due to a U.S. military mortar attack in Untamamui near Shuri. That is why I can remember what happened around May 20th. At that time, the head of vigilante corps and subordinate officers of the Japanese Army went from cave to cave to persuade us and said the following: “We will surely win this battle. To win this battle, please listen to what we are going to say and follow our instructions. Everyone, please move to a safe place in two or three days.” After two or three days, they said “Get out of here right now! Leave here today!” and we were driven out of the shelter. They just said, “Japanese soldiers will come here from Shuri, Naha City to protect you and the nation. Everyone go to a safe place.” But they didn’t direct us where to evacuate to.
The war intensified, and death tolls increased. Then, the eldest person of my relatives said to us, “We are losing family members daily from this war. Dying together in our graveyard is better than being separated and dying in unknown places.” So, he called his relatives together, and 30 or more relatives gathered at the graveyard. Physically strong people like me sat in front of the graveyard, and the elderly and little children sat at the back of the graveyard. The graveyard was quite old and made by digging out a hole in a huge rock, and stones were piled up at the entrance. A cannon shell hit the piled stones, scattering rocks and shell fragments. Almost half of the 30 people in the grave. The rest half were injured and nobody was left uninjured. You can see the big scar on my left thigh from that time.
Surrendered and taken prisoner
Beginning June 19, using a speaker from the top of the mountain of Maehira, Itoman, the U.S. military made announcements saying,“Please surrender to us. If you leave the shelter, you will be saved. Don’t worry about your clothes, food, and a place to live.” On June 23, me and two other young men left our shelter to leave for Yanbaru. Those who were unable to use a hand grenade had remained in the cave. That’s when American soldiers threw a white phosphorus cartridge into the shelter. The people who remained in the caves became prisoners taken away by the U.S. military. On the following day, we were told by people who came back from Hawaii, we should become prisoners because the U.S. military wouldn’t treat us so badly. Everyone raised their hands and surrendered. We were gathered at the square behind the utaki (sacred place) of the village, and got a ride on a U.S. military truck bed, and got off in Inamine, Ozato. We were told that if we could walk, we should walk to Yabiku, Chinen. When we got there, it was already evening, and there were many tents. We got aboard a U.S. Landing Ship, Tank (LST) in Baten Port, and got off in Ourazaki, Nago.
A civilian camp in Futami, Nago
Almost 1,000 people were imprisoned at the civilian camp. Each village’s mayor worked as persons in charge. At the prison camp in Futami, tents were given to each village, and about 30 people from five or six households in Maehira village stayed there together. We got along well with each other so it was very helpful for us. We children quickly became friends, and our parents helped each other. At that time, Sedake High School was built in Nago City. My classmates asked me to go to the school together, but I declined the offer. I had to take care of my younger sisters and grandmother. The rations from the U.S. military was not enough for us. I had to get food, and I couldn’t go to school. Then, malaria spread. My grandmother who had been fine got infected with malaria and had a high fever, then she died in about two days. Much of the food was corn. I think it was livestock feed. The corn was so hard that half of them couldn’t be eaten even if they were simmered all day. We stole a helmet of a U.S. soldier and crushed the corn, using the helmet like a mill, and then made porridge with it. Children suffered often from stomachaches due to indigestion. We couldn’t get enough food, so we felt it was okay to steal anything from the facilities of U.S. military as long as nobody noticed. We went to the streets of Nago and picked up various things, rather than stealing them. Also, we went to the sea and took seaweed for food. In the mountains, we took mulberry leaves and soft tree saplings and ate those. We ate anything soft, even grass. Frogs were most effective to gain energy. The rationed grains were so hard that they caused indigestion and stomachaches. I think many people survived by eating frogs. We stayed in Futami for about half a year.
Life in Nashiro
And then I moved to the site of U.S. military housing located in Nashiro, Itoman City. There was also military housing made of boards, a large Quonset hut (semi-cylindrical shaped building) and tents. Since people from five municipalities of Takamine, Itoman, Makabe, Komesu, and Kyan were gathered there, it was very crowded. Male residents were put in the construction group, and female residents were put in the agricultural affairs group. In each village, we put a person in charge. We stayed at a prison camp in Nashiro for New Years of 1946, and then we spent half a year building standard housing called “two by fours.” We worked hard so that we could build good houses and harvest crops. Sometimes all the residents of the village were mobilized to clean up. My first job was collecting the remains of the dead. First, I collected the remains inside of residences and then the skeletal remains in the streets and ditches, then I laid them to rest in a shelter near the village.
Entered Itoman High School
Soon after I moved to Nashiro from Futami, and there was a recruitment of students for Itoman High School. The school opened on January 16, 1946. The school said those who were studying at junior high schools before the Battle of Okinawa should notify Itoman High School. I attended the entrance ceremony. There were many students at Itoman High School. There were students coming from Tomigusuku, Oroku, and Kanegusuku (Itoman). I was part of the 4th graduating class of Itoman High School, and there were 3 classes in my grade. Itoman High School was located near town. Fields were shut down and used for the square of the school. The school building was a tented building, but it was prepared quickly. There were some unused items at the garbage dump of the U.S. military. Insufficient stationery such as pens, pencils, and paper were brought by picking them up. The students were actively doing club activities, and baseball and basketball teams were strong. However, my family could barely get by on food, so I went straight to the fields after coming home from school, and helped my parents with working in the fields. If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have been allowed to study at school. The school rented a farm about 4 km away from our house, and we planted sweet potatoes. It was a normal high school, but the students were seriously involved in agriculture. The dormitory of the school was the largest in Okinawa at that time. There were ships sailing between Kume Island, Kerama, Yaeyama and Itoman, so more students were studying at Itoman High School than Naha High School. There was a shortage of teachers in Itoman. Since I was accepted into teacher’s school before the war, and there were few teachers from my area, I was always encouraged to become a teacher. Therefore, I decided to study at Bunkyo School in Taba, Gushikawa.
Entered Bunkyo school
I enjoyed living in the dormitory and lived in a tent. Many students from Amami Oshima Island, Miyako, Yaeyama, remote islands near Okinawa Island, and others from Nakagami gathered at the dormitory. There were 6-8 people per tent. We helped each other like a real family and cooperated to do laundry and draw water from a well. I gave up doing military work because I wouldn’t do anything other than working as a teacher after graduating. But the salary of military work was several times higher than the salary of teachers. While the monthly salary of teachers was 920 yen in B yen (U.S. military currency), the monthly salary of military work was several thousand yen. When I submitted my request, I was assigned to elementary school. There was a shortage of junior high school teachers and they needed teachers from Maehira.
Assigned to Miwa Junior High School
I was assigned to Miwa Junior High School. I was arguing with junior high school students almost every day. Younger teachers were forced to teach various subjects. I was assigned to teach physical education, science, mathematics, and social studies, The older teachers worked hard on one subject.“You young teachers who graduated from the school after the war are better suited for the students, since you are closer in age.” That’s what my senior teacher told me. There were six textbooks for science for the first grade of junior high school. They were this thick. Young teachers taught complicated subjects.
I had only an elementary school teaching license, and needed to acquire one for junior high school, but it was not easy. The course at University of the Ryukyus was not enough. There were 4 types of teaching certificates: provisional certificate, temporary certificate, Grade 2 and Grade 1. Everyone struggled to acquire their teaching certificate. Female teachers especially had a hard time. They had to take their children with them when they took the courses to acquire a teaching certificate. In Itoman, some of the courses were taught in the summer. This went on for several years. There were night courses in Naha City, but it was a hurdle to regularly attend and make the commute from Itoman City. As the grade of a teaching certificate goes up, the salary goes up. So, the number of teachers who acquired a teaching certificate through correspondence education to support their family increased. I acquired my teaching certificate through correspondence education.
Junior high school students at the time were all good and innocent. A few years later, some students began to be constantly absent. Constantly absent referred to students who didn’t come to school for 3 months in a row. This resulted because of issues in the home. In some cases, parents were the problem. In others, it was the children. I think teachers had difficulty in dealing with those children. Regarding the school building, around 1950, the teachers’ room was built first, and then normal classrooms were built. The Parent-Teacher Association was mobilized to cut down chinquapin trees from Meiji Mountain in Yanbaru (northern Okinawa), and the lumber was used for the construction of the building. The thatch for the roof was collected from the local area. However, the pillars would break every time a typhoon came.
A message for young people
I’d like parents to look their children in the eye and encourage them to follow the rules of society and tell them that they are what’s most important so that they can build a society in which everyone helps one another. I hope that young people will build society where children are most valued. The old will eventually pass away. I hope that you young people will work hard to build a new society.
Mr. Toroku Oshiro served as the principal of junior high school and the superintendent of education in Itoman City, and contributed to the education in Okinawa after the war. After retirement, he has told people about the reality of the Battle of Okinawa as a storyteller. He placed particular emphasis on recording the testimonies of those who experienced the war from the perspective of the residents, and was involved in writing and editing many testimonial records, including “Okinawa Kenshi” (History of Okinawa Prefecture) as well as his own war experiences.
Prewar education
The Battle of Okinawa started when I was 15 years old in the second grade of national school’s higher course. In 1941, ordinary higher elementary schools became national schools. National school had 6 years of elementary courses and 2 years of higher courses. Only those who wished to went on to the higher course. Those who did not go on to the higher course went to Young Men’s School. These schools had a preparatory course, and children who didn’t attend the higher course of national school went to Young Men’s School from 2 or 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Teachers at Young Men’s Schools took charge of group training for national school’s higher courses. At that time, there were several teachers who survived the war, and students of the elementary course also had this training. The students were taught how to do military movements such as standing at attention, saluting, and making a right about face. There was a test of physical strength at that time. Students from the 5th grade of the elementary course to the higher course had a pocketbook of certification. There were 3 levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. We measured our speed in a 50 meter dash and were told to run it within a certain number of seconds. We counted how many pull-ups we could do and did both a high and long jump. The grenade throw was called a “stick throw,” and involved throwing an oak stick about 30 centimeters long. Regarding the stick throw, our teachers told us to make every effort to reach the advance level.
What I enjoyed was making model planes. Until around 1944, there were various contests of model planes. We flew model airplanes near the airfield, and competed by measuring the flight duration. For third graders and up, students in odd number grades attached propellers and students in even number grades made glider models. Us older students were taught the functions of main wings, horizontal tails, and vertical tails and how planes can fly. I remember being scolded by my father when he found me throwing my model plane instead of helping with mowing.
You know Hima (castor beans)? The school gave us each 3 seeds of castor beans to use as lubricating oil for machines, and we were told to deliver them to school when they were grown. That’s what we were taught in school. We were also told to make a 1-tsubo (3.18 square meter) farm by ourselves, and not to plant them in our parents’ field. During the war, students had to work on weekends. We visited the families of Japanese soldiers who left for battle fields, and we drew water from a well, dug up sweet potatoes, mowed, cleaned, and sent soldiers comfort bags with messages or drawings. We sometimes got a reply from soldiers working in a battle field, which made us very pleased.
Preparing for ground battle
Around June 1944, before the battle of Okinawa started, Japanese soldiers came to our school from Manchuria and began to build up a position. Then the building of the camp began. We cut the grass to level the ground for the barracks, and built cliffs for the tanks. To do this we built a bank so that when enemy tanks attacked our position, we could predict their path of travel and prevent them from breaking through. We piled up stone walls, dug into the ground in front and piled up stone walls in the rear, about three meters high. We made these to surround the position. We were forced to dig a shelter at home. We dug a hole one meter in depth, and put tree branches and bamboo and covered everything with dirt. Then, we were forced to dig a very big hole large enough to fit all students a single grade at the court yard of school. There were air defense drills as well. We carried pond water to the roof of the school building in a bucket relay and the teachers and students of higher courses put out the fires.
The Battle of Okinawa begins
I don’t have a graduation diploma. The graduation was scheduled for March 24, 1945, but it was just one day before the Battle of Okinawa started. So we couldn’t have the ceremony. I am a graduate of the national school who doesn’t have a certificate of graduation. On March 23, an air-raid alert was issued. The number of planes flying overhead increased as me and my sister were on our way to the cave shelter. When I looked at the shore of Komesu, south of Itoman City, I saw dust going up due to the explosion of a bomb, so we rushed into the shelter. The attack by U.S. aircraft didn’t take place early in the morning. So, we left the shelter just after dawn, and got some sweet potatoes at a field and brought them to the shelter. We carried some water as well. Us young people did all of this cooperatively. The elderly stayed in the shelter, but those who were well and healthy left the shelter and went to their homes and back. In the beginning of May, since some houses had remained intact, some would rest outside the shelter or sometimes spend the night at home, and others didn’t even go back the shelter. Then, the war gradually intensified.
On May 20, my father died due to a U.S. military mortar attack in Untamamui near Shuri. That is why I can remember what happened around May 20th. At that time, the head of vigilante corps and subordinate officers of the Japanese Army went from cave to cave to persuade us and said the following: “We will surely win this battle. To win this battle, please listen to what we are going to say and follow our instructions. Everyone, please move to a safe place in two or three days.” After two or three days, they said “Get out of here right now! Leave here today!” and we were driven out of the shelter. They just said, “Japanese soldiers will come here from Shuri, Naha City to protect you and the nation. Everyone go to a safe place.” But they didn’t direct us where to evacuate to.
The war intensified, and death tolls increased. Then, the eldest person of my relatives said to us, “We are losing family members daily from this war. Dying together in our graveyard is better than being separated and dying in unknown places.” So, he called his relatives together, and 30 or more relatives gathered at the graveyard. Physically strong people like me sat in front of the graveyard, and the elderly and little children sat at the back of the graveyard. The graveyard was quite old and made by digging out a hole in a huge rock, and stones were piled up at the entrance. A cannon shell hit the piled stones, scattering rocks and shell fragments. Almost half of the 30 people in the grave. The rest half were injured and nobody was left uninjured. You can see the big scar on my left thigh from that time.
Surrendered and taken prisoner
Beginning June 19, using a speaker from the top of the mountain of Maehira, Itoman, the U.S. military made announcements saying,“Please surrender to us. If you leave the shelter, you will be saved. Don’t worry about your clothes, food, and a place to live.” On June 23, me and two other young men left our shelter to leave for Yanbaru. Those who were unable to use a hand grenade had remained in the cave. That’s when American soldiers threw a white phosphorus cartridge into the shelter. The people who remained in the caves became prisoners taken away by the U.S. military. On the following day, we were told by people who came back from Hawaii, we should become prisoners because the U.S. military wouldn’t treat us so badly. Everyone raised their hands and surrendered. We were gathered at the square behind the utaki (sacred place) of the village, and got a ride on a U.S. military truck bed, and got off in Inamine, Ozato. We were told that if we could walk, we should walk to Yabiku, Chinen. When we got there, it was already evening, and there were many tents. We got aboard a U.S. Landing Ship, Tank (LST) in Baten Port, and got off in Ourazaki, Nago.
A civilian camp in Futami, Nago
Almost 1,000 people were imprisoned at the civilian camp. Each village’s mayor worked as persons in charge. At the prison camp in Futami, tents were given to each village, and about 30 people from five or six households in Maehira village stayed there together. We got along well with each other so it was very helpful for us. We children quickly became friends, and our parents helped each other. At that time, Sedake High School was built in Nago City. My classmates asked me to go to the school together, but I declined the offer. I had to take care of my younger sisters and grandmother. The rations from the U.S. military was not enough for us. I had to get food, and I couldn’t go to school. Then, malaria spread. My grandmother who had been fine got infected with malaria and had a high fever, then she died in about two days. Much of the food was corn. I think it was livestock feed. The corn was so hard that half of them couldn’t be eaten even if they were simmered all day. We stole a helmet of a U.S. soldier and crushed the corn, using the helmet like a mill, and then made porridge with it. Children suffered often from stomachaches due to indigestion. We couldn’t get enough food, so we felt it was okay to steal anything from the facilities of U.S. military as long as nobody noticed. We went to the streets of Nago and picked up various things, rather than stealing them. Also, we went to the sea and took seaweed for food. In the mountains, we took mulberry leaves and soft tree saplings and ate those. We ate anything soft, even grass. Frogs were most effective to gain energy. The rationed grains were so hard that they caused indigestion and stomachaches. I think many people survived by eating frogs. We stayed in Futami for about half a year.
Life in Nashiro
And then I moved to the site of U.S. military housing located in Nashiro, Itoman City. There was also military housing made of boards, a large Quonset hut (semi-cylindrical shaped building) and tents. Since people from five municipalities of Takamine, Itoman, Makabe, Komesu, and Kyan were gathered there, it was very crowded. Male residents were put in the construction group, and female residents were put in the agricultural affairs group. In each village, we put a person in charge. We stayed at a prison camp in Nashiro for New Years of 1946, and then we spent half a year building standard housing called “two by fours.” We worked hard so that we could build good houses and harvest crops. Sometimes all the residents of the village were mobilized to clean up. My first job was collecting the remains of the dead. First, I collected the remains inside of residences and then the skeletal remains in the streets and ditches, then I laid them to rest in a shelter near the village.
Entered Itoman High School
Soon after I moved to Nashiro from Futami, and there was a recruitment of students for Itoman High School. The school opened on January 16, 1946. The school said those who were studying at junior high schools before the Battle of Okinawa should notify Itoman High School. I attended the entrance ceremony. There were many students at Itoman High School. There were students coming from Tomigusuku, Oroku, and Kanegusuku (Itoman). I was part of the 4th graduating class of Itoman High School, and there were 3 classes in my grade. Itoman High School was located near town. Fields were shut down and used for the square of the school. The school building was a tented building, but it was prepared quickly. There were some unused items at the garbage dump of the U.S. military. Insufficient stationery such as pens, pencils, and paper were brought by picking them up. The students were actively doing club activities, and baseball and basketball teams were strong. However, my family could barely get by on food, so I went straight to the fields after coming home from school, and helped my parents with working in the fields. If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have been allowed to study at school. The school rented a farm about 4 km away from our house, and we planted sweet potatoes. It was a normal high school, but the students were seriously involved in agriculture. The dormitory of the school was the largest in Okinawa at that time. There were ships sailing between Kume Island, Kerama, Yaeyama and Itoman, so more students were studying at Itoman High School than Naha High School. There was a shortage of teachers in Itoman. Since I was accepted into teacher’s school before the war, and there were few teachers from my area, I was always encouraged to become a teacher. Therefore, I decided to study at Bunkyo School in Taba, Gushikawa.
Entered Bunkyo school
I enjoyed living in the dormitory and lived in a tent. Many students from Amami Oshima Island, Miyako, Yaeyama, remote islands near Okinawa Island, and others from Nakagami gathered at the dormitory. There were 6-8 people per tent. We helped each other like a real family and cooperated to do laundry and draw water from a well. I gave up doing military work because I wouldn’t do anything other than working as a teacher after graduating. But the salary of military work was several times higher than the salary of teachers. While the monthly salary of teachers was 920 yen in B yen (U.S. military currency), the monthly salary of military work was several thousand yen. When I submitted my request, I was assigned to elementary school. There was a shortage of junior high school teachers and they needed teachers from Maehira.
Assigned to Miwa Junior High School
I was assigned to Miwa Junior High School. I was arguing with junior high school students almost every day. Younger teachers were forced to teach various subjects. I was assigned to teach physical education, science, mathematics, and social studies, The older teachers worked hard on one subject.“You young teachers who graduated from the school after the war are better suited for the students, since you are closer in age.” That’s what my senior teacher told me. There were six textbooks for science for the first grade of junior high school. They were this thick. Young teachers taught complicated subjects.
I had only an elementary school teaching license, and needed to acquire one for junior high school, but it was not easy. The course at University of the Ryukyus was not enough. There were 4 types of teaching certificates: provisional certificate, temporary certificate, Grade 2 and Grade 1. Everyone struggled to acquire their teaching certificate. Female teachers especially had a hard time. They had to take their children with them when they took the courses to acquire a teaching certificate. In Itoman, some of the courses were taught in the summer. This went on for several years. There were night courses in Naha City, but it was a hurdle to regularly attend and make the commute from Itoman City. As the grade of a teaching certificate goes up, the salary goes up. So, the number of teachers who acquired a teaching certificate through correspondence education to support their family increased. I acquired my teaching certificate through correspondence education.
Junior high school students at the time were all good and innocent. A few years later, some students began to be constantly absent. Constantly absent referred to students who didn’t come to school for 3 months in a row. This resulted because of issues in the home. In some cases, parents were the problem. In others, it was the children. I think teachers had difficulty in dealing with those children. Regarding the school building, around 1950, the teachers’ room was built first, and then normal classrooms were built. The Parent-Teacher Association was mobilized to cut down chinquapin trees from Meiji Mountain in Yanbaru (northern Okinawa), and the lumber was used for the construction of the building. The thatch for the roof was collected from the local area. However, the pillars would break every time a typhoon came.
A message for young people
I’d like parents to look their children in the eye and encourage them to follow the rules of society and tell them that they are what’s most important so that they can build a society in which everyone helps one another. I hope that young people will build society where children are most valued. The old will eventually pass away. I hope that you young people will work hard to build a new society.
Mr. Toroku Oshiro served as the principal of junior high school and the superintendent of education in Itoman City, and contributed to the education in Okinawa after the war. After retirement, he has told people about the reality of the Battle of Okinawa as a storyteller. He placed particular emphasis on recording the testimonies of those who experienced the war from the perspective of the residents, and was involved in writing and editing many testimonial records, including “Okinawa Kenshi” (History of Okinawa Prefecture) as well as his own war experiences.