BATTLEGROUND OF HELL

Today August 09, 2009 i visited Okinawa Peace Memorial Museum where in March 1945, a fierce battle never seen in history. This battleground of hell took place on the southern part of Okinawa Prefecture (Japan), a small Island South of Japan. In my opinion it is a price too high to pay for peace!

The battle tagged the Typhoon of Steel lasted for ninety days disfiguring mountains, destroying much of the cultural legacy, and claiming the precious lives of more than 200,000 people. The Battle of Okinawa was the only ground fighting fought on Japanese soil and was also the largest-scale campaign of the Asia-Pacific War. Thousands of Okinawan civilians were fully mobilized for the construction of air bases and encampments.

How did it all begin? In the rush for modernisation, Japan adopted a policy to enrich itself with a powerful army expanding armaments and setting out to invade its neighboring countries. The national war effort escalated into the Manchurian Incident, the Shina-Japanese War and the Asia-Pacific War, in which Okinawa became the last battle ground of the so-called 15 –year war that started in 1931.

Avoiding a decisive battle in the Shuri area, the defending Japanese army chose to withdraw to the southern part of the island to wage a bloody war attrition.

Subsequently, the Japanese troops were cornered at the southern tip of the island and were wiped out. In the end, the area turned into an inferno where civilians and troops fled from one cave to another in a desperate scramble for life. In some caves, Japanese soldiers slaughtered civilians, or forced them to commit mass suicide. Other residents died of starvation. Outside the caves, hell broke out as artillery fire, mortar shells and flame throwers killed Japanese troops and Okinawa residents in masses.

A significant aspect of the Battle of Okinawa was the great loss of civilian life. At more than 100,000 civilian losses far out-numbered the military death toll. Some were blown apart by shells, some finding themselves in a hopeless situation were driven to suicide, some died of starvation, some succumbed to malaria, while others fell victim to the retreating Japanese troops. Under the most desperate and unimaginable circumstances, Okinawans directly experienced the absurdity of war and atrocities it inevitably brings about.

This war experience is at the very core of what is popularly called the "Okinawan Heart," a resilient yet strong attitude to life that Okinawan people developed as they struggled against the pressures of many years of U. S. military control. The "Okinawan Heart" is a human response that respects personal dignity above all else, rejects any acts related to war, and truly cherishes culture, which is a supreme expression of humanity. In order that we may mourn for those who perished during the war, pass on to future generations the historic lessons of the Battle of Okinawa, convey our message to the peoples of the world and thereby established, displaying the whole range of the individual war experiences of the people in this prefecture, the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum.

May every peace loving human being inscribe peace, love and unity in their heart. This should never be repeated.