The Memorial is in the south side of the island against the cliffs. The Japanese were pushed there by our troops - unfortunately thousands upon thousands of innocent Okinawians were caught in the middle. Here is a view from the backside of the memorial- you can see the stone walls with the names of those who died engraved in them, then triangle is a fountain of peace, and the ocean is in the background.
View of the breath taking cliffs with a tragic story. Many threw themselves off the cliffs out of fear of the troops :o( Regardless, they are absolutely breath taking today.
All the different "states" (prefectures actually) have memorials in another section of the memorial park. Here is one of them.
This memorial carries the ashes of over 100,000 souls.
There is also a museum there! This is in the hall of testimony (I believe). Each desk contains the eye-witness accounts of those who survived the battle and witnessed the horrors.
Dad reading the english translations:
and on a completely different note, here's me with some Japanese school girls! I saw them trying on hats and decided to try-out my new word "kawaii" which means cute in Japanese. They thought that was cool, and before I knew it the cameras were out, and I joined in the fun!
So tomorrow is our last day :o( We have all loved it, but are also looking forward to coming home! See you all soon!
1 comment:
Hi,Tom from Australia.You have made a good prosaic visual record of Okinawa.The history of the War in the Pacific is such that I cannot begin to understand the magnitude of the death and suffering.Remembrance Day is just gone so ...Lest We Forget thanks Great Blog
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