# data[].attributes.body
Higa, Tomiko. The Girl with the White Flag: A Spellbinding Account of Love and Courage in Wartime Okinawa. Kodansha USA, 2013.

# data[].attributes.body
Tomiko was born in Shuri, which nowadays is apart of Naha. She was the last of the nine children born to Chokusho and Kame Matsukawa, they were hereditary samurai who was in the service of Ryukyuan kings.

"I was the last of nine children born to Chokusho and Kame Matsukawa." Page 13

# data[].attributes.body
3 months before her sixth birthday, her mother passed away. There already has been war going on with the British and American forces in the Western Pacific for 2 years. For now, they had no worries of it reaching Okinawa. Tomikos mother was very important to her, and they were close with each other. Her mothers death was sudden, and with the conditions of Okinawa it was difficult for her to get a word with her siblings; her sisters married and her brothers, one serving in the army and one working on mainland.

"My mother's death was sudden, and the conditions in Okinawa at the time made it difficult to get word to them. Even if we had been able to do so, wartime conditions would have prevented them from getting home quickly." page 17-18

# data[].attributes.body
Towards the end of March 1945, their Father came back home and was in distress. Their Father is normally calm, so Tomiko had a suspicion something must've happened. He called everyone together, including siblings. Their father told them that Okinawa won't be a peaceful place anymore, as the war is going to come here.

" 'Now I want you all to listen carefully. There;s going to be fighting here in Okinawa very soon.' " Page 36

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Assault on Shuri

The Tenth Army's Action Report for the battle of Okinawa paid this understated compliment to the Thirty-second Army's defensive efforts: "The continued development and improvement of cave warfare was the most outstanding feature of the enemy's tactics on Okinawa." In their decision to defend the Shuri highlands across the southern neck of the island, General Ushijima and his staff had selected the terrain that would best dominate two of the island's strategic features: the port of Naha to the west, and the sheltered anchorage of Nakagusuku Bay (later Buckner Bay) to the east. As a consequence, the Americans would have to force their way into Ushijima's preregistered killing zones to achieve their primary objectives.

Everything about the terrain favored the defenders. The convoluted topography of ridges, draws, and escarpments served to compartment the battlefield into scores of small firefights, while the general absence of dense vegetation permitted the defenders full observation and interlocking supporting fires from intermediate strongpoints. As at Iwo Jima, the Japanese Army fought largely from underground positions to offset American dominance in supporting arms. And even in the more accessible terrain, the Japanese took advantage of the thousands of concrete, lyre-shaped Okinawan tombs to provide combat outposts. There were blind spots in the defenses, to be sure, but finding and exploiting them took the Americans an inordinate amount of time and cost them dearly.

(click on image for an enlargement in a new window)

The bitterest fighting of the campaign took place within an extremely compressed battlefield. The linear distance from Yonabaru on the east coast to the bridge over the Asa River above Naha on the opposite side of the island is barely 9,000 yards. General Buckner initially pushed south with two Army divisions abreast. By 8 May he had doubled this commitment: two Army divisions of the XXIV Corps on the east, two Marine divisions of IIIAC on the west. Yet each division would fight its own desperate, costly battles against disciplined Japanese soldiers defending elaborately fortified terrain features. There was no easy route south.

By eschewing the amphibious flanking attack in late April, General Buckner had fresh divisions to employ in the general offensive towards Shuri. Thus, the 77th Division relieved the 96th in the center, and the 1st Marine Division began relieving the 27th Division on the west. Colonel Kenneth B. Chappell's 1st Marines entered the lines on the last day of April and drew heavy fire from the moment they approached. By the time the 5th Marines arrived to complete the relief of 27th Division elements on 1 May, Japanese gunners supporting the veteran 62d Infantry Division were pounding anything that moved. "It's hell in there, Marine," a dispirited soldier remarked to Private First Class Sledge as 3/5 entered the lines. "I know," replied Sledge with false bravado, "I fought at Peleliu." But soon Sledge was running for his life:

As we raced across an open field, Japanese shells of all types whizzed, screamed, and roared around us with increasing frequency. The crash and thunder of explosions was a nightmare . . . . It was an appalling chaos. I was terribly afraid.

General del Valle assumed command of the western zone at 1400 on 1 May and issued orders for a major attack the next morning. That evening a staff officer brought the general a captured Japanese map, fully annotated with American positions. With growing uneasiness, del Valle realized his opponents already knew the 1st Marine Division had entered the fight.

The division attacked south the next day into broken country there after known as the Awacha Pocket. For all their combat prowess, however, the Marines proved to be no more immune to the unrelenting storm of shells and bullets than the soldiers they had relieved. The disappointing day also included several harbingers of future conditions. First, it rained hard all day. Second, as soon as the 5th Marines seized the nearest high ground they came under such intense fire from adjacent strongpoints and from higher ground within the 77th Division's zone to the immediate southeast they had to withdraw. Third, the Marines spent much of the night engaged in violent hand-to-hand fighting with scores of Japanese infiltrators. "This," said one survivor, "is going to be a bitch."

The Peleliu veterans in the ranks of the 1st Marine Division were no strangers to cave warfare. Clearly, no other division in the campaign could claim such a wealth of practical experience. And while nothing on Okinawa could match the Umurbrogol's steep cliffs, heavy vegetation, and endless array of fortified ridges, the "Old Breed" in this battle faced a smarter, more numerous foe who had more artfully prepared each wrinkle in the moonscape. In overcoming the sequential barriers of Awacha, Dakeshi, and Wana, the 1st Marine Division faced four straight weeks of hell. The funneling effects of the cliffs and draws reduced most attacks to brutal frontal assaults by fully-exposed tank-infantry-engineer teams. General del Valle characterized this small unit fighting as "a slugging match with but temporary and limited opportunity to maneuver."

General Buckner captured the fancy of the media with his metaphor about the "blowtorch and corkscrew" tactics needed for effective cave warfare, but this was simply stating the obvious to the Army veterans of Biak and the Marine veterans of Peleliu and Iwo Jima. Flamethrowers were represented by the blow torch, demolitions, by the cork screw — but both weapons had to be delivered from close range by tanks and the exposed riflemen covering them.

On 3 May the rains slowed and the 5th Marines resumed its assault, this time taking and holding the first tier of key terrain in the Awacha Pocket. But the systematic reduction of this strongpoint would take another full week of extremely heavy fighting. Fire support proved excellent. Now it was the Army's time to return the favor of interservice artillery support. In this case, the 27th Division's field artillery regiment stayed on the lines, and with its forward observers and linemen intimately familiar with the terrain in that sector, rendered yeoman service.

Marine Artillery at Okinawa

Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 12446

At this point an odd thing happened, an almost predictable chink in the Japanese defensive discipline. The genial General Ushijima permitted full discourse from his staff regarding tactical courses of action. Typically, these debates occurred between the impetuous chief of staff, Lieutenant General Isamu Cho, and the conservative operations officer, Colonel Hiromichi Yahara. To this point, Yahara's strategy of a protracted holding action had prevailed. The Thirty-second Army had resisted the enormous American invasion successfully for more than a month. The army, still intact, could continue to inflict high casualties on the enemy for months to come, fulfilling its mission of bleeding the ground forces while the "Divine Wind" wreaked havoc on the fleet. But maintaining a sustained defense was anathema to a warrior like Cho, and he argued stridently for a massive counterattack. Against Yahara's protests, Ushijima sided with his chief of staff.

The greatest Japanese counterattack of 4-5 May proved ill-advised and exorbitant. To man the assault forces, Ushijima had to forfeit his coverage of the Minatoga sector and bring those troops forward into unfamiliar territory. To provide the massing of fires necessary to cover the assault he had to bring most of his artillery pieces and mortars out into the open. And his concept of using the 26th Shipping Engineer Regiment and other special assault forces in a frontal attack, and, at the same time, a waterborne, double envelopment would alert the Americans to the general counteroffensive. Yahara cringed in despair.

The events of 4-5 May proved the extent of Cho's folly. Navy "Flycatcher patrols on both coasts interdicted the first flanking attacks conducted by Japanese raiders in slow-moving barges and native canoes. Near Kusan, on the west coast, the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, and the LVT-As of the 3d Armored Amphibian Battalion greeted the invaders trying to come ashore with a deadly fire, killing 700. Further along the coast, 2/1 intercepted and killed 75 more, while the 1st Reconnaissance Company and the war dog platoon tracked down the last 65 hiding in the brush. Meanwhile the XXIV Corps received the brunt of the overland thrust and contained it effectively, scattering the attackers into small groups, hunting them down ruthlessly. The 1st Marine Division, instead of being surrounded and annihilated in accordance with the Japanese plan, launched its own attack instead, advancing several hundred yards. The Thirty-second Army lost more than 6,000 first-line troops and 59 pieces of artillery in the futile counterattack. Ushijima, in tears, promised Yahara he would never again disregard his advice. Yahara, the only senior officer to survive the battle, described the disaster as "the decisive action of the campaign."

At this point General Buckner decided to make it a four-division front and ordered General Geiger to redeploy the 6th Marine Division south from the Motobu Peninsula. General Shepherd quickly asked Geiger to assign his division to the seaward flank to continue the benefit of direct naval gunfire support. "My G-3, Brute Krulak, was a naval gun fire expert," Shepherd said, noting the division's favorable experience with fleet support throughout the northern campaign. Unspoken was an additional benefit: Shepherd would have only one adjacent unit with which to coordinate fire and maneuver, and a good one at that, the veteran 1st Marine Division.

On the morning of 7 May General Geiger regained control of the 1st Marine Division and his Corps Artillery from XXIV Corps and established his forward CP. The next day the 22d Marines relieved the 7th Marines in the lines north of the Asa River. The 1st Marine Division, which had suffered more than 1,400 casualties in its first six days on the lines while trying to cover a very wide front, adjusted its boundaries gratefully to make room for the newcomers.

Yet the going got no easier, even with two full Marine divisions now shoulder-to-shoulder in the west. Heavy rains and fierce fire greeted the 6th Marine Division as its regiments entered the Shuri lines. The situation remained as grim and deadly all along the front. On 9 May, 1/1 made a spirited attack on Hill 60 but lost its commander, Lieutenant Colonel James C. Murray, Jr., to a sniper. Nearby that night, 1/5 engaged in desperate hand-to-hand fighting with a force of 60 Japanese soldiers who appeared like phantoms out of the rocks.

The heavy rains caused problems for the 22d Marines in its efforts to cross the Asa River. The 6th Engineers fabricated a narrow foot bridge under intermittent fire one night. Hundreds of infantry raced across before two Japanese soldiers wearing satchel charges strapped to their chests dashed into the stream and blew themselves and the bridge to kingdom come. The engineers then spent the next night building a more substantial Bailey Bridge. Across it poured reinforcements and vehicles, but the tanks played hell traversing the soft mud along both banks — each attempt was an adventure. Yet the 22d Marines were now south of the river in force, an encouraging bit of progress on an otherwise stalemated front.

(click on image for an enlargement in a new window)

The 5th Marines finally fought clear of the devilish Awacha Pocket on the 10th, ending a week of frustration and point-blank casualties. Now it became the turn of the 7th Marines to engage its own nightmare terrain. Due south of their position lay Dakeshi Ridge. Coincidentally, General Buckner prodded his commanders on the 11th, announcing a renewed general offensive along the entire front. This proclamation may well have been in response to the growing criticism Buckner had been receiving from the Navy and some of the media for his time-consuming attrition strategy. But the riflemen's war had progressed beyond high-level exhortation. The assault troops knew fully what to expect — and what it would likely cost.

Marine Tanks at Okinawa

Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 123166

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Final Campaign: Marines in the Victory on Okinawa (Assault on Shuri)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Assault on Shuri The Tenth Army's Action Report for the battle of Okinawa paid this understated compliment to the Thirty-second Army's defensive efforts: "The continued development and improvement of cave warfare was the most outstanding feature of the enemy's tactics on Okinawa."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Currently Unavailable. Contact us if you would like to be placed on a want list or to be notified if a similar item is available.

THE SPRINGFIELD UNION, Massachusetts, June 11, 1945

* Battle Of Okinawa
* World War II WWII
* Japan

This 10 page newspaper has two column headlines on the front page that include: "Yanks Open Full-Power Drive Against Japanese on Death-Stand Okinawa Line" and more.

Other news of the day with much on World War II.

Little browning and little wear around the margins, otherwise in good condition.

source: wikipedia: The Battle of Okinawa, also known as Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of World War II.[1][2] The 82 day battle lasted from late March through June 1945.

The battle has been referred to as the "Typhoon of Steel" in English, and tetsu no ame ("rain of steel") or tetsu no bōfū ("violent wind of steel") in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of gunfire involved, and sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle has one of the highest casualties: the Japanese lost over 90,000 troops, and the Allies (mostly United States) suffered nearly 50,000 casualties, with over 12,000 killed in action. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed, wounded or attempted suicide.

The main reason for the battle was to gain a major island only 340 miles away from the main Japanese islands. The Allies were beginning to surround Japan, and Okinawa would serve as a base for the planned invasion of the mainland islands. The island didn't become a base in the end though, as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused Japan to surrender just weeks after the end of the fighting at Okinawa.

Okinawa was the largest amphibious invasion of the Pacific campaign and the last major campaign of the Pacific War. More ships were used, more troops put ashore, more supplies transported, more bombs dropped, more naval guns fired against shore targets than any other operation in the Pacific. More people died during the Battle of Okinawa than all those killed during the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Casualties totaled more than 38,000 Americans wounded and 12,000 killed or missing, more than 107,000 Japanese and Okinawan conscripts killed, and perhaps 100,000 Okinawan civilians who perished in the battle.

The battle of Okinawa proved to be the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. Thirty-four allied ships and craft of all types had been sunk, mostly by kamikazes, and 368 ships and craft damaged. The fleet had lost 763 aircraft. Total American casualties in the operation numbered over 12,000 killed [including nearly 5,000 Navy dead and almost 8,000 Marine and Army dead] and 36,000 wounded. Navy casualties were tremendous, with a ratio of one killed for one wounded as compared to a one to five ratio for the Marine Corps. Combat stress also caused large numbers of psychiatric casualties, a terrible hemorrhage of front-line strength. There were more than 26,000 non-battle casualties. In the battle of Okinawa, the rate of combat losses due to battle stress, expressed as a percentage of those caused by combat wounds, was 48% [in the Korean War the overall rate was about 20-25%, and in the Yom Kippur War it was about 30%]. American losses at Okinawa were so heavy as to elicit Congressional calls for an investigation into the conduct of the military commanders. Not surprisingly, the cost of this battle, in terms of lives, time, and material, weighed heavily in the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan just six weeks later.

Category: The 20th Century

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
timothy hughes rare and early newspapers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
THE SPRINGFIELD UNION, Massachusetts, June 11, 1945 * Battle Of Okinawa * World War II WWII * Japan This 10 page newspaper has two column headlines on the front page that include: "Yanks Open Full-Power Drive Against Japanese on Death-Stand Okinawa Line" and more. Other news of the day with much on World War II.

# data[].attributes.body
American soilders landed on Okinawa on the morning of April 1, 1945. The war has now finally come onto Okinawa, and months later there had been bombs falling around their house. They had to go and take cover, but the shelters were weak if they got hit by a bomb. Though, the soft earth is able to prevent the bombs from going off.

"Every day the air raids and the shelling came closer and grew more violent." Page 42

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Battle of Okinawa   Civilians (no audio)

# data[].attributes.body
Her sister is taking them to the South, and requested them to gather some things together. They got everything and left their house they had many memories in. They only walked at night, and the enemy land and air offensive was too much so they had to take cover in shelters. Even when it was night they couldn't walk very far with the flares and explosive shells. They had asked people at a house if they could spend the night and they refused so they had to sleep inside a cave.

# data[].attributes.body
While writing this book in 1987, Tomiko asked her sister where this all took place, yet she refused to talk about it. Tomiko brought up a memory and thanked her sister, in which she revealed it was Makabe. This all finally made sense to Tomiko, as her siblings believed if they had went there they could've had the chance to find him.

"Makabe was where the people at the signal corps unit had told Yoshiko that Father had gone to collect livestock." Page 47

# data[].attributes.body
A day or two after they left Makabe, Tomiko encountered a horrible scene that was nightmarish. She and her siblings found a woman laying dead after being hit by a bomb, with a newborn sucking on her blood. They had nothing they could do to help the child and had to turn and move forward to the South as the fighting has been getting closer and closer and they had no choice but to move on.

# data[].attributes.body
Tomiko and her siblings were woken up by soldiers who were urging them to move as the fighting will be coming this way. Tomiko had tried to wake up Nini, but he wasn't waking up. She assumed he was fast asleep, but he had his eyes wide open. Tomiko yelled to her siblings that Nini wasn't waking up, in which they rushed over to him. Yoshiko removed the cloth and saw that his head had a hole in it and there was blood on the back of his head. The three stood silent for a long time, before they wept at the death of their brother. Tomiko couldn't understand death at the time, and was confused.

"Nini's just asleep,' I said, 'with his eyes open.' And besides, his body had felt warm against mine when I woke. It was explained to me later that a stray bullet had gone through Nini's head and he probably died instantly." Page 50

# data[].attributes.body
Tomiko had realized she had been holding the garment of a women who she did not know, instead of her sisters. She let go, and started to go and find her sisters but she couldn't see any of them. She thought she'd find them soon, so she spent the night sleeping as she was too tired to go and continue the search. She had no one with her, no clothes and no food. She couldn't wait for night, so she left the cave and went out calling for her sisters. She was walking around for a long time around dead bodies. One of the soldiers who she thought was dead reached out and asked how the war was doing. Tomiko responded with i think Japan is winning.

# data[].attributes.body
While Tomiko was wandering around, she found a dead soldier and approached him. She was no longer afraid to approach dead soldiers, and looked around where she saw a sack. She found some sugar drops inside, and held them to her hand to pray and ask if she could eat them. She then takes one to her mouth, and feels energized once again. She now makes sure to check that the soldiers are dead before searching for any food.

"Then I put one of the sugar drops in my mouth, and bit it. It was lovely and crunchy, and filled my mouth with sweetness. " page 60

# data[].attributes.body
After Tomiko found a rat holding a sweet potato, she had hope there must be some crops nearby and went off to look for food. Though it seemed nowhere Tomiko went, she could find something remotely resembling a field of vegetables. It started to rain and she decided to go and find another cave. She found a hole instead, and slide into it, but landed on something. It was a white rabbit. She decided to name it Nini, after her brother. She stayed in the hole with the rabbit, eating grass as there was no other food she could find.

# data[].attributes.body
Tomiko has started to go around and look for her sisters again. She's realized that if there are no animals near, that means a bomb was about to drop. So Tomiko made sure to only look around in places with animals around. She would set out cave from cave, yelling her sisters names. During some point, people that were hidden in caves made her out as an enemy target. She became known as a bad urchin. She was unable to even look inside the caves, and made herself well known. Then, a soldier popped up and told her he will kill her. Tomiko began to ran for her life, she was then driven to the edge of a clip. Eventually the rock tumbled off the cliff, and she lost consciousness.

"Just as the sword was about to cut me down, the rock underneath me broke off." Page 74

# data[].attributes.body
When Tomiko regained consciousness, she felt as if she was floating. When she looked what was poking her stomach, it was a tree. She was hanging face up caught on a tree. Tomiko was saved by the only tree that was growing in the area. She had thought it must be a sign that she was meant to go on living. Now, all she has to do was get down which was a long way. She twisted her body around and eventually fell down the tree. It resulted in some injuries, but she was now able to escape the soldier.

# data[].attributes.body
5 weeks have passed since Tomiko had left her home in Shuri, and she was beginning to lose hope. She had no traces of her sisters left, and she has went 3 days without any proper food. She had felt miserable, and didn't want to go on living. Only 7 years old at the time, she decided she will just peacefully die in her sleep. She went on walking where she spotted a leaf, called nigana, that was growing on a nearby rock. She took a bite of the leaf, which was too bitter, but out of hunger she finished it. Even though she was intending to die, she went off to search for some water.

# data[].attributes.body
In search for water, she found a hole with a delicious aroma surrounding it. She decided to take the risk and jump in, feet first. While walking in, she found an old man watching her. She was scared and didn't know what to do first, but the old man gently offered for her to come near. Another old lady appeared by, and offered her to sit down. She noticed the mans limbs were amputated while staring at him, and it appeared the old woman was blind. She told the both of them what happened and how she ended up here. They both offered her to stay here, and allowed her to eat some food.

" ' There's some food on the shelf. You can help yourself. But don't eat too much at once. The war may go on a long time. And don't talk too loud, because a spy might find out about us and throw a bomb in here.' " page 88

# data[].attributes.body
As Tomiko stayed with the grandpa and grandma, she was able to help around. She helped grandpa with his sores, picking off maggots who would try and bite on them. Also rubbing salt on his wounds, to make sure they heal and helping him eat. He was very grateful to Tomiko, and so was the grandma. She would make sure to help her as well, when she needed help with drinking water as she was blind.

# data[].attributes.body
Tomiko felt happy in this cave with this old couple. She told them that she wants to stay with them forever until they die, she wants to all die together. They both started to cry, listening to Tomiko. The old man told her that she has to take care of her life, and she will have to move on when it's time for them to die. Tomiko couldn't accept that, and begun to beg for them to let her die with them, but the old man didn't budge and told her to swear to stay alive as long as possible. Tomiko knew she was going to have to leave the cave one day.

# data[].attributes.body
Tomiko went off to play with her pebbles, when she heard the old couple whispering to each other. She went to listen in and heard them discussing about a white t-shirt. They wanted to rip it and make it into a white triangle. During this, she was hearing an announcement outside in weird Japanese she's never heard before. It was telling people to get out of the caves as they will be bombed and that the war is over, no civilians will be killed. She was then asked to go get a stick, and the old couple tied the triangle onto the stick. They then asked Tomiko to go out and hold it up.

# data[].attributes.body
Tomiko left the cave with the white flag on hand. She made sure she was a safe distance away from the cave before she brought it up. She started to walk along with the other soldiers. When she spotted an American soldier, she was frightened, thinking she will die now. He was holding a camera, in which Tomiko thought to be a secret weapon that would be used on her. Instead, nothing happened to her and she was able to reach the end and see the blue ocean. Finally she was free from war, and she wished the old couple could see this as well.

"I finally came to a place where I could see the ocean. 'I'm alive!' I wanted to shout at the top of my voice." Page 111

# data[].attributes.body
Tomiko was still on guard, even if she knew she wouldn't be shot. A soldier came up to her and tried to take the flag away, telling her it won't be needed anymore. He asked for her name and address, in which she told him as her father in the past directed her too. The soldier then took her away to a group of people, where she heard her name being called. When she looked up she saw both of her sister's waving at her. They all joined in for a hug, and reassuring they were all okay. Tomiko thanked the grandpa and grandma from across the cave for giving her her life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
IT IS PROBABLY true that the human mind cannot encompass the full terror of modern war. Those who have been in it often do not want to tell what they have seen, what they have done.

Of those who do want to bear witness, most of them are soldiers. Their stories are stories of warfare, and they are so vivid and well-told that we often confuse warfare with war.

But civilians die in wars, too. Children and old women and beloved pets and noncombatants of every sort die in war. They are not organized; they are not given stirring reasons for the terror they are experiencing, the deaths they are facing. They are herded, hunted, shipped, abused, killed by accident, killed by whim. They are so numerous it is hard to think of them as more than abstractions, although each of them had a life much like your life, except unluckier.

There is so much suffering we cannot hear all the stories, so we pick one as emblematic. We use it to personalize terror. Anne Frank's story has been used that way; I would add to her tale the one told by Tomiko Higa in "The Girl With the White Flag." The battle of Okinawa was a rout, a bloodbath, a first- round knock-out that went on for more than a month. The war was almost over; the resisting army was in tatters. The final body count: 12,000 Americans dead; 91,000 Japanese soldiers dead; 94,000 Okinawan civilians dead.

The Americans firing the long-range weapons from offshore and from secured mountaintops did not think proudly of the women and children they were killing. Civilian casualties are a dreadful byproduct. And yet those 94,000 were still killed. The road to hell is paved with dreadful byproducts.

TOMIKO HIGA WAS just 6 years old when the war in the Pacific reached her homeland. She lived on a farm near Shuri, the ancient capital of Okinawa. Her mother died when she was 3; her father raised her alone.

She describes him as stern and demanding; the photo in the book, a posed formal portrait, shows a hard-featured, thin-lipped man, careworn beyond his years. Sometimes, though, he would get drunk, and let all the animals out of their pens, and stand on his porch and beam as they wandered through the fields.

And then the shelling started. Tomiko Higa went with her older brother and her two older sisters on the road south, away from the soldiers. She was soon separated from them, and so began to live off the land in a war zone. She saw unimaginable horrors; she survived.

When the Japanese soldiers finally surrendered, Tomiko was given a white flag -- the circumstances of this gift are astonishing; I won't spoil the tale -- and sent out to seek safety with the advancing American army.

An Army combat photographer named John Henrickson happened to be on the road when Tomiko stumbled up. She was smiling because her father had told her to smile when she was about to be shot; she thought the photographer's bulky Graphlex was a weapon.

The poignant photo made a small sensation at the time. Thirty-five years passed, and the photo surfaced again during a memorial project called the Foot of Film Fund, dedicated to raising money to buy documentary footage of the battle for Okinawa. Still, Tomiko Higa did not admit that she was the girl with the white flag; the memories were too painful.

But she finally decided it was important to tell her story. I have told you only the beginning and the end; the middle is where the real heroism is, and the terror, and the horrific surrealism of war as seen by a small child -- she turned 7 in a small hole in the middle of a stand of pampas grass, eating raw sweet potatoes and listening to mortar fire.

EVERY CITY, EVERY state, every island, has its horror stories. Focusing on one does not diminish the others. One month in Okinawa 52 years ago, a tale unfolded that can still touch our hearts.

May you build a ladder to the stars and climb on every rung, and may you be jrc@sfgate.com . These things have I seen with my own eyes, and I have stayed to bear witness.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
IT IS PROBABLY true that the human mind cannot encompass the full terror of modern war. Those who have been in it often do not want to tell what they have seen, what they have done. Of those who do want to bear witness, most of them are soldiers.