Gerald wrote a post about the two bombs dropped in Japan during WWII and how justified it actully was, which it wasn’t. He made excellent points about how the morale of killing civilians is the exact opposite of destroying military personal. Just to throw my two cents into the matter, I think they were wrong as well. Which brings me to another point that I am going to talk about.

The Battle of Okinawa. April 1, 1945 is when American forces landed and began operations in Okinawa. For 80 plus days the battle raged on on the Island that isn’t more then 105km in lenght. The commanders on the Japanese side decided that they weren’t going to be able to hold the entire island so they decided to centralize their force in the South of Okinawa near Naha. The battle didn’t cease til June 21, 1945 and the lost on both sides were insane; but what should really blow your mind is the number of civilians. Okinawans, just normal, peaceful, Okinawans. Okinawans who feared the American troops so much due to Japanese propaganda would sometimes end their, and their families, lives just to not be captured. The Japanese Imperial Army lost 94,136 while the American’s lost around 12,281. I don’t know where this number of 50,000 Americans comes from but I got these numbers from the US Army’s publication Okinawa: The Last Battle. Now, wrap your mind around this; 94,000 civilians killed. Now, don’t mix this with just men, I’m talking women and children. Sound familiar?

Now, I could go on about the history & facts, but that is what wiki is for. But here is an interesting peice of information. Many people believe that if it wasn’t for the Battle Of Okinawa, the invasion of Japan would have happened. So why did the a bombings happen? 94,000 civilians wasn’t enough? We needed 214,000 more? O.K.

I just don’t understand the logic behind the military mind with the Battle Of Okinawa. The Americans KNEW they were killing women and children as they rampaged through villiages and towns in the southern part of Okinawa. I visit the memorials and try to ponder on how I would react being an Okinawan and having my life turned upside down due to war. What was it like having to run away from home to live in a cave? Having my family members not return and being told they are gone forever. To be fired at for no reason. I wanted a glimpse so I bought this book, The Girl With The White Flag by Tomiko Higa. A young Okinawan girl tells the story of her daring escape from the American forces and the search for her family members. If you are unfamiliar with the Battle Of Okinawa, I suggest this book first, then something along the lines of this book for history purposes.

In today’s age, we wrap our minds around numbers when it comes to war. Its easy to see the numbers now, but it was alot harder to swallow the numbers in those days. I wonder how’d we do it now?