An invasion story from 1945.
At the time Kume was invaded, my wife was 10 years old and living in
the village of Kadekaru. While some of her memories have faded a bit,
some are as vivid as though they happened yesterday.
She remembers that the Japanese had about 40 troops there, occupying
the same hill that we later called home. They did indeed discard all
signs of uniform, and attempted to mingle in with the natives. However,
all but one was rounded up in short order.
After Okinawa had been somewhat secured, and before Kume was invaded,
the Japanese commander on Kume accused a family living near the now
airport, of being spies and he had the whole family executed.
On many occasions the harbor at Kanegusuku was bombed and strafed as
the Japanese often had small naval vessels there. Many were set on
fire, and I assume some were sunk. The villages, while seldom bombed,
were strafed often, and many homes were set on fire. The villagers
quickly learned to strip the thatched roofs off their houses and live
"under the stars". My wife admits to being near petrified and while
other members of her family remained at home, she spent nearly every
night in a cave used as a bomb shelter. The only casualty she was aware
of was one elderly villager shot in the arm. We live quite close to a
small airport and are in the flight path. They have there, a restored
B-25, and each time it lands or takes off, she knows just by the sound.
Most, if not all, of the natives took off for the hills as soon as they
knew the invasion was coming and stayed there until things were calmed
down some. They had been told, and many believed, that the US troops
would rape all the women, pillage the villages, and then kill everyone.
In the Kerama Retto group, some fathers cut the throats of their
children, his wife, and then himself, rather than face the American
troops.
She remembers the Marines landing at the beaches from Kanegusuku to Gima. Many tanks came ashore, but no real action took place.
She well remembers the first American GI she ever saw and at that time,
she thought she was looking at a giant. She remembers him kind of
shuffling along and singing "Shoo-Shoo-Sha Boogie".
A day or two after the landing, huge stores of rice, beans, flour and
canned meat were unloaded and stocked in both Kadekaru and Nakazato.
The villagers were happy to see this as there had been little chow
there for them to eat. After learning they would not be killed, they
sent the younger, and prettier, girls there to ask for food. Also,
whatever could be stolen was indeed stolen.
Typical of the GI's that I think we all knew, tons of this food was
given to them authorized or not. She well remembers this generosity,
and though we normally eat considerably better, she still enjoys a can
of Spam now and then.
~ Bill Richards
Photo - courtesy of David Law - thanks!