SIR Social Sciences Investigation Abstract
10/10 MEANS TRAGEDY
Presenter:
Theresa Geiger, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Advisor:
Dr. Jim Victory, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Abstract:
On October 10, 1945, the capital city of Okinawa, Naha, was destroyed by what the Okinawans call the “typhoon of bombs and steel.” Even now, Okinawans sometimes use 10/10 as shorthand for tragedy. The bombing of Naha, however, was only the beginning. From Easter Sunday until late April, the battle of Okinawa would see the end of thirty-five percent of the troops involved. In addition, in this battle between the United States and the Japanese Empire, one-third of the island’s civilian population perished. Shuri castle, the source of Okinawa’s independent identity, was leveled. Yet it is not so easy to simply blame one side. Certainly, it was the duty of the Japanese to protect their own and as far as the rest of the world was concerned, Okinawans were Japanese. However, the story is much more complicated than that. During the battle, an Okinawan man watched as Japanese soldiers shot his friends for trying to surrender to the Americans. An American soldier looked up and realized with horror that he was shooting women and children. The struggle for Okinawa was so horrific that the United States chose to drop an atomic bomb rather than continue the invasion of Japan.