Fumiko Nashiro, 87, vividly remembers the leader of the nurse corps she belonged to during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa telling members "not to die but return to your parents and tell the misery of war to future generations."
Seventy years on since the end of the war, Nashiro believes she was saved by that leader and is resolved to continue conveying Okinawa's nuchi du takara (life is a treasure) message to young people.
In 1945, the last year of the Pacific War, Nashiro was 18 and a fourth-year student at Sekitoku Women's High School in Okinawa.