Yoshikatsu Yoshikawa credits his mother for saving him and his seven brothers and sisters from mass suicide on the island of Tokashiki during the Battle of Okinawa in the closing days of World War II.

Hundreds of residents of Tokashiki, one of the Kerama Islands, moved to a wooded area known as Nishiyama for shelter amid heavy U.S. air attacks.

The air assault began on March 23, 1945, and four days later, when U.S. troops began landing, the Japanese military reportedly issued an order for the residents to move.