Zensho Miyazato's Okinawa hometown had been reduced to ashes by the time he returned in 1946 at age 25 from the Solomon Islands, where he had served as a medic during World War II.

The banana trees with their cool shade and fields of sugar cane that he once loved were gone. What remained unchanged was the scorching sun and emerald green sea.

Okinawa was the site of one of the biggest battles between Japan and the United States, resulting in the deaths of thousands of civilians.