It was a desperate plea from a boy that prevented a mass suicide on a remote island in Okinawa Prefecture when U.S. forces landed 80 years ago.
On March 26, 1945, the Battle of Okinawa began with the U.S. landing on Aka Island, one of the small islands in the Kerama Islands chain.
That day, 10-year-old Jinsei Nakamura was among nearly 400 islanders who fled to a valley so shadowed it stayed dim even during the day. Fearing that the valley offered little protection, about 15 members of Nakamura’s family and relatives headed into the mountains that night in search of a safer place.
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