The One Who Stopped Group Self Determination (Group Suicide), Captain Suzuki

We thought it would be better off killing ourselves
Than to be killed by the U.S. soldiers
A female relative had a white cloth
She said, “let’s tear this and make blindfolds”
“I already have the hand grenade”
“Let’s do this together, let’s go (to heaven) together”
As we were preparing to die together
The maintenance company captain
Captain Suzuki asked
“What are you all planning to do?”
So we explained
“We’d rather die before the U.S. Forces come”
He then told us, “Don’t die”
“We came to this island to protect you”
“The Japanese soldiers are about to go on a patrol”
“To see what the American soldiers are doing, so don’t die yet”
We took off our blindfolds
And put down the hand grenade
We said our goodbyes
And the Captain went off wishing us good luck
But the Captain, never came back
He was such a nice person
The soldiers would come check on the village
They always treated us well
He was a well respected captain
He passed away and never came back

Rumor of “The Hole to Reduce Mouths to Feed”

The soldiers didn’t have enough food
The village didn’t have enough food either
I don’t know if the rumor was true
But the soldiers were digging a big trench
We were told to run away quickly
Because the reason why they were digging a trench, was to kill and bury villagers

Even Surrender was Dangerous

We ran from the mountains at night, and from the crafts in the sea
U.S. soldiers were yelling to us from their microphone
To hurry down, and that they had tons of food
We knew that they wouldn’t kill us
We snuck behind the Japanese soldiers
Because escaping would be punishable by death
So we made make sure not to be seen
During the night, from the beach of Utaha Bay
Though it may have been especially dangerous at night
I’m amazed to have lived through it
Holding our belongings and pulling the children’s hands
We came down with our change of clothes
A craft came in and (the U.S. Soldiers) came to get us
They welcomed us in and took us to Geruma right away

The State of Camp Sites in Geruma Island

(When we went to the camps) We were disinfected
There were lots of lice on our clothes
When I turned my clothes inside out, it was all white (with lice)
These were blood sucking lice, so we were all becoming anemic
There was plenty of food in Geruma
We were taken care of at relative’s houses
We ate our relative’s food and potatoes
We even had some rations from the U.S. soldiers

The Reconstruction of Aka Island

There were many young people, and not many elders
The elderly had passed away in air raid shelters
A Young Men’s Association was established (by the young people), they cut the yards of each house
Everyone worked together to built houses one by one
The Young Men’s Association made two unions
We were able to live generously

The Soldier Who Encouraged Surrender

If we hadn’t ran away when we did, and if the rumors were true
We all may have been dead
We are still alive
Because we escaped
There were people that stayed behind
Because there were too many people and not enough food
They informed us where people where standing guard
And told us to escape
It was most likely the Captain’s orders, there wasn’t even enough food for the soldiers
But they couldn’t just let the villagers die
I don’t know the details, but they said
It was the Captain’s orders for the villagers to escape

About the Captain Post War

The soldier’s captain, Captain Noda
was first looked at in a negative light, as a warm criminal
His former subordinate of the Special Fleet began a successful company
He was invited to work there
Even though there were many of his former subordinates working there
He declined saying that he wasn’t someone who could be in public
The Captain came to my house and told me
That he was a car driver
He was having a hard time
Because he would be hounded by news crews when in public

A Message to Your Children and Grandchildren’s Generation

When I was first told about this interview
I didn’t want to dig up old memories
But I wanted to give something, be it words
To my children, grand children and future generations
While I’m still alive and able to do so
Future wars may not be like wars we had
But we can never have another war again
I just hope people can share the same sentiment