Thomas F. (hardtack) - , reviewed on 2/5/2012 + 2701 more book reviews

A seven-year-old girl encounters unimaginable horrors during the invasion of her homeland--Okinawa--in the last days of World War II. And worse, she learns to accept them as part of everyday life. Perhaps only the very young can do this.

Then through the love of two older Okinawans who are doomed to die, she is given another chance at life. By sheer chance she is in the right place at the right time and becomes "The Girl With the White Flag"---at once a symbol of hope and of terror.

For her, the end of the story was life, whereas for so many children today, that ending is denied.

Hopefully, this short book will remind young Americans of what others had to endure so that they might live a relatively carefree life.

This books is for young adults, but older people will enjoy it also. If you have an interest in what happened on Okinawa before, during and after the American assault, read "Tennozan: The Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb." This book is not a history of the battle but covers the individual American, Okinawan and Japanese perspectives of the conflict. It covers the Okinawan people themselves and how the Japanese militarists used their lives for their own purposes.

It describes the unbelievable horror of the fighting on Okinawa for all involved: soldiers, sailors and civilians. It finally led me to understand why a USMC veteran of the battle, who lived on my street, took three and four showers a day for the rest of his life.

I served 10 months on Okinawa in the early 70s and met many of the people there. In almost every case, I was treated with grace and politeness. Often, many of them went out of their way to help me when I needed assistance. They are a great people who suffered terribly during the final days of the war.

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