The Girl With the White Flag

This is a true story about Tomiko, a girl who was around seven years old during the battle of Okinawa. She writes about having a brother and a sister. The introduction notes that the Japanese Army on the island was around 100,000 strong and it took the U.S. three months to win control of the island.

Most of the Japanese soldiers were killed but there was about the same number of civilians that died due to the bombing, the fighting, illness and starvation.

She gets separated early on from her sister and brother and has to try to survive on her own, avoiding t he battles themselves, avoiding Japanese soldiers and at the same time trying to find food. All of those turn out to be difficult tasks and it's very surprising that she survived, especially considering her age.

You can picture what she is going through as the story goes on and see how brave, and how lucky, she was. You can also see how horrible the experience was for the civilians, two of whom end up helping her survive in their cave.

It's a moving story and well worth reading.

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