NAHA--Every time Yasuko Onaga catches TV footage of Ukrainian civilians emerging from underground shelters after Russian bombing attacks, she is reminded of her own hellish experiences during the bloody Battle of Okinawa 77 years ago.

She wonders what must be going through the minds of Ukrainians forced to endure the carnage and destruction of their country, even as many of them may harbor inner doubts about the wisdom of continuing to fight the war.

In Onaga’s case, she was taking shelter in a limestone cave in southern Okinawa on June 22, 1945, as U.S. forces advanced with a massive display of firepower.

It was her fourth day of hiding in the dank cave, called Mayaabu, in Itoman, a seaside city to which Imperial Japanese Army soldiers had retreated, along with countless civilians, as Japan’s defeat in the Pacific War now seemed inevitable.

‘SURRENDER OR DIE’

At one point, she heard a U.S. soldier, shouting into a megaphone, urging those inside the cave to surrender.

“We will not fire on you today,” the soldier said in broken Japanese from outside the entrance. “Raise your hands and come out.”

Until the day before, intensive U.S. bombardments had scorched the ground, making it impossible for those inside the cave to venture out for food and water.

Their only source of water was to place a bowl under drips leaking from the limestone inside the cave.

Onaga and about 10 other women who were tasked with cooking duties and caring for the wounded had to wait for two hours until they had enough water in a single bowl to share with the group.

Her back ached from injuries she had received from being stabbed with a bayonet.

But Onaga always made sure she had a hand grenade handy, given to the group so they could take their own lives if necessary and avoid the humiliation of being taken prisoner. 

At the time, Onaga was 15 years old and a student at the Okinawa prefectural No. 1 school for girls in Naha.

Her family evacuated to the northern part of Okinawa’s main island ahead of the invasion by U.S. forces on nearby islets that began in late March 1945.

But she did not follow her family. Onaga was unable to accept the idea of fleeing the fighting, so she stayed on in Naha to participate in the war effort.

Onaga was assigned to a special defense unit made up of Okinawan civilians.

The commander was a Buddhist monk. The unit included one of her acquaintances who worked for a local government office, as well as teachers.

Of the original 240 or so members of the unit, only about 40 survived.

Outside the cave, the U.S. soldier continued to urge the remaining members to come out.

“We will not kill you if you do not resist,” he said.

After weeks of being on the front line of the war, Onaga had her own doubts about continuing to fight.

By late May of 1945, it became clear to the Japanese defenders that their country was losing the battle. Onaga’s unit was based in Shuri, part of Naha, where the Imperial Japanese Army initially holed up in a vast underground bunker system. U.S. forces had already overrun the area.

Still, members of her unit continued to make do-or-die sorties, only to be killed.

POINTLESS DEATHS

Onaga told herself they should have surrendered rather than throw their lives away. But she could not confide her thoughts in anyone and simply wept.

Now, the opportunity to surrender had arrived. It was perhaps her last and only chance to make it out alive. But Onaga could only think of blowing herself up with the grenade. She, like other Japanese civilians, had been brainwashed by the military into assuming they would be raped if taken captive.

At that point, the commander of the unit talked to her.

“I will entrust this to you,” he said, placing his Buddhist rosary around her neck. “If you can make it out alive, you may run into my family someday.”

Death was a constant in the world she had inhabited for so many weeks. Bodies were everywhere in a river. There was barely enough space to step without treading on a body. Body parts, the result of artillery fire, dangled from a tree.

Onaga felt a burning thirst. She desperately wanted to feel the sun’s rays on her face again and quench her raging thirst even if she died after all. Onaga decided to surrender.

She trudged through the cave toward the glimmer of light at the entrance.

When she looked up, she saw a U.S. soldier holding out his hand to help her. Onaga was anxious but wanted to live, so she reached for his hand.

Now, at age 92, Onaga sees parallels between the Battle of Okinawa and the war in Ukraine.

Huge numbers of civilians were embroiled in the 1945 battle, just as now in Ukraine.

An estimated 120,000 islanders were killed in the battle, or one-quarter of the local population at the time.

The collective defense of the island ended on June 23 with the suicide of the supreme commander of the Imperial Japanese Army there.

Civilians, not just Japanese soldiers, fought to defend their country.

In those days, people found it almost impossible to question the wisdom of continuing to fight, despite bearing witness to the enormous human cost and extensive devastation.

Onaga, who still lives in Naha, believes that some civilians and soldiers in Ukraine are desperate for the war to end so they can remain alive--just as she felt all those decades ago.

“The lesson we learned from the Battle of Okinawa is that nothing is more precious than people’s lives,” she said. “I believe this lesson is universal wherever you are in the world.”