Memorial Day

I don’t know much about the impact of war on my American side - all the men have served at some point (including my dad, who was stationed in Okinawa when he met my mom) but they don’t talk about it.  But I know a lot about the flip side of the Pacific War and the impact it had on my Japanese lineage.

When I lived in Japan last year my Okinawan grandparents took me to see the Himeyuri memorial museum and it was so intense it took me all I could not to break down and cry.  They had a wall full of photos of school children who were bombed in caves and my grandparents pointed out he knew many of them as classmates.  My grandfather managed to survive because his family sent him to the mainland.  My grandmother’s house was bombed when she was 13 and she was buried upside down - only her foot sticking out which is how her mother found her.  To this day they refuse to go into any basements or caves and refer to mainlanders as the slightly derogatory “naicha-”.

Memorial Day should definitely serve as a reminder to celebrate veterans of past and on-going wars, but I would like to take into rememberance those around the world who have been affected by them as well.  Please share your own stories in the comments.