Japanese Naval Underground Headquarters

The day before Thanksgiving, Spencer had an early morning uniform inspection and then got special liberty for the rest of the day. We took advantage and drove down south to the former Japanese Naval Underground Headquarters.

Inscription on the memorial outside near the entrance to the tunnels.

Me in front of the entrance to the former HQ.

I feel like sometimes there's a sense of awkwardness whenever we visit historical places like this. We were the only Americans there, and while people are polite, I always have this thought in the back of my head that some of these people hate our guts and wish we would leave their island. I think these kinds of feeling would come out more at cites that point out how our troops totally destroyed theirs. But I digress...

Inside there was a small museum with lots of pictures and Japanese war memorabilia.

Shawn was not happy to be trapped in the Baby Bjorn, he wanted to touch everything in the room.

Then we came to the entrance of the underground tunnels, making our way through lots of different damp, musty rooms. The tunnels were surprisingly long, and were dug out by Japanese naval personnel using only pick axes and hoes.

Walking though there I just felt a deep sense of sadness. The inscription on the memorial outside said that 4,000 people committed suicide in the tunnels. I can't even imagine how hellacious it must have been to be under there day after day.

Hand grenade damage on a wall from people committing suicide. 

A plaque outside one of the rooms said it was sometimes so full of people that they had to sleep standing up. It was a little eerie and although everything was pretty well lit, Sydney told me she was scared. We did our best to explain it to her, that places like this is part of the reason we live here, but war is kind of a tough concept to explain to a four year old.

I wish I would have taken a picture of an old picture they displayed of all the U.S. ships in the East China Sea. What a terrifying sight that would have been to wake up and see that out your front door. And then to see the pictures of Naha completely leveled by gunfire, it was just devastating. Of course I'm all for the U.S. kickin' butt, and I know that Japan instigated the fight and we were just bringing it to their door. But the thing that made my heart sink the most was thinking of families who were just caught in the middle, and how helpless I would have felt not being able to protect my children.

The flag officer's room, where Admiral Ota sent his last telegram to Tokyo to report how the Okinawan people fought.

The farewell poem he inscribed on the wall was still visible.

Overall it was a pretty eye-opening experience. War is ugly, and it was sad to see the atrocities that occurred here because of evil and greed. I'm so grateful that I've never experienced war first hand in my own country.

Back to daylight!

Shawn is obsessed with drinking fountains and always wants to go back a million times for more.

Sydney checking out the view.