Himeyuri Students
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The Himeyuri Students (ひめゆり学徒隊 Himeyuri Gakutotai?), sometimes called in English "Lily Corps", was a group of female high school students formed into a nursing unit for the Imperial Japanese Army during the Battle of Okinawa. 222 students and 18 teachers of the former Okinawa Daiichi Women's High School and Okinawa Shihan Women's School were mobilized by the Japanese army on March 23, 1945. Many of the Himeyuri students thought that the Japanese army would defeat the Americans in a matter of days, and accordingly brought various school supplies to study and get ready to get right back into the classroom, but they were misled by their militaristic and propaganda filled education.
During the nearly 3 month long battle, the Himeyuri students were on the front lines performing surgery and other gruesome, back-breaking duties. Near the end of the battle of Okinawa, many were living in dark caves filled with countless gravely injured and dead soldiers. But, on June 18, suddenly they were dissolved; their military leaders turned to them and told them "You are on your own now." Up until the dissolution order was given, only 19 of the students had been killed, but in the early morning of June 19, many of them were killed during an attack by US forces on the Ibara third surgery shelter. In the week following the dissolution order, approximately 80% of the girls and their teachers perished. Survivors committed suicide in various ways because of fears of systematic rape by US soldiers - propaganda spread by the military government of Imperial Japan. Some threw themselves off cliffs while others killed themselves with hand grenades given to them by the Japanese soldiers for just that purpose. To mourn for them, the Himeyuri Monument was built on April 7, 1946 and many of them that survived helped build and continue to maintain the facitilities. As of 2008, there are still Himeyuri Students alive and telling their stories at the monument and other places.
[edit] See also
- Battle of Okinawa
- Himeyuri Monument
- Himeyuri Peace Museum
[edit] External links
- Himeyuri Peace Museum
- Himeyuri Gakutotai
- Himeyuri Monument and the third army field hospital in cave
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