Kakuza Ridge

For those of you who did not know, some of the most intense fighting during WWII happened here in Okinawa. One of those places was Kakuza Ridge. During the intense fighting 2,000 Japanese and over 200 Maines lost their lives on this ridge. During the battle, the Americans launched an attack of 30 tanks up the hill, during the first day, they lost 22 of the 30 tanks to enemy fire. The strategy was changed and they took the hill quickly. On this ridge there is now a park and a huge monument to those who gave their lives. We visited this place and had a chance to do some metal detecting. Jason Arbogast again took us, and we found some interesting objects. There are too many to picture here, but if you look to the bottom left you see some kind of detenation device, maybe part of a mortar shell (we did not pick it up), then to the top right Zach is holding some kind of pulley or caseing. We also found shrapnel, and a sight seeing device for a rifle. While we were there looking around we ran into a man who began telling us about the area, and what the battle was like. He is 71 years old and he was 11 years old when the war began. He used to live in Urasoe city (the next city over) and has seen much heartache. While he was speaking to us talking about his city, he began to cry, there were tears coming down his face. You began to realize that the Okinawan people suffered much during the war. The loving hands of Jesus can truly heal the wounded hearts.