The New York Times wrote that it was not definitively proven whether the three Marines killed by villagers were the same ones responsible for the rapes. The families of the deceased Marines voiced doubt that their relatives were capable of committing rape.
The reaction of the relatives is expected, the reaction of the NYT is disappointing. The amount of wartime rapes proven is near zero. No shit, there was no public trial where evidence was presented and guilt was proven. Nor would there have been, the US military to this day protects their soldiers from facing consequences for crimes against civilians.
Wow that’s a pretty amazing story.
I imagine there was a lot of this perpetrated by all sides. Before, during, and after WWII.
It’s great that the villagers collectively decided what to do. Although, if a dozen or so of them just decided to do it then the rest would really just have to keep quiet.
Except the Okinawan people were caught in the middle. They were only fully colonized by the Japanese 70 years before. The battle of Okinawa was planned by the Japanese imperial army as a way to earn time to prepare for the defense of the main Japanese islands.
Okinawan people had developed a culture of being a peaceful bridge between nations for centuries before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_of_Nations_Bell
There are many other nightmarish stories about what they had to go through.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himeyuri_students
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsushima_Maru
Based
Damn, even as an Okinawan, I didn’t know about this until now. Fascinating story, but I just hope they didn’t get three innocent guys. Well, as innocent as occupiers can be, anyway.
