When American forces landed on Okinawa on April 1, 1945, it wasn’t just Japanese soldiers who opposed the invaders.

According to an intriguing article that appeared yesterday on CNN International’s website, 240 teenagers from two girls’ schools on the 1200 sq. mile island, which sits 400 miles south of Japan, volunteered to help with the defences.

The story, entitled “Battlefields and bunkers: Exploring Okinawa’s World War II history”, the youngsters were formed into a nursing battalion assigned to the Okinawa Army Field Hospital. They would spend the next two and a half months providing medical care for the more than 120,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors assigned to defend the vital territory.

The battle would prove to be the bloodiest in the Pacific War.

“Assigned to work as nurse assistants, they cared for the injured around the clock, braved bombardment and gunfire carrying water and food to patients and hospital staff and burying the dead,” writes CNN contributor Christopher Dong. “Based in a cave network, they worked in wretched conditions, living in miserable and dirty wards, experiencing the horrifying reality of wounded and dying soldiers.”

During the battle’s bloody climax, with the defenses collapsing around them and more than 80 percent of Japanese troops either killed, injured or captured, many of the girls chose to take their own lives rather than surrender to the invading Americans. Others fell tending to the casualties.

Out of the original 240 students nurses, only 13 survived the battle.

Today, the sacrifices of these youngsters are commemorated at the Himeyuri Peace Museum. The site is built on top of the original cave network that served as a shelter for the wounded. According to Dong, the keepers of the centre ask that all visitors observe a moment of silence when entering in honour of the young nurses.

The Himeyuri Peace Museum is just one of a number of locations on Okinawa that featured prominently in the article. Other locations mentioned include a monument to famous American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, who was killed while covering the battle, as well as the Japanese navy headquarters – a massive underground bunker complex.

To read the full article, click here.