An 81-year-old Japanese woman says she is the trembling little girl in a powerful World War II film clip that depicts the cruelty of the Battle of Okinawa.
The footage shot by the U.S. military shows a girl sitting by the side of a road on Okinawa's main island. The documentary film was made toward the end of the Battle of Okinawa in the final stages of World War II. More than 200,000 people, including a quarter of the prefecture's population, lost their lives in the 1945 battle.
Sueko Urasaki said she is the girl in the footage. She said she could tell it was her from the girl's clothing. Urasaki lost her father, an older brother, and a younger brother in the battle.
She said she was seven years old when the footage was shot. She and her older sister were running away and had become separated when an American soldier saw her and told her to sit down.
(Sueko Urasaki)
"I was trembling because I was so hungry. Soldiers tried to give me sweets. But I didn't take them, because I had been told that such things were poisoned."
The footage shot by the U.S. military shows a girl sitting by the side of a road on Okinawa's main island. The documentary film was made toward the end of the Battle of Okinawa in the final stages of World War II. More than 200,000 people, including a quarter of the prefecture's population, lost their lives in the 1945 battle.
Sueko Urasaki said she is the girl in the footage. She said she could tell it was her from the girl's clothing. Urasaki lost her father, an older brother, and a younger brother in the battle.
She said she was seven years old when the footage was shot. She and her older sister were running away and had become separated when an American soldier saw her and told her to sit down.
(Sueko Urasaki)
"I was trembling because I was so hungry. Soldiers tried to give me sweets. But I didn't take them, because I had been told that such things were poisoned."
◆clip 映画や記録映像（film）などの「抜粋、さわりの場面」 a short part of a film or television programme that is shown by itself, especially as an advertisement
◆footage. （ある出来事を映した）映像、（映画・テレビ・ビデオなどの）映像の一場面、一連の画面 cinema film showing a particular event
◆toward the end of ～の終わり頃に