June 12, 2010 -- Peace Memorial Park

The Peace Memorial Park was a solemn place with many graphic pictures and realistic looking exhibits. As you graze out on the lawn of the park, you can see rows and rows of monuments with names of people that had lost their lives. It's sad to see the vast amount of soldiers and civilians that were killed. After looking and wondering around the monuments for awhile, you can sulk looking out to the scenic view of the ocean.
Picture Above= Marissa, Me, Carly & Jennifer at the Peace Memorial Park

The next memorial site just really hit home for many of us. You walk into a dim room with pictures of school girls and teachers lined up across the wall. None of them are smiling. It's like they're giving you a blank stare. I went around the room reading each name and looking at their pictures. When I read their age, many were my age or younger. My eyes watered and I felt like crying. It's so sad how many of them had to face bloody disasters each day. I would never be able to handle that. I never really thought about the battle of Okinawa before. I didn't know that so many people had lost their lives and that students my age were recruited to become nurses. After going to these memorials, it made us realize this should never happen again so it's important that Hawaii and Okinawa plus other countries keep healthy relationships.
Picture - Himeyuri Memorial Park