Grenade

Ray exits a tomb where an Okinawan family has been killed by a grenade. He points out that using grenades in the tombs and caves is killing innocent people. Sergeant Meredith reminds him that another cave contained a Japanese machine gun nest and soldiers, but concedes that they could use smoke grenades to drive people out of the cave rather than immediately killing them. Sergeant Meredith reprimands another soldier for using Ray’s last name—Majors—instead of Ray or “Barbeque.” Calling him “Majors” might make the enemy think that Ray is an important target.

They hear the pop of an activated grenade: It is one of the grenades on Sergeant Meredith’s belt. Activated, it will detonate in five seconds.

Oto has a shrapnel wound in his belly, which is bleeding. Hideki wants to find a doctor, but his father wants him to clean the family tomb and give an offering instead, so Hideki puts some of the rice in a bowl.

Oto tells Hideki that his mother and brother are dead; an American torpedo hit their evacuation ship. Oto insists that Hideki leave the framed photos of the emperor in the tomb and go find his sister—she is their only remaining family. Oto explains that the Japanese have no chance of retaining control of Okinawa; they are merely “a sacrificial pawn” (83) meant to slow the US advance. Hideki is shocked. A soldier of unspecified nationality arrives.

Sergeant Meredith threw the belt of grenades away as quickly as he could, but is still badly hurt from the one that detonated. Big John picks him up and runs toward camp; the rest of the company follows.

Back at camp, they are shocked to learn that President Franklin D. Roosevelt has died. A grenade is thrown into their midst; the men panic, but it explodes ineffectively. It was a prank by another marine, Private Wilbert Zimmer. Big John beats Zimmer until his face is purple and his eyes are swollen.

They learn that Sergeant Meredith has survived; he has been transported to a hospital in Hawaii. Big John is promoted to squad leader.

Hideki is relieved to see that the soldier is Japanese. Oto welcomes him to their family tomb, but is appalled when the man wolfs down the rice Hideki left as an offering. Still, Oto tells his son to let the soldier eat it. The soldier starts using their family’s urns to barricade the tomb and angrily insists that they leave.

Hideki helps his father out. Oto wishes that he had kept the family together. He implores Hideki to find his sister, and then dies.

Ray’s squad is to be sent south to the front line (they are currently in the north of the island). Old Man, the nickname of another marine in the squad, tells Ray that the way to avoid mortar fire is to run like hell, rather than zigzag. Big John says that regardless of what you do, you might get hit.

Now that he has experienced the terror of war Ray has more sympathy for his father, who never fully psychologically recovered from his time in the World War I (WWI). Once, when Ray was younger, as he and his father were slaughtering pigs, Ray’s father suddenly attacked Ray with a knife, leaving a huge scar on his arm.

A group of Okinawan refugees are let through the ranks. Suddenly, one throws down his blanket and starts shooting—it is a Japanese soldier. The Americans open fire in return and kill the whole group. Ray knows that some of the people he helped kill were innocent.

Hideki goes to the high school to look for his sister Kimiko. A hole has been blown in the building and there are many dead bodies; it was bombed while the students were at school. He is relieved that none of the dead girls are Kimiko. Hideki sees a notice on the classroom wall instructing all fifth-year girls (Kimiko’s grade) to report to the army hospital in Ichinichibashi, a town in the south of the island. He realizes with dread that this is the direction that US forces are moving.

Hideki hears approaching American voices. He quickly jumps into an empty desk and plays dead. He peeks at the soldier in the room, who looks closely at and then takes out of its frame a class photo. Hideki wonders why. A voice calls to the soldier from outside, and Hideki catches a name that to him sounds like “Rei” (107). The man leaves.

Ray looks at the photo of the Okinawan schoolchildren, victims of American bombs. He distinguishes Okinawan locals from the brutal Japanese army, although other American soldiers, like Big John, are less interested in this distinction.

They hear celebratory gun fire and learn that Germany has surrendered.

Ray receives a letter from his mother, which includes a photo of Ray and his father dressed up before a fair. Ray remembers this happy day, but also remembers a night soon after, when his father drunkenly and angrily broke furniture in their house.

As his squad moves south, Ray is horrified to pass shell-shocked American soldiers and the bodies of Japanese soldiers littering the ground. US soldiers’ bodies have been removed already.

Hideki heads toward Shuri Castle, an Okinawan landmark that signifies that he is traveling in the right direction. He slips and tumbles down a hill, landing in a muddy puddle covered in maggots. Disgusted, he strips off his clothes.

He takes the sack of photographs and his two grenades and creeps into a cave. It is filled with Japanese soldiers. Hideki takes a uniform from a dead soldier. A Japanese lieutenant instructs Hideki to join them in the attack of an American camp. Hideki is disgusted and shocked when the lieutenant instructs a soldier to strap explosives to Okinawan civilians—a woman and her baby—and send them in first.

Ray’s squad is instructed to try to take Kakazu Ridge, a contested hill in the south of Okinawa. Only Big John, Zimmer, and Ray make it to the hill’s saddle; the rest of the squad are killed by Japanese bullets and bombs. Big John’s right ear has been blown off, so Ray bandages it. The mortars and grenades stop, which means that the Japanese are about the storm the ridge where the three men are.