The 66th anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa commemorated & sponsored by the National Japanese American Historical Society at Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, June 18, 2011. Part Five: Himeyuri no Uta. Dance Interpretation/Performance by Kinuko Mototake. Himeyuri no Uta is the story of high school girls in Okinawa conscripted by the Imperial Army of the Japanese mainland to be trained and to serve as student nurses for the soldiers stationed in Okinawa preparing for the American invasion and the Battle of Okinawa. Many were killed in battle, from the bullets and artillery from both American forces and Japanese as well. Although many were mistreated by their own Japanese forces, these student nurses were understandably more frightened of the American invasion and what the U.S. soldiers would do to them. Many chose seppuku or suicide by throwing themselves from high cliffs into the ocean. Some would follow what many Japanese soldiers ended up doing by exploding themselves with hand grenades in the caves they sought refuge in. Some were saved and talked out of seppuku by Nisei & Kibei interpreters, referred to as "cave flushers" from the all- Japanese American MIS units (Military Intelligence Service).