Shiraume Memorial Tower (Shiraume Student Nurse Corps)

The Shiraume Memorial Tower (白梅之塔, Shiraume no Tō) stands in the Maesato district of Itoman City, Okinawa Prefecture, at the site of a natural limestone cave where members of the Shiraume Student Nurse Corps took refuge during the final desperate days of the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.

The Shiraume Student Nurse Corps

The Shiraume Student Nurse Corps (白梅学徒隊, Shiraume Gakutotai) was formed from fourth-year students of the Okinawa Prefectural Second Girls' High School (沖縄県立第二高等女学校), whose school emblem featured white plum blossoms (白梅, shiraume). Beginning on March 6, 1945, fifty-six students received accelerated nursing training in preparation for the anticipated American invasion. On March 24, following devastating pre-landing air raids that disrupted training, forty-six students were formally assigned as auxiliary nurses to the Imperial Japanese Army 24th Division's First Field Hospital, stationed in caves on Yaesu-dake (八重瀬岳).

The teenage girls, aged 16 to 17, performed harrowing medical duties under impossible conditions. They illuminated surgical procedures by candlelight, held down screaming soldiers during amputations performed without anesthesia, changed bandages on festering wounds, and carried water and supplies through terrain under constant bombardment. Their experiences paralleled those of the more widely known Himeyuri Student Corps (ひめゆり学徒隊) from the Okinawa Prefectural First Girls' High School and Okinawa Normal School, but the two were entirely separate units serving at different hospitals.

Dissolution and Tragedy

As American forces advanced relentlessly southward, the 24th Division's First Field Hospital came under increasingly intense attack. On June 4, 1945, the field hospital was dissolved and the students were dismissed — effectively abandoned in the middle of an active battlefield. The disbanded students attempted to flee southward through the chaos of the collapsing Japanese defense. Many were caught in American naval bombardment, artillery fire, and infantry assaults during their retreat.

Those who reached the area around Kunishi (国吉) and Maesato (真栄里) in Itoman took shelter in natural caves (gama). Between June 21 and 22, American forces attacked these cave positions, and many of the remaining students perished. In total, twenty-two of the forty-six mobilized students died during the battle. Several survivors later dedicated their lives to peace education, sharing their testimonies to ensure the experiences of the student nurses would never be forgotten.

The Memorial

The original memorial was established in January 1948 as a simple natural stone marker placed at the cave site by survivors and bereaved families. It was rebuilt in a more permanent form in August 1951. The memorial underwent a major renovation in June 1992, resulting in its current appearance. The inscription on the monument reads: "散りてなほ 香りい高し 白梅の花" ("Though scattered, the white plum blossoms are fragrant still"), evoking both the school emblem and the memory of the young women who perished.

In 2021, a crowdfunding campaign raised approximately 2.95 million yen to repair the memorial grounds, with restoration completed in December 2021, demonstrating the continued community commitment to preserving this site of memory.

Significance

The Shiraume Corps was one of nine female student corps mobilized during the Battle of Okinawa — a practice that remains one of the most controversial aspects of Japan's wartime history. The memorial serves as a powerful reminder of how militarism consumed even the youngest members of civilian society. While the Himeyuri Peace Museum nearby has gained greater international recognition, the Shiraume Memorial Tower holds equal historical importance in documenting the breadth of student mobilization across multiple schools in wartime Okinawa.