Book Review: ‘The Girl With the White Flag’: A Child’s Account of America’s Invasion of Okinawa

Over 30 years after the Battle of Okinawa, Tomiko Higa sees a photo of herself as a child, prompting her to write this striking wartime memoir

“The Girl with the White Flag: A Spellbinding Account of Love and Courage in Wartime Okinawa” is the inspiring story of 7-year-old Tomiko Higa’s bravery during the American invasion of Okinawa in 1945 at the close of World War II. The memoir describes the traumatic experience of young Tomiko as she and her family are caught in the crossfire of the Battle of Okinawa between the Japanese and Americans.

The book might never have been written had the author not recognized a photograph of herself in a book about the war in 1977. The striking image showed Tomiko, barefoot and wearing work pants, carrying a three-cornered white flag attached to a stick.

However, it wasn’t until 1984, when film footage of the war was shown on television in Okinawa, that Tomiko publicly identified herself as the girl with the white flag. She wrote a story entitled, “I Was the Little Girl With the White Flag,” which led to a television program and eventually her book.

Tomiko’s story is a vivid portrayal of the unintended civilian casualties inevitable in war. It’s estimated that up to one-third of Okinawa’s civilian population was killed as the Japanese battled against the American invasion of the island. With stark innocence, Tomiko retells the invasion of one of Japan’s last outposts from a child’s perspective.

Her Story

As the battle begins, Tomiko’s father is forced to leave his children to supply food to Japanese soldiers. With their mother dead, Tomiko—the youngest—her 9-year-old brother, and her 13- and 17-year-old sisters leave their home in Shuri to make their way south. They travel on foot at night to avoid detection by the Japanese soldiers. Her brother is killed in his sleep by a stray bullet, and his sisters bury him in the sand at Komesu Beach.

As they continue on their journey, Tomiko becomes separated from her older sisters. Tomiko searches for her sisters while narrowly avoiding death at the hands of the Japanese soldiers. She survives on scraps of food pilfered from the knapsacks of dead soldiers. Her description of the human carnage she witnesses is truly horrific.

An elderly Okinawan couple finally takes Tomiko into their underground shelter. But as the battle ends, the old couple force Tomiko to leave, making her a white flag of surrender to carry. She is fearful of surrendering to the Americans, as she has been told stories about the Americans cutting women and children into little pieces. These lies were spread by the Japanese Army to make the Okinawans hate the Americans and also make them afraid to surrender. Despite her fear, Tomiko courageously leaves her shelter with her white flag, and the famous photograph is taken. She surrenders to the victorious Americans, who reunite her with her sisters.

The story concludes with Tomiko’s emotional reunion with the American photographer who took her picture, 43 years later.

“The Girl with the White Flag” is an unforgettable true story of survival and the civilian victims of war. It’s an inspirational story for both young adult and adult readers.