Gakudo sokai 1944

Most of us are aware that during World War II, tens of thousands of children were evacuated from British cities in Operation Pied Piper and sent to the relative safety of the countryside at the onset of the war in 1939. What I hadn't encountered in history class was that the Japanese, in a program called gakudo sokai, evacuated their schoolchildren from the larger cities and islands which would become targets as the war edged closer in 1944. It has made me reflect on whether I could have given up my son to strangers. War is always a time of special agony for parents everywhere.

In early August, 230,000 schoolchildren boarded special trains out of Tokyo, followed by more evacuations from the capital and 12 other cities including Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka... A story that hit me hard is the sinking of the

Tsushima Maru. The unmarked ship was carrying about 800 schoolchildren from Okinawa to the mainland when it was attacked Aug. 22, 1944, by an American submarine. Only 9 [sic] children survived and the tragedy was hushed up until after the war. ... read more