So Sad to Fall in Battle: An Account of War Based on General Tadamichi Kuribayashi's Letters from Iwo Jima

Начало книги

HE HAD BEEN VERY TALKATIVE UP TO THAT POINT, BUT WHEN WE got to the subject of the telegram, he went quiet for a moment. Then, snapping to attention, he began to intone in a voice so firm that it belied his eighty-five years: “The battle is entering its final chapter. Since the enemy’s landing, the gallant fighting of the men under my command has been such that even the gods would weep.”

The peaceful sun was pouring into the living room of the cramped house where the old couple—he was eighty-five, she seventy-five—lived in Nangoku in Kôchi Prefecture. On the comfortable, old-fashioned sofa sat an unopened box containing a robot dog that their grandchild had sent them from Tokyo as a substitute pet. “How can I possibly be expected to make head or tail of the instruction manual at my age?” the old man grumbled just a minute ago. Now, his voice quite transformed, he continued:

His voice was growing a little hoarse, and the unexpected recitation came to an abrupt end.

Читать дальше →