2:34:38
March 1945,
Kerama lslands.
2:34:42
American base in the Pacific,
25 miles west of Okinawa.
2:34:48
My Eleni,
2:34:50
l've had your letter of 1 December 1944
in my pocket since yesterday...
2:34:54
lt's a miracle it even got here...
2:34:56
after so many months of
going around the world.
2:35:00
l laugh and cry.
2:35:02
Thank God you are well
and our country is now free.
2:35:06
l celebrated by getting drunk
alone in my tent.
2:35:11
You complain l've forgotten you.
How could that be?
2:35:15
All these years
not a moment has gone by...
2:35:17
when l haven't thought of you.
2:35:19
We're here
in these strange islands,
2:35:23
in the mud of a yellow river,
2:35:25
rotting with our guns in our hands,
day in and day out...
2:35:28
60,000 commandos,
60,000 men about to die...
2:35:33
waiting to ship out
for the hell named Okinawa.
2:35:39
Last night l dreamed that
we set off together...
2:35:42
to find the source
of the river.
2:35:45
An old man led the way.
2:35:47
As we walked on,
the river became smaller...
2:35:50
and broke up into
a thousand small streams...
2:35:53
Suddenly, high above
under the snow-capped peaks...
2:35:57
the old man showed us
a piece of land with wild grass...