White bones were unearthed from the bodies of many students of Okinawa Normal School that remained in a cave after the Battle of Okinawa in the Pacific War. During the Battle of Okinawa, students from both the boys' and girls' sections were mobilized to the battlefield and formed the Himeyuri Students' Corps and the Tekketsu Kinnotoi (Iron-Blooded Imperial Guard), which suffered heavy casualties.

　　White bones were unearthed from the corpses of many Okinawan Normal School students who remained in a cave after the Battle of Okinawa in the Pacific War. During the Battle of Okinawa, students from both the boys' and girls' sections were mobilized to the battlefield, and many of them died. Many of the Normal School students formed the Himeyuri Cadet Corps and the Tekketsu Kinnoto Tai (Iron-Blooded Cadet Corps), and many of them lost their lives. Okinawa Normal School, which was a teacher training institution, was established in 1943 during the Pacific War and was the only Normal School that was not succeeded by a new university system after the war.

　On March 31, 1945, the Okinawa Normal School students received a call-up order, and approximately 386 students from the second year of the Preparatory Course to the third year of the Regular Course formed the Iron-Blooded Imperial Normal Corps and participated in the Battle of Okinawa, a Japanese military operation. After the U.S. forces landed on Okinawa on April 1, 1945, the battle of Okinawa became unfavorable in late May, and they moved with the Japanese forces from Shuri to the southern part of the island, retreating to the shelter at Mabuni, where they were ordered to disband on June 19.

　The Himeyuri Cadet Corps was a women's student corps created in Okinawa Prefecture in December 1944 through nursing training by the Japanese military, consisting of teachers and students from the Women's Department of Okinawa Normal School and Okinawa Prefectural First Higher Girls' School. On June 18, when the defeat became imminent, the order to disband was suddenly issued, and approximately 227 of them died within a week from June 19. After leaving their shelters, the students hid behind bushes and rocks and were driven to the beach. Amidst the flurry of artillery shells, many students lost their way due to battle wounds and died, including those who fled with battle-wounded bodies, those who were severely wounded and collapsed unable to move, those who were blown away by shells, those who were hit by yellow phosphorus shells, those who committed suicide by exploding hand grenades, and those who were submerged by heavy waves on the beach. About 100 people, including nurses, soldiers, and residents of the Army Hospital, including Himeyuri students, hid in the Ihara Third Surgery Shelter, the shelter where the Third Surgery of the Okinawa Army Hospital, where the "Himeyuri Tower," a war site, was located, entered after the retreat to the south, but was attacked by American forces early on the morning of June 19, killing about 80 people.

　Imperialist and militaristic education that worshipped the emperor was also particularly thorough, as were teacher training schools. When students were called to attend the school, they were treated as voluntary participants with no legal basis, and parental permission was required. Almost all students of Okinawa Normal School participated as a student corps.