14,000 Names

For her Service Project, a requirement to receive the rank of Eagle Scout, fifteen-year-old Avonlea Francis organized volunteers who transcribed the names of more than 14,000 Americans who died in the Battle of Okinawa.

The Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum, located in Itoman, Okinawa, memorializes the Battle of Okinawa. Most historians consider the Battle of Okinawa, fought in 1945, to be the bloodiest battle in the Pacific theater. Nearly 150,000 Okinawans, nearly 80,000 Japanese soldiers, more than 14,000 Americans, and smaller numbers of people from Korea, the United Kingdom, and Taiwan lost their lives in that battle. 2025 will mark the 80^th anniversary of this tragic conflict.

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The Cornerstone of Peace is a monument near the museum honoring those who died in this battle during World War II. The monument features large black granite plates inscribed with the names of fallen soldiers and civilians.

When Avonlea Francis moved to Okinawa with her family four years ago, she had the opportunity to travel to many places with her father who is the Scout Executive for the BSA Far East Council headquartered there. Her family has been all over Asia with him attending different camps and events.

In 2019, girls ages 11 to 17 were invited to join the Scouting program. After years of watching her older brothers go camping, earn merit badges and participate in Eagle projects, Avonlea saw a future that allowed her to be part of the Scouting movement.  

“I've always wondered if I'd ever get my Eagle Scout because I didn't know I'd ever be a Scout,” she said. Now a member of Scouts BSA Troop 109G in Okinawa, Avonlea had contemplated for a couple of years what she could do for the Service Project needed to advance her to the rank of Eagle Scout.

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Avonlea’s family has visited the Peace Memorial Park several times while living in Okinawa. In June of 2024, Avonlea’s cousin, Emily Hunsaker from Washington, USA came to visit. Emily and her father, David Hunsaker, had come to Okinawa so that Emily could attend FSY and visit cousins. They took her to the Peace Memorial Park so that she could see the name of her mom's great uncle who died in the battle of Okinawa. They placed flowers near the monument that showed his name to remember him and his sacrifice.

“It’s the first time we know of that someone has come in person to honor him specifically,” explained Avonlea. “It was a really special experience. So many Americans who died here will never have family members visit. They won’t ever see the monument.”

During this visit, Avonlea’s mother, Nettie Francis, recognized Osamu Sekiguchi, an employee of FamilySearch. He was at the park making plans for a project to index the 240,000 names on the granite monuments. When Avonlea mentioned that she had thought about doing a project involving the park, Brother Sekiguchi asked if she would like to organize a project to index the 14,000 American names.

Avonlea wanted an Eagle project that was unique, and her cousin's experience taught her the value of making the Peace Memorial Monument accessible to the world. This project offered the opportunity to bring the facts of this tragic battle to many people who were not aware of it and would allow many people to connect with their fallen relatives. After two years of wondering what she could do for an Eagle Project, she had an opportunity to do a meaningful project that would help honor people who had sacrificed for their country.

FamilySearch.org and FindaGrave.com worked together to photograph the names on the granite plates. The photographs were emailed to Avonlea. She met online with Brother Sekiguchi to learn how to carry out the project.

Avonlea’s project involved typing the names and loading them into a program that would create a separate page containing a photo of the monument and the name and death place of each of the deceased in the Find a Grave website.

Avonlea’s first step was finding volunteers to extract and record the information from the photos. She recorded a video describing her project and asking for volunteers. She posted the video on her parents’ social media pages. Avonlea was amazed at the response.

To complete the project, Avonlea emailed instructions and a photo of a section of the monument to the volunteers. They typed the names into a spreadsheet and emailed it back to Avonlea. She then submitted the form to Find a Grave, and the site created the pages. Anyone who logs into Find a Grave can now see the photograph of the monument that displays their family member’s name. If they choose, they can then add information about the person and connect them to other relatives. If there is already a page for the person, the pages can be merged. Some of the pages created by the project have already had more information added to them.

Avonlea’s project involved 97 volunteers from all over the world, but mainly from the United States and Okinawa. 140 photos, each listing about 100 names, were transcribed by Avonlea’s team of volunteers. It took about 150 hours to transcribe and submit all the names and complete the project.

Avonlea is pleased that it has been a family history project as well as a community project. These names that were once only available to people who visited the park in Okinawa will now be available to people all over the world.

Avonlea expressed: “My family and I have been to this beautiful, sacred park many times. It is such an honor to live in beautiful Okinawa on the battleground where many of our fellow American and Japanese soldiers gave their lives.”