One of the ugliest traits of war is that masses of otherwise decent human beings, predominantly of the same class and age, are ordered to kill each other in the field by individuals of a different class and age sitting comfortably in remote headquarters or sheltered conference rooms. The larger group is by far the younger, more naïve, and more idealistic; its members have much more to lose in their confrontation with a so-called “enemy” than the rarefied élite sending them on their way.

Enemies in the field always have more in common with one another than they do with the élites on either side. One Japanese survivor of Iwo Jima recalled participating in the shooting of an American who fell from a cliff and landed near his position. Inside the fallen Marine’s pocket were pictures of his family, including one of a little boy and another of a baby. And he painfully recollected:

When I saw those pictures it reminded me of my daughter who was just born when I came to Iwo. And tears just came streaming down my face. And then I realized that both the American and Japanese soldiers were all suffering the same kinds of hardships. You know, losing of families and missing our loved ones back home.⁸

(Source.)