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D-Day Okinawa

April 1, 1945

U.S. troops land on Okinawa

On this day in 1945, after suffering the loss of 116 planes and damage to three aircraft carriers, 50,000 U.S. combat troops of the 10th Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner Jr., land on the southwest coast of the Japanese island of Okinawa, 350 miles south of Kyushu, the southern main island of Japan.

Determined to seize Okinawa as a base of operations for the army ground and air forces for a later assault on mainland Japan, more than 1,300 ships converged on the island, finally putting ashore 50,000 combat troops on April 1. The Americans quickly seized two airfields and advanced inland to cut the island's waist. They battled nearly 120,000 Japanese army, militia, and labor troops under the command of Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima.

The Japanese surprised the American forces with a change in strategy, drawing them into the mainland rather than confronting them at the water's edge. While Americans landed without loss of men, they would suffer more than 50,000 casualties, including more than 12,000 deaths, as the Japanese staged a desperate defense of the island, a defense that included waves of kamikaze ("divine wind") air attacks. Eventually, these suicide raids proved counterproductive, as the Japanese finally ran out of planes and resolve, with some 4,000 finally surrendering. Japanese casualties numbered some 117,000.

Lieutenant Buckner, son of a Civil War general, was among the casualties, killed by enemy artillery fire just three days before the Japanese surrender. Japanese General Ushijima committed ritual suicide upon defeat of his forces.

For anyone interested in the grunts' eye view of this horrific battle, you should read With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. It is a great book; I read it for my Pacific War class I am currently taking.

I went to Okinawa in 1998 for my two-week Marine reserve training event that year. I took the battle site tour and saw Shuri Castle, Sugar Loaf Hill, and the Japanese Naval underground. I think I promised pictures the last time I mentioned this and have yet to do it. I will try to do that in the near future.

Here is a link to the NARA (National Archives) WWII site http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos/#iwo . It has large photos files - which is why I didn't post any here.

Here are some pictures I finally scanned.

The wall that has the sign on it is from the Japanes Naval Underground Headquarters.

The landscape is from the south coast of the main island right by the "Corner Stone of Peace" memorial.

There castle wall is the rebuilt Shuri Castle wall that was destroyed during the battle.

The wall has some of the sections of the "Cornerstone of Peace." It contains the names of all 237,318 people who died as a result of the battle; Japanese soldier and civilian as well as allied soldiers and sailors.

The thing that looks like a bunker is one of the Okinawan seplucres that dot the island. The were, in fact used as bunkers during the battle.

Lastly, there is a picture of Sgt O'Brien teaching a Chemical Warfare Defense class during my trip there in 1998.

Here is an overhead of the peace memorial.

Glad you finally found those. The island looks so peaceful now, hard to imagine those awful weeks.

I didn't realize "the wall" was so similiar to our Vietnam Memorial in Washington. First time I have seen a photo of it.

How long were you on the island and what were the circumstances behind the stay on Okinawa?

I was only there for 2 weeks as a part of my reserve service obligation. Only a few sections went that year; the point being that they would hang out with their active duty counter parts and do as the active Marines do. I was a section of one (just me) so the staff sergeant who was the NCOIC for the trip had me come along (I think he wanted me to come along because he knew I was the defacto unit photographer - I was getting my photo degree at the time.)

I'm happy where I am today (Camp Lejeune, NC.) Not too far for my wife from home which is Texas (24 hour drive is far but a lot shorter than overseas) and not California!