Okinawa

Desmond Doss

On April 1, 1945, the American X Army landed at Okinawa, just 340 miles from the home islands of Japan. Read more

Okinawa

Steel Typhoon at Okinawa

As one island or island group in the Pacific was fought over by American and Japanese forces, it became clear that Japan’s days as a combatant in World War II were numbered. Read more

Okinawa

The Amazing Voyages of the USS O’Brien

At exactly three o’clock in the afternoon on February 25, 1944, a crowd gathered at the Boston Navy Yard for the commissioning ceremony of the USS O’Brien (DD725), a destroyer of the Sumner class. Read more

Okinawa

Death of the Super Battleship Yamato and Musashi

Special Sea Attack Force (SSAF) was an ordinary-sounding name for the pitifully tiny remnant of what was once the mighty Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Read more

Okinawa

Deaths in WWII: Casualties, and the Graves Registration Units

The very nature of war means that some participants will be killed and others will be wounded, and some estimate the deaths in WWII to be around 85 million. Read more

Okinawa

Faces of the U.S. Marine Corps

Noted chronicler of the Pacific Theater Eric Hammel recently spent three years sorting, scanning, cleaning, selecting, and captioning United States Marine Corps World War II photos for six pictorial books. Read more

Okinawa

Military Book Reviews: George S. Patton and Erwin Rommel

American General George S. Patton, Jr., and German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel both demonstrated the masterful employment of armored forces in many World War II military campaigns. Read more

Okinawa

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima: The Story of the Photo

By Chris McGowan

Atop 550-foot Suribachi Yama, the volcano at the southwest tip of Iwo Jima, Marines of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Regiment, 5th Division, hoist the Stars and Stripes, signaling the capture of this key position. Read more

Okinawa

Prelude to Iwo Jima: The Japanese Assault On B-29 Base On Marianas

From an altitude of 30,000 feet, the swift Japanese reconnaissance aircraft flew high over Saipan and Tinian, photographing the brisk and extensive engineering effort under way on the American airfields far below. Read more

Okinawa

Desmond Doss: The Hero of Hacksaw Ridge

“One of the greatest heroes in American history never fired a bullet.” That is the tagline of Director Mel Gibson’s 2016 film, Hacksaw Ridge. Read more

Okinawa

The M2 4.2-Inch Chemical Mortar

In the last days of March 1945, a soldier named Carl Getzel sat on a hill outside the city of Aschaffenburg and watched as it was slowly destroyed. Read more

Okinawa

WWII War Correspondent Ernie Pyle

Ernest Taylor Pyle was born August 3, 1900, in Dana, Indiana. He came from a farm family. Read more

Okinawa

“This is the Army”: Irving Berlin’s War

The most successful and popular patriotic show of World War II and one of the most unique productions in the history of entertainment was Irving Berlin’s This Is the Army, which originally began as a Broadway musical. Read more

Okinawa

Divine Wind Over Okinawa

April 1, 1945, was Easter Sunday and April Fool’s Day. It was also the day the U.S. Army and Marine Corps launched Operation Iceberg, their massive amphibious assault on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Read more

Okinawa

USS Murphy: Long Service in Wartime

Eighty miles off the coast of New Jersey and 280 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean lies the forward section of a World War II destroyer, where it came to rest more than 60 years ago. Read more

Okinawa

Pacific Merchant Marine

The American war in the Pacific proved to be largely a maritime endeavor. Fighting consisted of widespread naval battles between the two major opponents followed by American invasions of Japanese-held island bases. Read more

Okinawa

Behind the Scenes on Hacksaw Ridge: An Interview With Producer Terry Benedict

Warfare History Network sat down with Terry Benedict, one of the Producers of the new Mel Gibson film Hacksaw Ridge to ask some questions about the film and its subject, Desmond Doss. Read more

Okinawa

Confident Carrier Admiral Marc “Pete” Mitscher

He was a seagoing J.E.B. Stuart who hid beneath weather fronts to make his attacks, and he fought more naval engagements than John Paul Jones and David Farragut combined. Read more

Okinawa

The Magnificent Jeep

General of the Army George C. Marshall called it America’s greatest contribution to modern warfare. General Dwight D. Read more

Okinawa

Final Conflict on Okinawa

Although neither side was aware of it at the time, the battle for Okinawa would be the last major battle of World War II. Read more