Okinawa
Soviet Invasion of Manchuria: Catching Japan Unawares
By John WalkerAt 11:02 am on August 9, 1945, an American warplane dropped an atomic device nicknamed “Fat Man” onto the city of Nagasaki, Japan. Read more
Okinawa
Combat Fatigue: How Stress in Battle was Felt (and Treated) in WWII
By Duane SchultzEugene Sledge knew a thing or two about combat fatigue. It was September 15, 1944, on a tiny spit of land called Peleliu: the Japanese opened up with heavy mortar fire just as the Marines moved off the beach and started inland. Read more
Okinawa
WWII Vehicles: The Island-Hopping LVT
By R.J. SeeseWhile making business calls in Tampa, Florida, during the summer of 1980, I spotted a strange looking tracked contraption atop an overgrown pedestal in front of the U.S. Read more
Okinawa
World’s First Smart Weapon: the ‘Bat’
By Alan AlpersOn May 27, 1945, U.S. Naval Reserve Lieutenant Leo Kennedy was patrolling from his station at Yonton Field in Okinawa. Read more
Okinawa
Dickey Chapelle: First Female Photojournalist Killed in Action
By Al HemingwayColonel H.B. Miller, a Marine public relations officer on Guam during World War II, looked up from his desk to see before him a boyish-looking woman dressed in a baggy khaki shirt and pants and wearing horn-rimmed glasses. Read more
Okinawa
The Shinano Carrier: How Allied Forces Sunk Such a Secret
By Kelly BellThe first torpedo struck the Shinano carrier farthest aft. Over the next 30 seconds three more warheads detonated against the massive aircraft carrier’s hull, working their way forward. Read more
Okinawa
Colonel Hiromishi Yahara’s Story at Okinawa
by John WalkerIt was Colonel Hiromishi Yahara who designed and implemented the jiykusen, or the yard-by-yard battle of attrition that cost the American forces so many casualties in the three-month battle, and he was the highest ranking officer to survive the battle and make it back to Tokyo. Read more
Okinawa
Ernie Pyle: Fated at Ie Shima
By Roy Morris Jr.Ernie Pyle did not want to go to Okinawa. He was too old, too tired, and—some said—too jaded for yet another American invasion of ferocious enemy territory. Read more
Okinawa
Survival at Sugarloaf: Battle Fatigue at Okinawa
by John WukovitsBecause of the severe conditions at Sugar Loaf and elsewhere on Okinawa, the fighting produced an alarmingly high number of battle fatigue cases. Read more
Okinawa
General Ushijima’s Support in Okinawa
by John WukovitsLieutenant General Ushijima heavily depended upon two staff officers who, although differing in temperament, formed along with the general as effective a commanding trio as the Marines faced in the Pacific. Read more
Okinawa
Survival at Sugarloaf: An Encounter of a Father and Son
By John WukovitsOne of the most heart-wrenching moments to occur on Okinawa involved a family with a proud Marine heritage. Read more
Okinawa
Operation Removal: Taking the Japanese Holdouts Near Saipan
by Al HemingwayOn September 2, 1945, representatives from the Allied and Japanese governments signed the peace treaty that ended World War II. Read more
Okinawa
The USS DuPage: Braving Kamikazes From Air And Sea
By Don SmartThe mighty invasion armada for the main thrust at Luzon in the Philippine Islands was being assembled on December 28, 1944. Read more
Okinawa
Merrill’s Marauders Fought Tenaciously In Burma
By Michael D. HullA series of swift victories took Japanese troops to the gates of India in 1941-1942 when British and Indian units fell back to the Assam hills northwest of Burma. Read more
Okinawa
The Battle of Saipan
By Al HemingwayPeering through his binoculars, Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo was in awe of the nearly 800 ships from Vice Adm. Read more
Okinawa
Japanese Battleship Yamato Makes Its Final Stand
Dy Gerald AstorIn the late afternoon of April 6, 1945, five days after American GIs and leathernecks scrambled onto an Okinawa beach a scant 500 miles from Japan, two U.S. Read more
Okinawa
Survival: The Story of the USS Franklin
By Chuck LyonsThe USS Franklin was not a lucky ship. In March 1945, off the Japanese mainland, the Essex-class aircraft carrier was hit by two 550-pound bombs that struck her flight deck and penetrated into the hangar deck. Read more
Okinawa
The USS Washington Battleship: How it Turned the Pacific Tide
by Brad ReynoldsPrior to American entrance into World War II, the USS Washington battleship’s initial assignment was escorting supply ships between England and Russia in support of the Lend Lease Act. Read more
Okinawa
Literally Cutting Down Your Enemy in a Vought F4U Corsair
By Christopher MiskimonThe Battle of Okinawa raged not only on the island itself but in the skies overhead. Japanese aircraft attacked the invading Americans not only through conventional bombing attacks but also by using the dreaded Kamikaze—suicide pilots who turned their planes into guided missiles to inflict more damage. Read more
