I have a KABAR knife an elderly family took off a dead marine while working as a Naval SeeBee on the beaches of Okinawa. It is the sharpest knife I have ever owned.

By Ty Dorland on Jun 20, 2008 at 11:59 pm

OOH-RAH MARINE CORPS

By CORTEZ on Jul 25, 2008 at 3:37 am

My father was a corpsman on OK-he received a Bronze Star for saving 7 marines-under direct fire-I dont see the justice,,,,,

By SSG> Donald Cooke on Aug 20, 2008 at 11:24 pm

I was based on Okinawa January 1965 and left Aug 1967. I TDY'd to our satellite bases in Viet Nam during my stay, I was with STRATCOM, Ft Buckner. While on Okinawa, we lost approximatley 6 military personnel due to uncovered live ammunition from WWII. Most were around an air base used by the Japanese near a village named Futemna. A lot of battle history and a monument to our soldiers bravery and committment.

By Rj on Sep 4, 2008 at 5:49 pm

God Blees all those who were involved in the battle of Okinawa. My father James Robert Deniston passed away today December 10, 2008. He served with the U.S. Marines First Division Third Armored Amphibian Battalion at Okinawa.

Stephen Deniston

By stephen deniston on Dec 10, 2008 at 10:25 pm

Greetings Mr. Deniston,
My condolences on the passing of your father. My father was a former Marine, Cpl. Edward Keith Welch. He, too, served with the 1st Marines and went ashore April 1. 1945, at Okinawa. He, obviously (!) survived and died October 15, 2007. Semper Fi!

DiannaWelch Knox

By Dianna Welch Knox on Jan 25, 2009 at 3:20 pm

trying to make contact with anyone who served with my father, gm victor zigmont aka "ziggy" either in the north atantic or during the okinawa camapign,

By victor zigmont on Feb 10, 2009 at 12:02 am

i bless there hearts

By chris on Apr 17, 2009 at 11:19 am

i am doing a report about it

By chris on Apr 17, 2009 at 11:22 am

My father, Bob Murphy, served in A company, 1st Brigade, 1st Marines, on Okinawa. What little he told us about it was harrowing. He died on April 27, 2009. God Bless all those who fought and died during WWII, and all of those who fought and survived who, sadly, are leaving us more and more.

By Brian Murphy on Apr 29, 2009 at 1:02 pm

My father died Nov 2005, was a field radio operator assigned to 198th FABn USArmy XXIVth Corps, 10th Army. was wounded during the Ruyku Island campaign on 5 Jul 45. Ive taken up my mothers quest to put together a complete Class A uniform and need the details as to which DUI he would have worn. He was extreemly proud of me when I enlisted in the USMC in 1973.
He served in direct support with the Marines on Okinawa during Operation Iceburg. Dont have too many details,all he ever told me was the Jap LT that shot him was a Yale graduate and he was left at an aid ststion for three days. The bullet passed within an inch of his heart and three days latter pushed through to extend the skin in his back, thats when it was removed.

By SSG Leon Bozek (ret) on May 30, 2009 at 8:44 pm

I'm doing a report on this also.

By Patrick Knight on Jun 1, 2009 at 11:29 am

My father, James Joseph O'Halloran was in the 96th Infantry on Okinawa. He never talked about it even when asked. He died in June 1985. I am very proud to be his daughter.

By Karen O'Halloran on Jun 3, 2009 at 4:54 pm

my granfather was a one of the engeneres that duilt the air fields there

By nick tobias on Jun 14, 2009 at 4:19 pm

My late Father, Howard Kenneth Johnson, from Spring Lake, Michigan served on PGM-17 during the battle for Okinawa. After PGM-17 was sunk, he served on tug ATR-9. I am interested in contacting anyone who served on either of these two ships. Thanks, Bill Johnson
Email: yfreewilly@aol.com

By Bill Johnson on Jun 14, 2009 at 6:35 pm

My Uncles were lost in the Pacific. The first, Seaman 1st Class David Crossett, was scrambling to his duty station up in the crow's nest of the USS Utah. A Japanese fighter strafed the ship. Crossett was shot twice. He fell to the deck. As further damage was inflicted upon the Utah, his body was covered with debris. Every year, my aunt raised a flag on Dec 7th, she is gone and I have taken it up.

But, no one in my family knows anything about Carlton Crossett, who died on Okinawa at the end of May 1945. It seems so sad that he is overshadowed and forgotten. Since I was a child I have been haunted by his crooked smile in his photos, what happened to Carlton? I can not even be sure of what branch of the military he served.

I am a former Marine and those family members are gone, his last surviving sister, talks of him using a flamethrower on Okinawa, but her stories are romanticized, not sure what is true.

I hope someday I can go to Okinawa and look for his name on the Memorial…. just as my aunt did at Pearl harbor

By Chris Naugle on Jun 17, 2009 at 12:35 pm

Would like to know if any of the vets on Okinawa remembers a Cpl. William M. "Bill" Wright who fought with the 10th Army, 7th Division , 17th Infantry Regiment, HQ.Co. on Okinawa. He was an artist and did a lot of drawing while there. He saw General Stillwell
and Buckner talking by a tent when he went to pick up company mail. When he returned with the mail , driving a jeep by the tent, he saw the generals were gone. An hour or so later he heard that Gen. Buckner had been killed by Japanese artillery.
Would appreciate hearing from anyone who knew Bill. He passed away 2008.
Paul Wright

By Paul Wright on Jul 5, 2009 at 9:13 pm

Paul wright how can I mail you.
You can mail me on joleinw@hotmail.com
greetz

By jolein on Jul 6, 2009 at 4:01 am

I am looking for Bill johnson who was stationed in Schoppingen germany in and about 1968. Germany
joleinw@hotmail.com

greetz

By jolein on Jul 6, 2009 at 4:03 am

In response to "Chis Naugle", I believe my uncle, Carlton Crossett was US Army. There was once talk of a book titled "least we not forget" that talked about how Carlton died. But never saw it. I have tried to find some reference to it but can not.. jrcrossett@ieee.org

By JRC on Jul 22, 2009 at 2:54 pm

My father served in 1945 Marines 1st division/ 7th. in Okinawah 1945, was wounded and after his recovery went to North China. He never spoke about that time in his life – and passed away in Nov 09. We opened his trunk and found lots of photos and letters that he had written to his family. We are tryiing to researdh and preserve his information. We are losing our history as the WWII vets die. It is up to us to preserve it…..

By kathy higginbotham on Jan 2, 2010 at 4:52 pm

Hi, I'm looking for anyone that knew my Father, His name was Melvin Clinton Sumrell. He fought in battle on Peleliu and Okinawa in WW2. I have his discharge papers and it says he paticpated in action aganist enemy at Peleliu from 15 Sept. 44 to 4 oct 44; Okinawa 1 April 45 to 2 July 45. I am looking for anything I can find out. I hope somebody out there know's anything about him and let me know. He did'nt talk about the war. Always said he had a desk job. After he died I was looking at his discharge papers and found out the little that I know. Any help will be appreciated. Thankyou, Donna Sumrell Taff.

By Donna Sumrell Taff on Mar 3, 2010 at 9:24 pm

My father, William Logan Jr. was with the 6th Marines on Okinawa and has talked a lot about the taking of 'Sugar Loaf Hill'. The more I read, the more I understand how lucky he was to just be wounded and receive a Purple Heart. His platoon was down to 25 men, as they assisted the taking of 'Sugar Loaf', Horseshoe, and on. Our family would like to record the stories of the battles and of course the marines on Okinawa before my father passes. He is 84 and we would like to make contact with anyone who can help with information on these battles to take Sugar Loaf Hill and push back the Shuri Line.
Thank you.

By Sally Logan on Mar 28, 2010 at 6:28 pm

Realized that I did not publish my email; SallyLogan@verizon.net for information on the takiing of 'Sugar Loaf Hill' on Okinawa with the 6th Marines. Father is 84 and we are trying to write down his stories before he is gone. Please contact, if you have information. Thank you!

By Sally Logan on Mar 28, 2010 at 6:31 pm

This battle started during the end of the Pacific War and took place around Okinawa Island, and it's known as the last battle between the U.S. and Japan.

After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor (1941), the U.S. entered World War 2. Okinawa's geographic location was an ideal position for strategic warfare in the Pacific – it was located between Kyushu and Formosa (Taiwan). Japan was an incredible force during World War 2 and the Allied forces wanted to attack Japan and stop Japan's aggressions. The Allied forces (including U.S.) viewed Okinawa as a perfect point from which they could invade/strike Japan. The invasion was code named "Operation Iceberg." This was the reason why this battle occurred.

The number of people who died in the Battle of Okinawa

American Soldiers – almost 12,520 people
Soldiers from Mainland – almost 65,908 people
Soldiers from Okinawa – almost 28, 228 people
General Inhabitant – almost 94,000 people

Total

200,656 people

From this, we could say that this battle is different from other battles in which did not involve general inhabitants

Now, we want to show you part of the E-mail letter we got from Bob Doktor about his experiences in the Battle of Okinawa.

Since you know that I was in the Battle for Okinawa you can realize that I may be older than some of your Grandparents. However I try to keep my mind abreast of things that are happening for example computers and Internet.

I will try to tell you as much as I can remember of the Battle of Okinawa. We arrived almost a week before the landing and were sheltered by some islands off the coast of Okinawa until April 1, 1945. During this period the large naval vessels such as the Battleship Missouri shelled Okinawa to prepare for the landing. Although we were sheltered off shore the ship had to move about as there were Japanese midget submarines stalking us part of the time and then we had the Kamikaze aircraft coming in.

One evening, I believe it was the second or third a Kamikaze was able to sneak through and hit a ship next to us. There were no fatalities fortunately other than the Japanese pilot. There were a few injuries, the ship was run aground so that it would not sink. The unit that was on this LST (this is the designation of Landing Ship Tank) was in our group and we knew quite a few of the men. We did not find out until the next morning that no one was killed, but we were worried as there was such a large explosion that we had assumed there were casualties and that some had died, but as I said before luck was with them and no one was killed other than the pilot.
When we landed we were sort of in shock since we met no resistance from the island and we had been briefed that there was a large force of Japanese soldiers there and to expect heavy gunfire with heavy resistance. Having been in battle prior to this landing, resistance is what we had expected. The only thing was Japanese aircraft was all over and they strafed the beaches and dropped a few bombs, but I think that this was so minimal and caused very few casualties. The Navy and Marines had many aircraft flying off the aircraft carriers and did give us outstanding air support. As we were on the beach and the Japanese aircraft dove at us, the American aircraft were right behind them and shot most of them down.
I do remember one incident in particular was that as a Japanese Zero dove and flew along the beach strafing, a U.S. Navy pane which was an F6F was right behind him, the Navy plane shot him down approximately 300 yards from us. At this same time the gunfire off the ships in the firing line and the LST & iacute's was as heavy and could be. Just when the Navy plane was almost abeam of us it shook all over as if it had been hit by friendly gunfire. The plane was maybe at 25 feet altitude at that time; the pilot set the plane down on the beach. He had got into the line of fire and was shot down. When there was no more fire the pilot got out of the plane and raised is arms in anger and yelling at the American ships for shooting him down. We rushed over to him and checked to see if he was all right and then took him down to the area where the smaller landing craft were so that they could get him back out to his carrier. I felt sorry for him and at the same time it seemed a little humorous that he had waved his arms in angry in a gesture of threatening the firepower.

We found out a little later on that a couple of other aircraft had been shot down and the pilots were lost. It turned out that in this case that the pilots were told not to go down that low with all of the firing from all of vessels. It was in the heat of battle that these orders were forgotten as the pilots were following the Japanese aircraft so intensely that they were oblivious to the outside world.
As the fighting continued the Marines headed northerly and started to get some ground fire around Kadena and around the village of Kadena, which was destroyed and demolished.

The as we moved to the north we met with more resistance, and ran into little pockets of Japanese soldiers who fought bravely, but either they surrendered or were killed. It seemed as if the firepower they had was limited and possibly did not have the training they should have had. We did manage to take many prisoners. Eventually we made it up to beyond Nago-Wan and we were moving rather swiftly now.

The Army to the south was running into much more resistance and came to a standstill more or less and they removed one Army division and sent them to the north to do the mopping up and the Marines were sent to the south. The fighting was fierce and again the Japanese soldiers put up a good fight. I think that we had the spirit and a good supply of ammunition and although we suffered many casualties we just persevered and pushed on until we got to the Naha – Shuri and the fighting really got heavy. I do not know if we would have made it after this point until we brought our heavy tanks in and started to push and push and push some more. I think that this broke the spirit of some of the Japanese soldiers and they started to move to the rear more and more as each day went by. I say spirit as if you do not feel that you can do anything regardless if it is war or not, just anything on a normal day, you have lost.

What I really felt bad about after the fighting had ceased I visited the final fighting area and saw the amount of Japanese soldiers who jumped off the cliffs and killed themselves. At the time I could not understand why these soldiers had jumped. I did have at the time respect for them in their loyalty, but did not understand it. As time went by I learned more of the Japanese people and of their culture and then realized why these honorable men had did what they had done.

I do not know if you had spoken to anyone in Group 6, but I was a career Marine and retired after 27 years. I had been to Okinawa many times and this is where I met my wife and married her in 1967. I used to joke about it that she was probably one of the young kids that I and other men used to give them the chocolate that came in our rations.

Sincerely,
Bob Doktor

In this E-mail, he told us many things about this battle. However the most interesting thing that he wrote usdescribing how he really felt bad about after the fighting had ceased. He visited the final fighting area and saw the bodies of Japanese soldiers who jumped off the cliffs and committed suicide. At the time he could not understand why these soldiers had killed themselves. As the time passed by, he learned more about the Japanese people and of their culture, and then realized why.

Children in Okinawa

Most of the teachers and students had to go to the army and help digging and moving earth and sand for making a new position for the army. Furthermore, some students were made to go into the army and be a soldier. They made the children take military training. Even the girls had to go to the army as a "Himeyuri" unit. This unit was to take care of the injured soldiers all day.

How the Japanese Prisoner was treated

U.S. Army didn't hurt the few Japanese prisoners that were taken, but they asked about Japanese army and it's conditions.
They gave some food such as candies, chewing gums and cigarettes to Okinawans and didn't force to do something. However they won't treat Japanese army like that so Japanese soldiers hid their own recognition card and every thing that says he is soldier of Japan.

Our teacher told us that there were cases of surrender Japanese soldiers being killed by Americans. Also, soon after the battle ended many Okinawans were put work for road repair, construction and other jobs.

By vvbbb on Apr 16, 2010 at 2:52 pm

My dad, James D. Shofestall, served aboard the L.C.S.(L) 114 during the invasion of Okinawa. The 114 was one of the first ships in and had quite an active role in the invasion. During the first hours a destroyer took two hits from kamikaze planes and went down. My dad and the crew of the 114 are credited with pulling 119 men from the water and the 114 received a Presidential Citation for their efforts while under attack themselves. After W.W.II dad became a civilian, but only for a short time! In 1948 he became a member of the U.S.Army, just in time for Korea. While caring for his family of five he managed to find time for Viet Nam on many TDY's from Clark A.F.B. where he was stationed with S.R.U.8 while on loan to the Air ForceDad proudly served his country for 22+ years. We lost him on Feb. 7, 2008 to lung cancer. Shortly before he left us he gave me a small box. Inside was a battered old flag with 48 stars. I turns out, it is the battle flag from the 114 during the invasion of Okinawa! THANK YOU to all our Vets. Past, Present and Future

By Sam Ellzey on Aug 21, 2010 at 12:56 am