@johnkelley2615
My grandpa, a BAR man in the marines fought across the entire island of Okinawa to the edge of the city of Naha where he was wounded. He’s 99 now
@edwardtroth8630
The more one reads or hears about the battles of Okinawa and Iwo Jima, the more one realises how horrifying an invasion of the home islands would have been.
@kevincourtney7312
I was stationed on Okinawa at Kadena AFB in the 1970s in the Civil Engineers so as base maintenance we got to see a lot of the hidden corners of the facilities. There were Japanese bunkers in several places on Kadena and our other facilities and it gave me chills to thin of the battles that raged around them just thirty years before. If you ever get to go to the battle field at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, you'll get a similar feeling, the silence of death permeates the place.
@Mondo762
My father, a US Army Combat Engineer, fought all the way to the most southern tip of Okinawa. General Buckner was less than 100 yards from my dad when he got killed by a mortar. He never spoke in detail but did say he was involved in a lot of cave fighting. You could see on his face that it was a hard, grueling experience that left a lasting mark on him.
@budgregory8493
My dad, U.S.Navy arrived in Iwo Jima first of March 1945. He turned 20 on the way. From there on to Okinawa then the Philippines. My hero may he RIP.
@richardthornhill4630
I was stationed in Sukuran 20 years later. Many of the battle scars were still there. The caves were horrendous hideouts but the Okinawans adjusted and most were very friendly after they realizing how the Japanese had used them.
@めておら-b6p
My grandfather's older brother was sent to Okinawa after being put on standby at Kure, Hiroshima for months. He sent letters to my grandfather in Osaka saying how he was so excited to finally do his part for Japan. He never made it back. Apparently he was 15 at the time.
@johnhardwick9911
My parents took me and my two brothers to Okinawa in Nov 51. They lived on Okinawa for 21 years working for the US Army. I have many fond memories of the people of Okinawa and I left when I finished high school. I returned four years later after completing 2 tours in Vietnam with the US Army and enjoyed 5 more years on the island, which had greatly improved. Okinawa is now considered the vacation destination of Japanese visitors.
@TTvReborn187
my grandpa fought through almost all of the Pacific campaign. I was really young when he was around but I do remember one story. he told me is group was hunkered down in a bunker waiting on bombs to drop and that the guy beside him had pooped himself. and when the bombs hit, he said you could feel the whole earth move. and the leader told em," up and out it's time to go, up the ladder". grandpa said he got stuck behind the guy that pooped himself and on the way up the ladder, it was dropping on him. grandpa said he was upset but he had a job to do.
@まる-h1v
I am an Okinawan citizen living in Okinawa. My grandparents experienced the Battle of Okinawa. My grandfather passed away before I was born, but I often hear stories about their war through my grandmother. Also, every year in Okinawa schools, we invite people who experienced the war to the school and listen to their stories, and we actually visit the Peace Memorial Museum, which has detailed information about the Battle of Okinawa, and learn about how tragic the Battle of Okinawa was. Masu. Okinawa also suffered very difficult times not only during the war, but also after the war. For a time, the Okinawan dialect was even banned. I think Okinawa has had a really difficult history, and I am truly proud of my ancestors who survived such a difficult past. I love this country and Okinawa very much. It may be a beautiful thing, but I want war to disappear from this world.
@nateb9768
My grandmothers uncle was a Marine who fought on Iwo Jima. Letters from Iwo Jima gives me chills every time I watch that film. Can’t imagine the sights, sounds, and smells that my grandmas uncle experienced over there.
@Golfing422
I work with a 98 yo man who was there. He spoke of the flame thrower guy losing his mind and those guys having to get rotated. After the surrender served as one of MacArthur’s guards. Still got his body and mind at 98.
@OlJarhead
Remembering my cousin, Marine Private Clarence Milton Staples from Bethlehem, Indiana, killed in action in bitter fighting in the Awacha Pocket of the Shuri Line on 7 May 1945.
@extrahistory8956
Yet another battle that I really don't know much about. Thanks RTH. This channel is a great way to learn about the final battles of World War 2.
@USAR8888
Reading the book "With the Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge was really an eye opener as to just how savage and animalistic the combat of the Pacific theater was, and specifically Okinawa. It almost makes fighting the Germans in the European theater look tame by comparison, although I don't want to downplay the brutality of that theater in any way. But there was a different element of extreme savagery in the combat of the Pacific. I cannot imagine what those men went through. That book was extremely difficult and heartbreaking to read, to see the sadistic violence that literal boys who hadn't yet become men were forced into. One of the most profound and memorable war memoirs I've ever read.
@JawsFan27
The amount of explosive ordnance used on Okinawa was so much, they're still finding it to this day (an unexploded shell was found a few weeks ago during some construction work). That comment about the rain is spot-on. It rains so hard you can barely see in front of you. I genuinely wonder how those guys did it fighting in such miserable conditions.
@kirbyleung2810
My Uncle S/Sgt William T Leung, machine gunner, 7th Infantry Division, awarded Bronze Star Medal for Heroic Achievement, Okinawa Campaign. Veteran of 4 major campaigns, survived the war.
@六三四航空戦隊
私は日本人です。 This uses google translate. I'm sorry if there is any misunderstanding. There are some points that need to be corrected. That is the Japanese army placement map in the beginning. As of April 1945, the 44th Independent Mixed Brigade was not stationed on the Katsuren Peninsula, but on the Chinen Peninsula.
@JustAnotherRandomGuy-_-
My grandpa was a conscript of USAFFE, a Filipino. He was stationed in Visayas region of the Commonwealth Philippines and when Bataan and Corrigidor fell to the IJA. My grandpa joined a guerilla group to continue waging war against the invading IJA. When Gen. Mac Arthur returned, they liberated the islands one by one. Throughout the war my grandpa witnessed unspeakable atrocities committed by the brutal and barbaric Japanese soldiers. He died in 1998 at the age of 82.
@realtimehistory