Bloodstripe
07-07-02, 09:04 AM
And I was reading the "Letter of the month". And in it a reader was talking about the Battle for Okinawa. This is a piece of that article.
"The landing on Okinawa on April 1, 1945, was larger then the landing in Normandy. From the time the first wave hit the beach until sundown, 60,000 men and their equipment went ashore. The accomplishments of the 6th MARDIV alone are worth noting: We had 8,227 killed or wounded, which resulted in the capture of more then two-thirds of Okinawa and the control of 5 airfields, two seaplane bases, and three anchorages. In exchange, the 6th MARDIV killed more then 18,000 Japanese troops. The Army, Navy.and Marine Corps for the Okinawa campaign suffered 7,374 killed, 31,807 wounded and 239 missing. 36 U.S. ships were sunk, 368 were damaged and 763 aircraft were lost. The Navy had 4,907 seamen killed and 4,824 wounded. The Japanese lost more than in any previous Pacific battle: 7,830 planes, 16 combat ships, 107,539 counted dead, 23,764 sealed in caves and 10,755 taken prisoner".
I was stationed in Okinawa and had been to some of the Battlefields and have read a lot about the "Battle for Okinawa" and I am just in awe at what those men did to achieve victory. Kind of makes you wonder if the U.S. would accept those kinds of losses today...and this was only ONE battle
"The landing on Okinawa on April 1, 1945, was larger then the landing in Normandy. From the time the first wave hit the beach until sundown, 60,000 men and their equipment went ashore. The accomplishments of the 6th MARDIV alone are worth noting: We had 8,227 killed or wounded, which resulted in the capture of more then two-thirds of Okinawa and the control of 5 airfields, two seaplane bases, and three anchorages. In exchange, the 6th MARDIV killed more then 18,000 Japanese troops. The Army, Navy.and Marine Corps for the Okinawa campaign suffered 7,374 killed, 31,807 wounded and 239 missing. 36 U.S. ships were sunk, 368 were damaged and 763 aircraft were lost. The Navy had 4,907 seamen killed and 4,824 wounded. The Japanese lost more than in any previous Pacific battle: 7,830 planes, 16 combat ships, 107,539 counted dead, 23,764 sealed in caves and 10,755 taken prisoner".
I was stationed in Okinawa and had been to some of the Battlefields and have read a lot about the "Battle for Okinawa" and I am just in awe at what those men did to achieve victory. Kind of makes you wonder if the U.S. would accept those kinds of losses today...and this was only ONE battle