OKINAWA IN 1945

I had two or three friends who  took part in the invasion of Okinawa.  One was Infantry and wounded there.  One was Exec. on a Mine Sweeper cruising back and forth,moving ever closer to the shore, to make a way for the assault troops, Army and Marine.  The third was a sailor on the Carrier Coral Sea.
Okinawa was the first home island of Japan.

The invasion fleet numbered 1,500 ships with some 1,000 Aircraft, and some 500,000 Allied troops.  The Japanese defended with 130,000 determined"to the death" Japanese.
The landing was largely unopposed, but the defenders were in the mountain slopes and dug in for the final, die to the finish fight which lasted from April, 1 to June 23rd, 1945--almost three months.  The defenders had to be removed from caves and destroyed, almost, one at a time.

While the land forces dealt with these fanatics our ships were facing another huge threat--Kamikasi---Pilots trained to fly only one way.  A flying bomb, and they did great damage to the fleet.

Allied losses, killed wounded and captured were 82,600, over 49,000 of those American.  Japanese losses numbered 124,755.  The next target was Japan itself!

President Truman sent a message to Tokyo telling the Emperor that he needed to quit right now or suffer the same destructive might of Allied Forces that Germany had!  They refused and we dropped the big ones. ...Medicineman!