The Battle of Okinawa...a story of man's inhumanity to man, and the death of thousands

[@irvvalenzuen3135]

Solid vid . Thanks

[@Scott_works]

I spent 1988 in Okinawa at USMC Camp Kinser. It is a beautiful island and a wonderful place for scuba diving. It is very hot and extremely humid in the summer, and Marines were given 30 days to climatize before any intense training. There are very strong rains at times, with typhoons keeping us in the barracks for several days at a time. It rains so hard that even wearing a poncho your clothes suck up water like a tampon leaving you soaking wet. In the summer, they ration water. We can scarcely imagine the horror of the battle for Okinawa. It was the largest amphibious battle of WWII, and the bloodiest battle of the South Pacific islands. There were 1,600 ships and over 350,000 Naval personnel involved in the assault. The US Navy had the highest casualty rate due to Japanese Kamikaze pilots. Over 2,800 Kamikaze attacks sank 34 ships, killing nearly 5,000 US sailors. The amphibious assault of these islands was horrible, and many Marines lost their lives drowning, trying to make it to shore laden down with equipment and ammo while Japanese machine gun fire pelted them. The battle lasted 3 months, involving 4 US Army and 2 US Marine divisions. They fought over every square inch of the island and had to go cave by cave to clear them as Okinawa has many caves. Many of the Japanese soldiers, once surrounded or defeated killed themselves rather than surrender.

[@unitedcomputers]

Thank you for your magnificent comment !!!!!

[@henrypollock7987]

Wasn’t the biggest amphibious battle d day? Also not just u.s sailors but aussies kiwis Canadians and poms also never forget

[@unitedcomputers]

Hi Henry. There is quite some discussion about the biggest naval battle........ Also no argument re the Allied support 'largest naval battle" No argument re the Allied soldiers.

[@henrypollock7987]

@@unitedcomputers isn’t there a whole thing in America where the army give the marines shit for missing the biggest naval invasion in history, keep in mind it’s a bit different when trying to gain a foothold on Europe vs a small island, pacific the fighting was more brutal but to invade mainland Europe you need more of everything

[@Scott_works]

@@henrypollock7987 Largest of the Pacific Theater.