A Published Letter Home after the Battle of Okinawa, 1945

Among the clippings from my late-father's scrapbooks was a Greenwich Time article from October 23, 1945.

It turns out that he served on the front lines in the Battle of Okinawa. That battle started on April 1 of that year. The Americans lost 7,373 men with an additional 32,056 wounded. At sea, 5,000 were killed with 4,600 wounded. The Japanese lost 107,000. An additional 7,400 men were taken prisoner. 

The piece quotes a letter my father wrote home. Dad wrote, "I am very thankful that you did not know what I was doing when we were fighting on Okinawa.

"When I was transferred from the 3rd Amphibious Corps to the First Marine Division, I was changed from radar to radio and I am still in radio. I carried a portable radio on my back in combat. During operations I was with the Fifth Marines, which is an infantry outfit, as a 'forward observer' for the 11th Marines (Artillery). 

"I was on the front lines from April 8 until the fighting ended. The first month we were working with different Army outfits. Boy! I was never so scared in all my life. 

"On an O.P. team there are one officer, two radio men, one scout sergeant and three wire men. Each Battery sends out two teams. Of all our men who were up on the line 50 per cent were killed or wounded so I guess I was just lucky for I had many a close call." 

Dad graduated from Greenwich High School in June, 1943. A few weeks after graduation he enlisted and departed for Parris Island for Marine Corps training. At the time this piece was published he had been in the Pacific Theatre for 19 months. 

Why was the Battle of Okinawa significant? The island could be used as a staging point for a full-scaled invasion of the Japanese home islands. Historians also note that this battle indicated to military planners just how heavy a toll it would be for such an invasion to take place.