My father was a BAR rifleman with the 1st Marine Div and was in the first wave to hit the beaches of Okinawa. They made it to the beach, but the those coming in behind em weren’t so fortunate....pretty devestating. For awhile, they were essentially trapped on the beach...couldn’t go back, couldn’t go forward...pinned down for hours. He didn’t talk too much about it when I was a kid. I do remember him telling me he spent the last few months of his enlistment as a hand-to-hand combat instructor and you really didn’t want to piss the guy off...lol. ...don’t ask me how I know! They tried to get him to re-enlist, but he had seen and been through enough. He didn’t do it...most of those he knew that did died in Korea.
A year or two before he passed away, two Marine historians/stenographers spent some time with him at his home in Maine recording his WWII experiences. A couple of times, they just had to stop because it was just unreal what he was describing. All three of em was practically in tears. There is no doubt: war is hell.
I served during the Vietnam era but was lucky enough to have never been ordered to SE Asia. I guess God had other plans for me. But I have wondered how honorably...or dishonorably...I would have performed if I had been sent there. I cannot honestly claim that I’m convinced that I would have served bravely rather than like Corporal Upham.