Posted on 08/15/2010 5:59:12 PM PDT by PROCON
Today is the 65th Anniversary of VJ Day, or Victory over Japan Day.
Did your Dad or other relatives serve against Japan in WWII?
(Excerpt) Read more at bigjournalism.com ...
Dad was a SeaBee 24th NCB, signed up after Pearl Harbor. Went through Gulfport, MS and was shipped out to the Fiji’s. Went from Guadacanal, up the Solomons to Okinowa and from there he spent the rest of the war recovering in New Zealand. He said that the things that he feared the most were: Full Moons and Kamakazi’s when he was going from Island to Island.
I wrote this about my father last Memorial Day:
April 1, 2010
Dear Readers;
April 1st is more than just April Fools Day - it is also the anniversary of an event that should never be forgotten, at least not by anyone who loves America.
In 1945, April 1st was Easter Sunday. In 1945, April 1st was also L-Day in the Ryukyu Islands in the Pacific; shortly after dawn, the first wave of United State Marines would slip over the sides of their troop transports and climb down rope netting into the rocking landing craft below, known as Higgins Boats.
The codename for the operation was Iceberg. On the morning of April 1st, 1945, the invasion of Okinawa began.
My Dad is 85, and I consider myself blessed, and more than a little lucky, that he is still with us and enjoying life; I’m 58, so very few of my friends and relatives can say the same. But I remember them all, all the Dads of my youth; so many different personalities and styles, all of them patriotic Americans, most only a generation removed from the old country.
They all, to a man, believed in the greatness of America, taught us to work hard, taught us that there is no free lunch, taught us to have compassion for those less fortunate and to be generous with them, taught us to struggle for a better life, and told us that having achieved it, no man could take it from us.
Would that the men who now run this country been taught the same way.
My father enlisted in the Marine Corp the day he turned 18, in 1943, and after a year of stateside training was shipped overseas. There, on Guam and Iwo, he trained for amphibious landings. By that time, the United States Navy and Marine Corp had island-hopped almost all the way across the Pacific – almost. There was one island to go before the invasion of Japan, and that was Okinawa.
PFC Frank Santarpia, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 29th Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division, 20 years old, went ashore with the first wave on the morning of April 1, 1945: Easter Sunday.
There’s no time or space here for the details, but suffice it to say that Okinawa, which was in such close proximity to the home islands of Japan that it was within the prefecture of the city of Tokyo, was the most heavily defended island of the entire war.
By the time it was secure, 12,513 brave American men were dead. Mull that number over in your mind for a moment. Twelve thousand, five hundred and thirteen. In an action that took less than six weeks.
The wounded numbered 38,916, and my father was one of them; he was shot on April 16th, during the Battle of Sugar Loaf Hill. He received a Purple Heart, spent three weeks in a makeshift island hospital, and was sent back to his platoon before the operation was completed. His regiment, the 29th, had been thrown into a meat grinder; their casualty rate was over 90%.
As brave as he was, and as compelling his story, he was far from unique - he did his job alongside tens of thousands of other Marines and soldiers. In the same mold as any other American fighting for freedom, past and present, his actions represented the norm, not the exception – and to this day, every detail about that battle has to be coaxed from him; he never talks about it voluntarily, and never thought it was anything special.
In an America that teaches its children little about the greatness of our country, that teaches shame for our past rather than pride, that ignores those who are noble and heroic, yet glorifies those who couldn’t shine the combat boots of the least of the men who fought in that battle, it is time to remember.
If, in writing this piece, I can get just a few of you spare a thought for these men today and every April 1st, I will have done my job. Maybe you could tell their story to a friend or neighbor - tell them about the men who fought and died for our flag and our freedom on a God-forsaken piece of volcanic rock that was ten thousand miles closer to Tokyo than it was to Ebbetts Field.
Tell them. Because if you don’t, nobody will.
Frank Santarpia
Staten Island, NY
www.teapartysi.com
He is a patriot, and remembers his security clearance!!
I still remember Nuke data from my Field Artillery service in the late 70's, was told when I got out to say nothing, I don't!
Ironically, or not, I started and finished my Vietnam service on that same day!
Tell them. Because if you don’t, nobody will.
No, we must never forget, we must tell our children!!
Thanks for the post, FRiend!
My daddy left to go overseas when I was 9 hours old. He served in North Africa, Sicily, then Italy for 33 months.
He was a Staff Sergeant under Gen. Patton’s command.
My grandmother had 4 sons and one son in law serving at the same time. They say her hair turned gray overnight.
His brother was a navigator aboard a B-52 that was shot down over Germany. They never found his body. Their father lost a leg in France during WWI. I was privileged to hold both purple hearts.
My grandmother's cousin was a Nun named Sister Bridgetine, that was captured by the Japanese during the war. I don't know the circumstances of how or why she was taken prisoner. She was in the Bataan Death March, as to what else she endured, I wasn't told.
My father did not serve in WW2, but if we had not dropped the A bombs, as a member of the class of 46, he probably would have. However, he did serve in Korea.
Not in my wildest dreams would I have thought that this thread would have gone as far as it did!!
But then again, I have not heard from ALL of the FReeper Patriots!!
Hey, most of our WWII Dads are gone, let's keep on their legacy!
I am proud to be here and associated with folks like you!!
We conservatives WILL overcome the scum libs, ultimately, be of good faith and heart!
I'm tired, see ya soon!
Bump!
I was born nine months to the day that he returned....Guess mom met him at the door with nothing on but a smile..KA-BOOM..I was a wanted well planned child.
on December 17, 1907, he earned the Medal of Honor during World War II in April 1942 at Makassar, Celebes, Netherlands East Indies.
My grandfather, Real Admiral, Richard N Antrim:
He was serving as Executive Officer of the USS Pope which was sunk by the Japanese. He was the senior officer among the 150 members of the crew who survived the sinking and assumed command of the group. He organized the men and carefully distributed the meager remaining rations. Under his direction, all of his command survived until a Japanese destroyer pulled them from the sea a week later.
He won the Nation’s highest award for valor for his action in saving the life of a fellow prisoner of war in a Japanese prison camp in April of 1942. President Harry Truman made the presentation in 1947.
The Admiral, then a Lieutenant, was cited for acting in behalf of a Navy officer “who was subjected to a vicious clubbing by a frenzied Japanese guard.” The citation said Lieutenant Antrim attempted to quiet the guard and finally persuaded him to discuss the charges.
The citation read: “With the entire Japanese force assembled and making extraordinary preparations for the threatened beating, and with the tension heightened by 2,700 Allied prisoners rapidly closing in, Commander Antrim gallantly stepped forward and indicated to the perplexed guards that he would take the remainder of the punishment, throwing the Japanese completely off balance in their amazement and eliciting a roar of acclaim from the suddenly inspired Allied prisoners.
“By his fearless leadership and valiant concern for the welfare of another, he not only saved the life of a fellow officer and stunned the Japanese into sparing his own life, own also brought about a new respect for American officers and men and a great improvement in the camp living conditions.”
ping
ping 16
my great Uncle Wilt was stationed on battleships before the war broke out . In Dec of 41’ he was a crew member of the U.S.S. Arizona . On Saturday , Dec 6th he got some shore leave and went and found himself a nice little wahine to shack up with downtown and had not returned to the ship by early the next morning. That girl probably saved his life .
He went thru the entire war on this BB or that , ending up in 3rd Fleet and stationed aboard the BB-63 , U.S.S. Missouri . Being from Missouri he was real proud of that! He was one of those guys you see in old photos sitting on every gun and railing and all the masts and turrets in the surrender photos . That’s how he began and ended that war ...
Wonderful thread and tributes to our greatest generation, thank you for the thread!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pope_%28DD-225%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Ikazuchi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sunda_Strait
what a fascinating story !
My dad also worked on the Manhattan project doing research on uranium refinement at Columbia University.
He told me an interesting story about a friend who lived in the same apartment building. He knew that my dad worked on a secret war project but of course, my dad would never tell him what it was. The guy was a science fiction buff, and one day he told my dad that he had noticed that all mention of atomic bombs had abruptly disappeared from the sci-fi literature and pulp magazines. So, he quite correctly concluded that was what my dad was working on!
My uncle, his brother, served somewhere in Europe.
I finished reading a book about the Okinawa campaign. The Battle of Sugar Loaf Hill is an extraordinary telling of bravery above and beyond.
I want to add that some of these men, both soldiers and Marines, fought for more than 30 days straight, under constant artillery fire, and viscious Japanese counterattacks, before being relieved and rotated to the rear for a bit of rest. After that, they were thrown back into the fight.
After American forces took Okinawa, they knew the next step was the invasion of Kyushu, where one million casualties was the expected toll. When the men on Okinawa heard about “the bomb,” there was great relief. One Marine wrote that he “might make it home alive now.”
Tell your father thanks and Semper Fi.
Thank you for your service and first hand story. This Forum truly honors all branches of the military...
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