The Hardest War (the Okinawa Nightmare)

The New York Review of Books ^ | December 20, 2001 | John Gregory Dunne

[denydenydeny]

A fine review article until the last three paragraphs, when Dunne's political views get the better of him. Patriotism, love of country, fighting for freedom--it's all "sentimental claptrap." The moral of Dunne's story is: Suckers, you all died for nothing

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

This book should be required reading in all high schools in America. RIP, Devil Dog.

[bandleader]

I am a student of WW2 and I am very proud to include EB Ledge's"With The Old Breed"among my vast collection of books.I acquired this particular tome about 15-years ago and now I will read it again to honor it's author and to remember his passing.His depiction of the battle for Pelelieu is breathtakingly brutal.

[aculeus]

His death went unreported by The New York Times, and I learned of it only recently when my wife, browsing the Internet, happened upon a terse nine-line obituary that appeared in The Washington Post four days after he died. "Eugene B. Sledge," the headline read, "Marine Memoirist." The memoir was called With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. The title is like the book itself, without artifice: it is simple, precise, unsophisticated, unliterary, a war remembrance without tricks or hurrah.

The New York Times hates the military and ignores the passing of people like Dr. Sledge.

Sledge was interviewed on the recent cable program on the Pacific War (on TLC?) and was truly a gentleman.

That was a horrific war and Fussel was right: thank God for the atom bombs. The Japs would have fought even more fanatically on their home islands and ... we may have not won. Little remembered were riots by American troops in Europe (yes, the greatest generation) who were fed up with waiting for the trip home. With the Soviet Union no longer threatened by Germany their agents would have turned their attention to the USA, undermining our war effort as they did in the UK when Stalin and Hitler were allies.

[LadyDoc]

One soldier said it best. War is hell.

Another soldier reminded us: There is never a good war or a bad peace

Soldiers know these things. The PC who sing of peace and love, the PC who want a clean war from the air and ignore the dead and dying, those who glamourize war and preach of holy wars forget this. The main shame is that so few of our "elite" nowadays ever fought in a war, so they could put things into perspective.

[Stavka2]

Just remember, in the battle of Stalingrad, over 5 months, both sides lost a total of almost 1 million men. Kursk was similar. In '44 during the Summer offensive that collapsed Army Group Center, the Germans lost almost half a million men, in an operation that took the Soviets roughly 1 month to complete. Pacific fighting, while quite gruelling, was tiny on the scale of blood shed of the Eastern Front.

[Stavka2]

There is never a good war or a bad peace

That is a lie on both accounts. While war is hell, it is also an instrument. Would a good piece have been with the Nazies in charge...Chamberlin all the way. (/sarcasm)

[magellan]

... written by a speechwriter for a president who spent his years in uniform making propaganda movies in Los Angeles.

Reagan wanted to go fight, but he was extremely nearsighted (he wore contact lenses most of the time) and was not classified for combat. As a result, he was assigned to do training films (not propaganda) for the War Department.

[IncPen]

I gave my wife's uncle a copy of Sledge's book because he mentioned one time that he'd served in the Pacific. He was thrilled to get it and mentioned he'd served on Peleliu... and Okinawa.

I saw him this Christmas Eve and told him I'd heard that the USS Peleliu was in the fray in the Middle East and that I'd thought of him.

Here's my notes of some of what he told me a week or so ago...

Any errors are mine...

"We had such long times of boredom that when we finally got into the fight it was like a drug and you wanted it even though it scared you beyond fear ... the only time I really lost control of myself with the fear was the time swimming."

"..We were coming in to the beach and we ran out of fuel, and the Marines were pinned down by the Japanese up on these ridges. The Marines had fuel, so they started rolling the drums into the water and they were coming our way but they were drifting away also. "

"So they asked for a couple strong swimmers which I was. With the Japs shooting at full barrels of diesel fuel I went swimming out there with a rope that was going to loop around the barrels. Well, when I got out there I got the rope around a couple of barrels and then I felt really tired and the current was pulling me away from the island... "

"So I tied the rope and started swimming back but I was being swept out to sea! I was sure it was all over for me so I took a breath and I went under and grabbed the coral and hung on til the undertow stopped, then I came up and swam like hell! Then I went under again and waited. It saved my life! I finally made it to the beach and was dragged ashore with them shooting at me the whole time. My hands were so cut up and raw, and my lips were a mess from the salt and sun, but I was alive."

"And I never understood the Silver Star. There were these marines who made their way up to the ridge and all these Japs in caves shooting at us and ducking back inside. So the marines would rapell down the face with a sachel charge and a length of wire and they'd toss the sachel in and scramble up the wall. And the guy up top would blast it with a turn crank! Sometimes they just used a fuse, lighted the charge and tossed the dynamite in the cave. Imagine trying to light a match while swinging with a bag of dynamite and those Japs shooting at your feet! Alot of the guys smoked so the cigarettes probably saved them... I remember they had this strong opposition from some of these bunkers and the marines would go up there and pour gas in a vent and toss in a grenade. Boom! That was hell!"

"But the officers-- they all got the stars because they sat there watching and wrote each others commendations! None of the guys who did it got the stars!"

"When we finally took Peleliu I had alot of down time which I spent writing to my mother and my wife. I didn't have any paper of course, so I went looking ... and in this bunker there's a stack of rice paper so I took that, and then I went back and found a Japanese pencil. How many guys wrote home on rice paper? And when my wife died I went through all her things and there were those letters after all those years. So i read them and then I took them out and burned them and that was the end of that. It was between her and me- no one else."

"I remember too how they called me up and the sarge said, Norm, you're going to Okinawa and I knew it was going to be a hell of a fight but i just wanted to do something... and I got my gear and went to the airfield and he sees me and says, go back Norm, someone jumped in in front of you. and of course now i'm glad but that day I was so damn mad. But I don't know what happened to the guy who went instead of me"

"When it was all done on that island I don't think I saw more than 4 dead Japs, and it looked like they were sleeping. Maybe i just overlooked them. You kind of were in a kind of shock from all the fear."

[RaceBannon]

I've got the video on Pelelieu, with Sledge being interviewed. More men died on Pelelieu in the first 3 days then in the entire Tarawa campaign of 31 days.

[Snow Bunny]

Thank you for the ping Race.

[dcwusmc]

thanks for the ping. Nice post. I read his book a few times.

[dcwusmc]

thanks for the ping. Nice post. I read his book a few times.

[theirjustdue]

Thanks for the ping Race.

[Poohbah]

Are you sure the Tarawa campaign was 31 days? IIRC, the island was declared "secure" in 76 hours, mostly because there wasn't anyone left alive to shoot back.

Peleliu was one of Nimitz's few mistakes, IMNHO.

[exmarine]

The U.S. Marine Corps in WW II were simply MAGNIFICENT. There is no other way to put it. Consider that Iwo Jima was even MORE brutal and bloody and seemingly impossible to win...yet, the Marines did it. They were truly amazing.

I would like to recommend another great book: "Flags of our Fathers" by Bradley

[exmarine]

Okinawa was the biggest land battle in the Pacific theatre in World War II.

[VaMarVet]

Thanks as always for a Marine ping - happy new year to all and to all ooorahh!

[RaceBannon]

As I remember, the fighting never ended for 31 days. Iwo was declared secure in a week, too, I think, but only 5000 had died by then, with another thousand to die after. Funny how fighting can go on and the place becalled secure. I guess secure just means it is safe to walk around somewhere without being shot right away.

[Poohbah]

Iwo was NOT declared secure in a week--that may have been the one you were thinking of, taking 31 days.

Tarawa was a bloody mess, but it was a BRIEF mess.