Free Republic

On this day 75 years ago, one of the most intense conflicts of World War II—the Battle of Okinawa—concluded in a historic victory for the United States.  Today, we pause to remember the more than 12,000 American heroes who perished in that monumental struggle and pay tribute to thousands of service members who were instrumental in the forces of freedom emerging triumphant.The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II.  Dubbed Operation Iceberg, a fleet of 1,300 American ships and 50 British ships descended on the island of Okinawa in April of 1945, with a...

Why did Robert McTureous leave a safe spot and risk his life? December 11, 2012 by David Marquet In 1942 Robert Miller McTureous Jr. quit. He quit collage were he was active in sports, and he was active in church and he was an avid airplane modeler to go back to his hometown Altoona, FL with the intention of enlisting. When McTureous tried to enlist he received some incredibly dispiriting news. He was classified as 4F — unfit for duty — because he had a hernia. So his brother Basil got on a job with the Florida Highway Department, where...

“If you ever want to sleep with a blonde again, you had better shoot down these bastards as soon as they come up” - a destroyer captain motivates his exhausted crew shortly before a kamikaze attack. The sea-battle toll for Okinawa, which ended on June 21st 1945, was 36 U.S. warships sunk and 368 damaged. Almost 5,000 sailors were KIA and another 5,000 wounded. War naturally conjures images of brave infantrymen. Almost 200,000 soldiers and marines rest in cemeteries around the world. Too often forgotten are the Navy and merchant sailors felled at sea. It’s understandable; there are no battlefield...

As we celebrate Easter Sunday and the Jewish Passover, we should keep in our prayers and remembrances the many Americans who fought and sacrificed during that same time 73 years ago in the Battle of Okinawa. The event was Operation Iceberg. It was the bloodiest battle and the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of World War II. On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, the Navy’s Fifth Fleet under Admiral Raymond Spruance attacked the Japanese-held island. They were joined by a British, Canadian, New Zealand, and Australian naval task force and more than 180,000 Army soldiers and Marines. This...

Kamikaze - a Japanese word meaning "divine wind" - was a last-ditch effort by the Japanese to stop the Allied advance in the Pacific during World War 2. Pilots, mostly young students, gladly volunteered for suicide missions out of a strong sense of duty to their Emperor. Most of us know of the kamikaze through documentaries or old videos. But the suicide attacks were very real for Grove Schoolcraft, 85, of Sandpoint, Idaho. In fact, the ship he served on as a signalman, the USS PC-1603, was struck twice at the Battle of Okinawa, and scuttled on May 26, 1945....