Thank you for posting this. My father fought on Okinawa as a 19 year old Marine. He carried the memory of his service in the Pacific and later in China but mostly of this battle and of his USMC brothers that he lost there till the end of his life. He never spoke of it but he never forgot them. Semper Fi. RIP Pop. God bless the USA and God bless the USMC.

I was pleased to see my father's company, Charlie Company'',29th Marines Sixth Marine Engineers banner over the Bailey Bridge he helped build under fire.

The question why the hell did we have to ravage these innocent islanders?
Ask the militarists in Tokyo!
Japan's Decision for War by Louis Morton
"Few if any of the fateful decisions of history are as well documented as the one Japan made on 1 December 1941 to go to war with the United States and Great Britain. The sequence of events that led to this decision has been described in rich detail and at first hand by those who played the leading roles in this drama of national suicide, and, with somewhat more detachment, by the students of diplomacy and Far Eastern affairs. The rise and fall of cabinets in prewar Japan, the confidential deliberations of its highest political bodies, the tortuous path of its diplomacy, and the views of its most influential leaders have been analyzed and illuminated by jurists and scholars alike. For those who wish to retrace the road to Pearl Harbor, the signposts are indeed numerous and the way well lighted.
Not so well charted is the course taken by the Japanese Army and Navy to gain by force what the politicians and diplomats could not win by negotiation. The path is a faint one, but the journey along it rewards the traveler with an understanding of the strange mixture of reality and illusion which led Japan to attack the most powerful nations in the Pacific. It confirms and clarifies, too, the role of the military in Japan's political life, and makes clear how the needs and capacities of the Army and Navy at once established and limited national objectives and ambitions. And along this path lies the explanation for Japan's dramatic blow against Pearl Harbor and its choice of time, place, and method of attack."

WWII was the beginning big time for the American war machine that has never ceased! Why the hell did we have to ravage these innocent islanders? Oh, we gave them a democratic way of life, bullshit! It has not worked in America and look at all the Made In Japan goods that swamped our homes back then. Yes, wars suck but not for the under takers!

My Uncle Bill was in The Pacific in tanks and on Okinawa and other atolls, and he came home without a scratch, and it haunted him the rest of his life. This film record for the battle of Okinawa pulls no punches. The pictures speak for themselves and the narration is quite informative. The counts of the dead and wounded on both sides was just insane, but it's all true. Only a couple of minor attempts at propaganda may mar this for some, but not most. Oscar nominated at the time, it's an undiscovered gem now, but one that should be seen by all today. Semper Fi Marines,Well Done, may you rest in peace.