19 Jan 2023 Garand Picture of the Day

[Mark in Rochester]

96th Infantry Division moves up Big Apple Hill, scene of intense fighting on Okinawa, April 1945. While his M1 Garand is very much in use, he also sports both a Japanese Nambu holster and an M1911

Battle of Okinawa - Wikipedia

The Americans suffered some 48,000 casualties, not including some 33,000 non-battle casualties (psychiatric, injuries, illnesses), of whom over 12,000 were killed or missing. Killed in action were 4,907 Navy, 4,675 Army, and 2,938 Marine Corps personnel; when excluding naval losses at sea and losses on the surrounding islands (such as Ie Shima), 6,316 killed and over 30,000 wounded occurred on Okinawa proper. Other authors such as John Keegan have come up with higher numbers.

The most famous American casualty was Lieutenant General Buckner, whose decision to attack the Japanese defenses head-on, although extremely costly in American lives, was ultimately successful. Four days from the closing of the campaign, Buckner was killed by Japanese artillery fire, which blew lethal slivers of coral into his body, while inspecting his troops at the front line. He was the highest-ranking US officer to be killed by enemy fire during the Second World War. The day after Buckner was killed, Brigadier General Easley was killed by Japanese machine gunfire. The famous war correspondent Ernie Pyle was also killed by Japanese machine-gun fire on Ie Shima, a small island just off of northwestern Okinawa



Brigadier General Claudius Easley

Medal of Honor recipients from Okinawa are:

Beauford T. Anderson – 13 April
Richard E. Bush – 16 April
Robert Eugene Bush – 2 May
Henry A. Courtney Jr. – 14–15 May
Clarence B. Craft – 31 May
James L. Day – 14–17 May
Desmond Doss – 29 April – 21 May
John P. Fardy – 7 May
William A. Foster – 2 May
Harold Gonsalves – 15 April
William D. Halyburton Jr. – 10 May
Dale M. Hansen – 7 May
Louis J. Hauge Jr. – 14 May
Elbert L. Kinser – 4 May
Fred F. Lester – 8 June
Martin O. May – 19–21 April
Richard M. McCool Jr. – 10–11 June
Robert M. McTureous Jr. – 7 June
John W. Meagher – 19 June
Edward J. Moskala – 9 April
Joseph E. Muller – 15–16 May
Alejandro R. Ruiz – 28 April
Albert E. Schwab – 7 May
Seymour W. Terry – 11 May

Information

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