LEST WE FORGET - TODAY 73 YEARS AGO

[Cosine26]

On this day in 1945 I was a Radarman 3/c on a “picket” cruiser. We had just completed practice firing on the Island of Culebra and were enroute to the Panama Canal to join the fleet for the invasion of Japan. During the Okinawa campaign , the USN established a radar picket line between Okinawa and Japan to ward off Kamikazes. The line as formed by destroyers. At Okinawa the picket destroyers were lasting about 78 minutes. The plan for the Japanese invasion was to replace the picket destroyers with light cruisers. I do know whether it was thought that the light cruisers would last longer or if the USN was running out of destroyers. I, for one, applaud the use on the nukes. Considering the high casualty rate expected and the typhoon that occurred during the time of the scheduled invasion, it was fortunate that it never occurred.
Col. Paul Tibbits and POTUS Harry Truman have my eternal gratitude.
IMHO
FWIW