Okinawa -- Last Great Battle of World II

April 1 was the date scheduled for the invasion of Okinawa and that was when the real battle started although some activity was underway March 31 so that is sometimes given as the official day for the beginning of the last, and perhaps most important, battle of World War II. There will not be many commemorations of the 66th anniversary of the  battle, but I will continue to observe it as long as I live. Tomorrow I will tell of my personal experience as our ship, the Pickens, played its part but today I will  write a few words about the battle and why it was so important to the nation and to me personally.

Few people realize that Okinawa was the largest sea and land operation of the war, larger than Normandy in ships, men and supplies. Okinawa lies some 350 miles from Japan and in American hands could be used as a staging area from which to attack the Japanese mainland.  Japan's leaders knew that loss would leave them with two options, surrender or wage a war of national suicide.  They hoped that if Japan were invaded they would wage costing so many lives that Americans would agree to negotiate a peace.

The battle waged from April 1 to June   22 with casualties high for both sides, Americans losing more than 12,000 dead, including almost 5,000 Navy dead and almost 8,000 Marine and Army dead and 30,000 wounded. In addition, non-wounded casualties numbered 26,000.  Japan lost 130,000 soldiers killed and 10,000 surrendered or captured.  Civilian deaths were estimated at 132,000.

Allied forces lost  34 ships sunk, mostly by kamakaze, 368 ships and crafts damaged, and 763 aircraft destroyed. Casualties were so high  there were congressional calls for an investigation into  the conduct of military commanders.  The effectiveness of kamakaze attacks was proven beyond doubt and it was only a sample of what American could expect in an invasion of Japan.  The high cost in lives convinced President Truman to drop the atom bomb, leading to Japan's surrender.  This saved the lives of hundreds of thousands, including me, who were preparing to invade Japan when that nation surrendered.

66 Years Ago We Are Two Days from Okinawa.

The USS Pickens, along with some 1200 other vessels of various sizes and capabilities was just three days out of Saipan and some two days away from Okinawa.  I don't remember that Tokyo Rose informed us that the invasion of Okinawa was planned for April 1, but she warned us Japanese resistance would be fierce and out casualties would be high.  She said the Japanese realized that if we took Okinawa, giving the United States forces  a nearby platform from which to attack, that Japan could not win the war.

Looking back from the viewpoint of 66 years, I don't believe  the elected officials in Washington, our top military leaders, or we rank and file servicemen had any idea how difficult the battle would be.  We had experienced kamakaze attacks at Iwo Jima a few weeks before but that was only a sample of what we would get at Okinawa.  We radarmen searched the skies diligently for unidentified planes and lookouts kept visual watch as we got closer and closer to Okinawa.

What are Caddo school board members thinking?

The answer is they must not be thinking, at least about what is best for school children.  I could blast the staff for presenting a plan for school consolidation that ignores what's best for the students, but  they are trying to justify their jobs and high salaries.

I admit I don't know all of their proposal but  here's just part of it -- Abolish elementary schools Forest Hill, Southern Hills and Summer Grove, move all their students to Ridgewood Middle School.  How can that school take care of some 2,000 more students?  I don't want to call any school bad, but Ridgewood is rated low academically and it has a reputation of poor discipline.  Picture this -- the bell rings for classes to change and the students storm the halls, with seventh and eighth graders speeding through swearing and cursing as kindergartners and first graders move against the walls trying to avoid being trampled.  Listen, I've been in those halls when the bell rang and saw what happens.

Let's hope the school members come to their senses and aborts these plans.  Parents can always speak out and they will if the board tries to enact such a bad program.

Kicked out of car while hitchiking

During the years I attended  LSU  I traveled various ways from Baton Rouge home and from home to LSU. rode the train sometimes and often I rode both ways with friends who had cars.  I also hitchhiked, mostly from Baton Rouge to home, seldom the other way, from home to LSU.

One  ill fated time I left home planning to use my thumb to get back to LSU.  I had only a few dollars with me but turned down an offer of  some money from my dad.  I knew a check was waiting for me in the post office. I walked a mile to Highway 80 and caught a ride to Highway 17l in Bossier City.  A car stopped but as I started to get in the driver said "wait, I may have to kick you out down the highway."  I thought he was joking, told him I was headed back to LSU, and got in the car.  He began to talk but I paid little attention.  It was spring and  people were in the fields plowing and planting crops.  He asked me something about Henry Wallace speaking at LSU at the invitation of the student council.  I responded something like, "they would invite anybody."  He stopped the car and told me to get out.  I couldn't believe it.  He yelled, "get out of my car, you communist.: I responded, " I just get out of the navy. I'm a veteran."  I got out and he drove off.                                                Now, consider this: I was just a few miles south of Bossier City and with only a few dollars.  I flagged a bus down and bought a ticket to Alexandria, hoping to catch a ride the remainder of the way.  At the bus station I
saw a number of people who I thought might be students on the way to LSU.  I walked up to one guy and asked him if he attended LSU.  When he  said yes, I asked him if he would lend me enough money to buy a ticket to Baton Rouge.  He was so startled that he let me have the money although later he looked like he regretted it.  I paid him back the next day.

Henry Wallace was a member of the communist party and, in mine and most informed people, a traitor to the United States.  He almost became president.  Southerners refused to have him on the ballot  for vice president, replacing him with Harry Truman.  An ill and incompetent Franklin Roosevelt allowed Stalin to take over Eastern Europe. I dread to think of what would have happened to this country if Wallace was vice president when Roosevelt died.

What Is Our Foreign Policy?

I don't know whether I support what we are doing or am strongly opposed, because I cannot figure out what the hell is going on.  Obama supported Mubarak and then he demanded he resign and let the rebels take over. But who is leading those rebels now?  It appears the extremist  Muslim Brotherhood and the military have joined forces and those who demonstrated on behalf of liberty in Egypt will have little if any voice.

We let Europe drag us into war in Libya on the side of  those opposed to Gadaffi  but the president says we don't want to hurt Gadaffi..   Governments all over the Mideast are being challenged. How do we decide whom we support and whom we oppose?  Will we support the rebellion in Saudi Arabia and lose an important ally who supplies us with oil?  This country needs  a policy we can understand and a leader who can lead, but it does not appear we will get either one.

I Still Resent Being Punished for Reading Well

I am avid reader and have been since the first grade and " Bob can ride; Nancy can ride; Bob and Nancy can ride. See Spot.  See Spot run."  I didn't have access to many books although, according to my Grandma Berry, I read  "The Last of the Mohicans," and  "Don Quixote." in the second grade. I am sure I did not know all the words and I missed the irony in "Don Quixote."  Tilting at windmills meant only that, not fighting an imaginary foe or taking on a task you cannot win.

Yes, I was an excellent reader but I got into trouble twice because of it.  My second grade teacher had me take a note home that said I got a "B" in reading because I didn't follow each word read by the slow readers. In the fifth grade the teacher took up my reader because I read ahead of the story she had assigned.  We were visited by a supervisor one day and our teacher decided on a reading exercise.  When we  completed this work we went on to some other study.  But wait -- a girl got involved.  She squealed, "You didn't take up Roy's book. He still has his book." The teacher was embarrassed and tried to shush her, but the girl wouldn't stop her call for the teacher to "take up Roy's book."  I kept the book for the remainder of the year.

I still, many years later, resent being punished because I refused to restrict myself to learning at the pace of the slower students.

Being Remembered by Grandchild

Years ago a friend whose grandchildren had left after visit of several days said the second happiest day is when your grandchildren come to visit; the happiest is when they go home.  He was joking but there was truth in what he said; people who are no longer young can get exhausted  taking care of rowdy kids.

Jen and I have a different problem, not seeing grandkids enough. We visited by Skype Sunday but it wasn't working well.  We did see Lily enough to see how much she has changed since Christmas.  She no longer looks like a baby but is a little girl. Young children change so rapidly and we miss so much as they develop.


Julie said that a few weeks ago she got Lily out of bed in the morning and asked her if she had a good night's sleep.  Lily said 'BUS, BUS, BUS" while waving her arms.   Her mom  asked her if she dreamed about a bus and she answered with an emphatic "YES."
         
  Julie, "Did you get on the bus?"
  Lily, "Yes."    
  Julie, "Where did the bus take you?"
  Lily, "Grandpa.
  Julie, "The bus took you to see Grandpa?"
   Lily, "YES."
   Julie "Was Grandma there too?"
   Lily, "YES" 
   Julie, "Did y'all have fun?"
   Lily, "YES"