Writing about the bitter fighting on Okinawa some years after the war, Marine veteran Eugene Sledge remarked that he and his comrades had been reduced to “Twentieth Century savages”. Much of what he said is confirmed in the attached Yank article from 1945 that clearly illustrated the terror that was experienced by G.I.s and Marines on that island after the sun went down:
“A shadowy figure rose up and charged them. Shriner’s carbine cracked five times. The figure screamed and rolled back downhill. The men lay and listened.
Shriner said: “I think there was more than just one of them.”
The Battle of Okinawa lasted 82 days. America lost 14,000 sons on that island.
