The American invasion of the Japanese island of Okinawa began 80 years ago this week. The worst of the fighting, much of it in heavy rain and mud, lasted for over 10 weeks and it ended up being one of the costliest battles of World War II with over 50,000 American soldiers, sailors, and Marines and over 250,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians killed or wounded. During the battle, commanding U.S. Army Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. became the highest-ranking American officer to lose his life in combat during the war. Massive Japanese kamikaze air attacks to try to stop the invasion killed almost 5,000 U.S sailors and sunk or severely damaged over 50 of our ships. A single Japanese plane crashing into the large carrier USS Franklin alone killed almost 1,000 American sailors, the greatest loss of life on a single vessel in the war, except for the losses on the Arizona during the initial Pearl Harbor attack. The desperation of the Japanese banzai and kamikaze attacks and the immense loss of life in the Okinawa Campaign was a major factor in contributing to the American decision to use the atomic bombs later that August to end the war.
OT: 80 years ago this week -- the horrific Battle for Okinawa and the kamikaze attacks
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