My father fought in that hellish battle. In fact the small USMC plaque at the Japanese cemetery was his outfit. He was wounded on D+4 but survived the battle. Thanks for showing what he endured.
I'm going to make it here some day. And Pay my respects. WWII Marines were who motivated me to enlist in the Corps when I was 18. I was stationed on Okinawa twice. I took the battle sites tour both times I was there. I got choked up a few times. I'm not a crier, it's just not something I do or have done much of in my life. But the Battle fields of Okinawa got to me. Especially Hacksaw Ridge. I had read about Okinawa so many times by then that I knew most of the sites we went to. Not all of them though, and I didn't know the the Japanese side of it at all. So there was plenty for me to learn. Still is plenty for me to learn. The Philippines is another planned destination for me. My Grandfather was in the Army and he fought on several islands there, but he never talked about it with his kids (my mom and my uncles) so I don't know which islands he was on. They don't even know what Division he was in. When they asked, he simply said "It doesn't matter. It's over, it's in the past. Leave it in the past." I do know that he was fighting on an island somewhere in the Philippines, and found out later that his older brother was fighting on the same island at the same time as each other when he was killed. One of my grandpa's Army buddies came to his funeral (grandpa was killed in a car accident when I was in High School). And I never got to speak to him. I wish he had made himself known. I had all kinds of questions I would have liked to have asked him. I did my time in the Marines. And I served an additional 4 more years in my states National Guard after I left the Corps. Had a long deployment to Iraq from 2005-2007. I demob'd out of Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. My grandma was still alive and she told me Grandpa Demob'd out of there when he came home as well. I always felt a special connection to him after she told me that. I came home. Became a Firefighter, EMT, now I'm a nurse and work at the VA. There's no where else I want to be a nurse at. It's the VA or it's nothing for me. I have met and talked to so many veterans about their service. Its truly been an honor. I love our veterans SO MUCH! I could sit and listen to story after story all day long, but I do have a job to do so I have to make sure not to lose track of time. But I often do still. So what? I can get to the paper work done later. Right now, if one of our veterans has something to say, within my area, I can afford a little time to sit and listen. Some of these heroes have no one to talk to all day. This morning, I met a Navy Corpsman. I'm always happy to meet a Corpsman! Us Marines love our Corpsmen! But this morning it was particularly special since I was talking to a 99 year old Navy Corpsman, up here to see us for some OT/PT. Completely independent, living on his own with his Wife yet! Who was here with him and she's totally independent. She was a little younger than him, probably 95 years old but WOW! Still living, and still having fun it looked like. They are truly a beautiful couple, smiling, polite, so grateful to us which I thought was nice, but it's us that should be eternally grateful to them. And I am. Well this Fantastic Human being was under Chesty Pullers Command at Peleliu. And he went on to Okinawa afterwards. WWII veterans are becoming rare. Even rarer yet is seeing a WWII here for OT/PT, drove himself and walked up here without at least using a cane. I spent a half hour talking to them and I wish I could have had all day. I have to get back to work. But I want to end this by saying: Teach our children about what happened here. What happened everywhere in WWII. There have been countless wars throughout history. and those who fought and sacrificed for their people deserve our gratitude and respect always. And from me, you have it. But WWII was different. Unlike WWI, in WWII the entire world was truly at war. The Axis was evil. The men and women that served in WWII on the Allies side actually did save the world that time. I'm certain the belief in other wars was that they were saving the world. Maybe some were true to some degree, but in WWII, the people that defeated the Axis DID in FACT SAVE the WORLD. We can never allow that to be lost to history. My son knows all about it. I taught him. His Junior High school had a brief 1 week Social Studies class about WWII, I said that's not even scratching the surface of how in depth WWII was. How it ties to everything today. And it is seriously lacking in respect and gratitude to have a brief week on it. If you break it down, that's like 5 hours of WWII history kids are getting. And that's not nearly enough. An entire Semester should be devoted to WWII at least. If we do that, maybe we can create a generation that starts to appreciate what the Greatest Generation provided for us. God Bless all of them......Semper Fidelis
Your kids will never forget this yall are fabulous parents i wish i did cool stuff like this when i was there age my life would of turned out very differently... I hope they appreciate the special things yall are doing for them what an awsome trip. .
Sacred ground as over 13,000 men, Japanese and American, lost their lives in this battle. Upon that ground strode Eugene Sledge, R.V. Burgin and Chesty Puller, who lost respect from many Marines for his 70% casualties at Bloody Nose Ridge. General Rupertus, who commanded the Marines had predicted the operation would take four days. Instead it dragged on for over two months with the entrenched Japanese fighting to the last man. In the end it held little strategic significance and many Marines were embittered.
