Okinawa

About the Book

Okinawa was a lovely island of the Japanese chain, peaceful and technically backward. Then World War II put it, and its populous, into the midst of the last-ditch effort by the Japanese military to keep the tidal wave of U.S. forces out of the main islands.

The Army and Marines were sent to take Okinawa to be used as a supply and airbase for the monstrous main island that was scheduled next.

This unique story is one soldier's efforts to survive each day and each night. Robert J. McLaughlin avoids sensationalism, but tells each episode as it happened.

Written twenty years after the war, some names were forgotten. Officers had come and gone rapidly as did his squad members. Most hills and ridges were given nicknames that most likely differed from actual field maps.

Each soldier had to react quickly and violently to sudden threats. Civilizing influences were buried by the need to survive. Awareness of surroundings was a constant need. Lapses could be fatal. He survived to write this eyewitness account.

About the Author

Born in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1921, Bob was drafted in 1944 into the army and had basic training at Camp Roberts, California. In January 1945, he was sent to the Pacific war against Japan. He returned in 1946 after spending two years in the Army 7th Division in Okinawa, Japan and occupation in Korea.