Easter on Okinawa, 1945
On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, Richard (Dick) Whitaker, a Private in the US Marine Corps, landed on Okinawa's Red Beach-2. For the next 82 days, Whitaker, along with 180,000 American and Allied soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, would fight in a battle so horrific that the world would forever recognize it as the largest and bloodiest of the Pacific War.
Okinawa, a rugged, mountainous island covered with dense foliage and defended by nearly 80,000 Japanese, would become the scene of Japan’s "last stand." With hundreds of hills, ridges, and caves, it was the perfect place to defend. As the Americans were about to discover, it was also the worst place to attack.
The Battle of Okinawa was a terrifying nightmare for every American, Japanese, and Okinawan who endured the nearly three months of hell. Even by the standards of Marines who had fought at Tarawa, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima, the length, intensity, and ferocity of the fighting on Okinawa were unparalleled.
Marines landing on Okinawa. Of the Marines from Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 29th Marines who went ashore on Easter Sunday
1945, only three are alive today: Neal McCullum (93), Ken Wells (92), and Dick Whitaker (92). (Photo credit: National Archives)
In a typical example of how vicious and costly the fighting was on the island, during a three-day engagement on Sugar Loaf Hill and Horseshoe Ridge (think scenes from the Academy Award-winning movie Hacksaw Ridge), only 60 Marines in Whitaker's unit of 216 made it through the fight. The rest were dead, wounded, or unaccounted for.
During the epic struggle for Okinawa, nearly 20,000 Americans died or went missing, an estimated 80,000 to 110,000 Japanese were killed, and more than 100,000 Okinawans perished. But the Allies had been victorious and were one step closer to winning the war. Less than two months later, World War II ended. Whitaker was convinced his life had been saved. The Marines would no longer have to attack mainland Japan, and he could go home.
Anything We Did Could Get Us Killed
Dick and I met in 2005 while I was working as the education director and volunteer coordinator on the USS Yorktown CV-10, an aircraft carrier-turned-museum located in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Dick was one of a handful of loyal WWII veterans who volunteered on the ship. He gave tours, met with visitors, and generally kept me on my toes with his sharp wit, dry sense of humor, and strong opinions on how I should or shouldn't do my job, the way things should run at Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum, and the ship's latest scuttlebutt. He was great!
Marine Corp volunteers Jim Morrow (Tarawa), John Flinn (Vietnam), Dick Whitaker (Okinawa) and staff member/former Marine Ned Forney celebrate on the hangar deck of USS Yorktown. (Photo credit: Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum)
When I asked him about his time in the Pacific, however, he wasn't as talkative; he rarely went into detail about his combat experiences. But as we became better friends, he began to tell me about what it was like on Okinawa. His accounts of "living in foxholes, eating rations, fighting dysentery, wearing the same clothes and going without bathing" for three months were hard to fathom. And then he started telling stories about the really bad stuff.
“We were in close contact with stubborn, treacherous, suicidal, Japanese defenders - 24-hours every day,” he recounted. "Anything we did could get us killed including absolutely nothing.” And he had the proof. One day he showed me his disfigured finger.
A Near Miss
Looking at his hand, he explained how on May 17, 1945, while taking a smoke break with a fellow Marine in a newly-dug foxhole, he leaned over his shovel and reached down, hoping to use his buddy’s cigarette to light his own. What happened next was a miracle or - depending on how you look at it - just another lucky "near miss.”
A Japanese sniper had zeroed in on Whitaker, and after waiting for the precise moment that the young Marine’s chest was exposed, pulled his trigger. Almost simultaneously, Whitaker moved, and the bullet, instead of hitting its target, ricocheted off a shovel and sliced into his hand. Literally milliseconds had made the difference between a flesh wound and death.
Marines battling the Japanese on Okinawa, 1945. Notice the flames (from a Marine flame thrower) in the background. (Photo credit: National Archives)
“Maybe there is glory in war,” Dick told author George Feifer in his excellent, best-selling book, Tennozan, “but not for anyone fighting it. There’s only fear and filth, shock and suffering. You see such blood, so many bashed bodies, so much gore. You’re an animal, a barbarian, just like the enemy.” Whitaker then echoed the words spoken by nearly every combat veteran I've ever talked with: “No one who fought has illusions about glory.”
Going Home
When the fighting finally ended on June 22, 1945, Whitaker, who had celebrated his 19th birthday just months before, would be among the “lucky” few in his machine gun platoon to make it off the island alive.
Pvt. Whitaker and the remaining men in Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 29th Marines were sent to Guam to begin preparing for the much-anticipated and highly-feared invasion of Japan. With the war's end on August 15, however, they ended up in Tsingtao, China, to repatriate Japanese troops. Six months later Whitaker was back in the States. He arrived in his hometown of Saugerties, New York, on Memorial Day, 1946. “I had been away from Saugerties for 23 months and it sure was a great day to arrive home . . .”
On the 73rd anniversary of the Okinawa Easter Sunday landing, I salute all the brave men who fought and died for their brothers in arms, their country, and the freedom of the world. Thank you, Dick, and Happy belated 92nd Birthday!
Postscript:
Dick died on April 17, 2019, in Mt. Pleasant, SC. He will be missed by many. I'm grateful for having known him. He was a great man, Marine, and friend. Semper Fi!
Top/Featured Photo: Pvt. Whitaker ready for action. This photo was taken during training in the States, before his deployment to the Pacific. (Photo credit: Dick Whitaker)
Saying Thank you does not express the emotion I feel deep in my soul to the warriors who paid the ultimate sacrifice!! I am great full!
Thank you
Hug a vet now!
Sp4 Jerry Sappington
Thank you for this heartfelt comment, Jerry.
I salute you for your service and appreciate your reading the blog and taking the time to comment. We owe our fallen warriors a great debt, and I’m glad to do my part by sharing their stories.
Great story….my uncle Richard Emile Ford was attached to this Marine division….he was KIA 22 May 1945…Okinawa…
Thank you for sharing this, Sylvia.
I salute your uncle and all the Marines who sacrificed their lives on Okinawa. We owe so much to them for their service to country and Corps.
Thank you for reading the blog and commenting.
Sad to say but Dick passed away yesterday, April 17, 2019. His son states that he requested cremation. There is will be a memorial service in June (no date yet) on the USS Yorktown.
Thanks for sharing this, Beth. I’m sorry to hear this sad news and send my condolences to his family.
I have fond memories of spending time with Dick when I was the education director and volunteer coordinator at Patriots Point. He was a good friend and great man and Marine.
Semper Fi.
You are a very good writer and loved what you have written. I have been a reporter, editor and photojournalist since being medically retired 41-years-ago from the Marine Corps, and between jobs I was the Theses/Dissertation Editor for the Graduate College of the University of Arizona. One of my strangest reads was was a theses submitted from a student who’d recieved a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Government to study quail droppings, it was the Mexican Gray scaled quail. I thought I’d read everything, but it was a legitimate paper, there is an enzyme secreted by the quail that prevents kidney stones. I have enjoyed doing what I do and the many people I have net over the years. At the University of Arizona I was a student of W. Eugene Smith who was severely wounded during the war. He was in the Pacific and spent almost two years recuperating form his wounds. He showed me a picture, that showed dirt and debris flying into the air, and he later said that that was the picture of the explosion that nearly killed him. I don’t know if you are familiar with his works or not, but the first picture he took after his recuperation was entitled a “Walk Through Paradise Garden” that was a picture of his children. I had several MOS’s in the Marine Corps. I was an 0849 Naval Gunfire Spotter, 8151 Marine Security Guard (Dept. of State), Ottawa, Canada and La Paz, Bolivia, 1811 Tank Crewman/Tank Commander/Section Leader and was a Top Gun in tank gunnery. Last MOS was 4312 which I held from January 5, 1975 to June 24, 1977. Within the first year I had received four writing and photojournalism awards. I was later appointed Editor of the Camp Lejeune Globe. I was medically retired as a Gunnery Sergeant–but the Marine Corps wasn’t quite through with me. In the spring of 1978, I recieved a phone call telling me I had been awarded the Thomas Jefferson Award for excellence in Military Journalism, of the five awards, only one award goes to an individual, and that is the one I was awarded. My greatest achievement though was that I instructed several of my young Marines in photojournalism and after I left the Corps, they all won journalism and photojournalism awards. When I was interviewed by a local TV Station in New Bern, NC after winning some awards, they asked me what journalism training I had. I told them that my training was on an M-48A3 MBT and the paddies and mountains of Vietnam as a forward observer. They didn’t ask for clarification.
Thanks so much, Doyle. I appreciate your positive feedback about my story.
I’ll send you a personal email later but just wanted to say I’m impressed with your Marine Corps and journalism careers. You obviously made an impact on your readers and the Marines who worked with you. What a story! Semper Fi!
Ned-
Great article and appreciate your interest in the subject and for taking the time to capture the details & pictures here. Many thx hope to meet you on the Fighting Lady one of these days. Cheers-
Great to hear from you, Scott, and I’m glad you enjoyed the article. Your dad and I had good times together during the years I worked on the ship- lots of stories and lots of laughs. Hope to meet up with you one of these days.
Thanks for commenting.
Thank you for this great story!
Proud to be his daughter
I’m so glad you enjoyed the story about your dad, Sloane. You absolutely should be proud!
When I was volunteer coordinator at Patriots Point we went on three group trips to visit various military bases in the southeast, and he was always my roommate. We had fun times together, and he’s a great friend.
Good article, Ned.
Thank you, Scott. I appreciate your reading and commenting, and I’m glad you enjoyed the story.