On Monday I was privileged to be able to take part in the Battlesites Tour here on Okinawa. To be sure this one was probably just a little bit different. I was taking the tour with the ROTC of Kubasaki High School. That meant a tour with the sponsers of the Kubasaki MCJROTC, Sgt. Maj. Robert Mastriano and Capt. Ken Gipson, (shown at the right). And 83 high school cadets! Those of you who REALLY know me will understand what that means. But they were a fine group of young people. Very courteous. Everytime one of them called me 'ma'am' I wanted to look over my shoulder to see who they were speaking to. I didn't know anyone used that word anymore.
The Battle of Okinawa started in March of 1945 and the American troops landed on April 1, 1945. There were 90 days of what was called the "typhoon of steel". The landscape was decimated. 200,000 people died. Unimaginable atrocities and horror reigned upon this otherwise mostly unknown island of coral and limestone. The Okinawan civilian population was subjected to an unspeakable and increasingly desperate destruction of every sector in their lives. A previously peaceful people brought to ruin and near annihilation.
At Urasoe and Hacksaw Ridge we were able to see firsthand some of the harsh terrain the troops encountered on their Battle for Okinawa. Specifics of the war and the battles on Okinawa were related by our tour guide, Chris.
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The tour area that was once known as Hacksaw Ridge and Sugarloaf (Shuri) Hill were once part of a sprawling US Army housing area, once known as Machinato (Makiminato)-Naha Housing for officers and enlisted. It contained over 200 single-family homes, a rec center, officer & NCO clubs, teen center, commissary, exchange, gas station and recreation areas. It was closed in 1983 and abandoned in 1984.
A lot of military folks on the island don't realize that a majority of facilities currently occupied by the USMC were built in the 1950s and maintained by the US Army until they downsized in 1978.
Believe it or not I used to play in that cave (illegally) when I lived as a teenager in Machinato Army Housing Area 1974-1976.
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