US Marines Land on Okinawa

[Weatherman2020]

A while back a buddy pulled some strings and got assigned the same beach to land on in an exercise that is dad did in 1945. Back in the 80's you could crawl around inside the many Japanese tunnels. Lot of unexploded ordnance left, so they've closed it all off now. This photo is from last week.

 

[MikeK]

A while back a buddy pulled some strings and got assigned the same beach to land on in an exercise that is dad did in 1945. Back in the 80's you could crawl around inside the many Japanese tunnels. Lot of unexploded ordnance left, so they've closed it all off now. This photo is from last week.

I was stationed on Okinawa in 1958. Back then those tunnels were closed off with flimsy gates and signs threatening court-martial for entry violation. Every one of the gates on a cave entrance I ever saw had been breached. I had no wish to enter any cave (because I don't like snakes, etc.) but a buddy of mine took a skull out of one and intended to bring it home with him. I don't know if he did or not but the sight of that skull evoked very deep feelings about the reality associated with it.

I often wondered what other things could have been found in those caves. I heard tales about rusted weapons and decayed radio equipment. But I'm sure anything of useful interest had been removed shortly after the Surrender.

The more familiar I became with the Japanese people, whom I came to like, the worse I felt about that skull and all it represented.

 

[Weatherman2020]

A while back a buddy pulled some strings and got assigned the same beach to land on in an exercise that is dad did in 1945. Back in the 80's you could crawl around inside the many Japanese tunnels. Lot of unexploded ordnance left, so they've closed it all off now. This photo is from last week.

I was stationed on Okinawa in 1958. Back then those tunnels were closed off with flimsy gates and signs threatening court-martial for entry violation. Every one of the gates on a cave entrance I ever saw had been breached. I had no wish to enter any cave (because I don't like snakes, etc.) but a buddy of mine took a skull out of one and intended to bring it home with him. I don't know if he did or not but the sight of that skull evoked very deep feelings about the reality associated with it.

I often wondered what other things could have been found in those caves. I heard tales about rusted weapons and decayed radio equipment. But I'm sure anything of useful interest had been removed shortly after the Surrender.

The more familiar I became with the Japanese people, whom I came to like, the worse I felt about that skull and all it represented.

Grenades, ammo. Grenades you just unscrew it and you have a nice souvenir. I think it is one of those lost treasures of archeology. Would like to see the tunnels cleaned out and items put into a museum for future generations.