82 Days on Okinawa One American's Unforgettable Firsthand Account of the Pacific War's Greatest Battle

Robert L. Wise

eBook - 2020

In "a gritty, first-person account" from an American officer in the Pacific theater battle, "one can hear Shaw's voice as if he were sitting beside you" (Wall Street Journal).On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, 1.5 million men gathered aboard 1,500 Allied ships off the coast of the Japanese island of Okinawa. The men were there to launch the largest amphibious assault on the Pacific Theater.The first American officer ashore was then-Major Art Shaw (1920-2020), a unit commander in the U.S. Army's 361st Field Artillery Battalion of the 96th Infantry Division, nicknamed the Deadeyes. For the next three months, Shaw and his men served near the front lines of the Pacific's costliest battle, their artillery proving... decisive against a phantom enemy who had entrenched itself in the rugged island.Over eighty-two days, the Allies fought the Japanese army in a campaign that would claim more than 150,000 lives. When the final calculations were made, the Deadeyes were... more