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By Root 1423 0

hills had been mostly quiet, as though the occasional Japanese soldier was just an angry tourist, annoyed that these Marines had trespassed into his private piece of solitude. The weariness in Adams’s steps had gone from painful drudgery to annoyance. As the shovel bounced painfully against the coral, the foxhole inching deeper far too slowly, his curiosity had become anger. He thought of the maps he had studied in San Diego, the enormity of the Pacific, so many islands, some of them so terribly vital, some of them completely ignored. Who figures that out, he thought. Which Jap general decided which ones he needed, and which ones he didn’t? And back in Guam and Hawaii … all of those men in their offices, with their plans and committees and secretaries, the men who never dirtied their hands. What if this is one of those incredibly stupid mistakes, another one of those screw-ups that made me a clerk? He wanted to ask Ferucci, but he knew the sergeant wouldn’t know any more than the rest of them. But still the question burned, the same question he had asked on the roadway. So damn much ocean … so damn many islands. Is anybody sure if this is really Okinawa?

By the third day, American Marines and infantry had divided Okinawa in half and had easily captured the two primary airfields in the island’s center. The invasion continued ahead of schedule, the First and Sixth Marine divisions moving northward, the army’s Seventh and Ninety-sixth divisions moving south. On Kerama Retto, the cluster of islands off Okinawa’s southwestern shore, the Seventy-seventh Division held its position securely while the airfield there was made usable for American aircraft. As the invasion had begun, the Second Marine Division had made a feint on the island’s east side, an attempt to draw Japanese attention away from the primary assault. Now the Second was back on the transport ships, a floating reserve. The army had its own reserve, the Twenty-seventh Infantry Division, waiting as well. No one in the American command had any precise idea when or if those reserves would be sent ashore. None of the intel reports had given General Buckner any specific idea how many Japanese troops were still dug into the caves and man-made tunnels beneath Okinawa’s hills.

The Marines began to focus on Japanese positions on the Motobu Peninsula, which jutted seaward to the west, reports coming in from the recon patrols that the Japanese had dug in a considerable garrison there. While some of the Marines would attack the peninsula, others would continue to press northward, driving whatever resistance they found straight up toward the island’s northern edge. In the south the army would press against resistance there, with a goal of capturing the island’s capital city, Naha, as well as what General Buckner’s intelligence officers assumed to be a strong defensive line that ran from the capital across the island to the historic Shuri Castle. The castle sat on a prominent knoll, geographically perfect for a stout Japanese defense. Despite the ease of landing sixty thousand troops on the first day of the invasion, and tens of thousands in the days that followed, not even the most confident American commander believed the Japanese would simply hand the island to the Americans with a courteous bow.

9. ADAMS

WESTERN SHORE, OKINAWA

APRIL 5, 1945

“We’re missing all the damn fun, you know. I didn’t sign up to be a house inspector. This is just another damn ghost town.”

“Shut up! Go around to the side. There’s a window.”

Yablonski obeyed, and Ferucci looked back at Adams, said with a hard whisper, “Get ready!”

Adams had done this too many times to be nervous, hoisted his rifle up to his waist, pointed at the rough wooden door. The others scattered out to one side, Gridley dropping to his knees, Gorman beside him, the BAR aimed at the door. Ferucci raised one foot, pushed slightly against the door, testing, then glanced back again, nodded, and shoved hard. The door opened, Ferucci shouldering his rifle, a quick scan inside, then he backed away, said, “Go!”

Adams