D DAY and OKINAWA

6-5-14

Tomorrow, June 6, marks the 70th anniversary of the massive amphibious assault on the beaches of Normandy, which we call and remember as D-Day.

I have always been struck by the “disparity of history” in the media coverage and collective consciousness of   World War II between the War in Europe and the War in the Pacific.   I will not go into a long rant about this, as I do not want to diminish the incredible events of D-Day.   The soldiers, sailors and civilians on both the “delivering” and the “receiving” end of that assault deserve our full attention.

I also do not wish to compare, line-item by line-item, the scale and scope of the last two Pacific “landings” – Iwo Jima and Okinawa.   I do wish to take a peek at a few aspects of Okinawa, however, as we absorb the magnitude of D-Day.

Logistics:   Supplies were in the pipeline from the US and Canada from the summer and autumn months of 1944.   Prior to “L-Day” (Landing Day) on March 22, 1945, ships were afloat for several months, pushing westward across the vast Pacific Ocean, rendezvousing at locations from Guadalcanal to Ulithi to Leyte.

From Vol 14: Victory in the Pacific by Samuel Eliot Morison:     The ships and     craft employed in the amphibious phase of this operation numbered 1213, of 45 different classes and types, from 179 attack transports and cargo ships down . . . . . The over-all figure of 1213 does not include the 88 ships of Task Force 58, the 22 ships of the Royal Navy’s TF 57, the 95 ships in Admiral Beary’s logistic group, or the service forces and fleet trains of both Navies, which together would add over 100 more.   Assault troops numbered 2,380 of the Navy, 81,165 of the Marine Corps and 98,567 of the Army.

steve