70 years ago the battle of okinawa.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by roadkill1

As indicated by Sheepherder, the History Channel link outlining the Battle of Okinawa...

My bad; I haven't seen The History Channel piece on Okinawa. The Lee Marvin narrative was produced back in the late 60's or 70's, IIRC an hour long piece centering on the Marines battles there. The name was "Our Time In Hell" and comes from a Marine rhyme. I had not been aware that Marvin, McQueen, and other actors had been Marines, it was interesting that I shared (in a small way) the heritage of being a Marine with them.

I think the TV special has been released on DVD. Amazon might have it.

The whole island was infested with caves. There was a big one leading off our motor pool at Camp Hansen. The locals would sell you all kinds of battlefield pickups. My bootmaker offered me a M1A1 Thompson for $200. That was more than I was paid in a month.

My buddy & I were walking near a farmers field one day, and there was some kind of statue or shrine in the field. He took my picture with the monument in the background, and the farmer started screaming & chasing us with his scythe.

Typhoons hit Okinawa pretty much every year. I went through one and it was not pleasant. Speed limit on the entire island was 35mph. Some interesting nighttime rides in taxis, offering an extra $5 if the driver got us back before curfew (there was a lot of anti-US rioting in 1971).

We had a night exercise on one of the beaches that civilians sunbathed & swam off of. We got there in the afternoon, set up our equipment right on the beach (Green Beach I Think) and went about our business. When night fell, the sand suddenly erupted. Every square foot had a big sand crab buried during the day, and they all came out at night. The sight of hundreds/thousands of crabs digging out where people had been lying still gives me nightmares...

Ah! Amazon has it on VHS - 1967 -

http://www.amazon.com/Our-Time-Hell-...TF8&qid=146427
4618&sr=8-1&keywords=%22our+time+in+hell%22+lee+marvin