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May 17, 2015
17 May 1945: Okinawa: the bloody occupation of Ishimmi Ridge
The few remaining crewmen became riflemen and stayed right there throughout the day. During the morning a few Japanese had managed to crawl up from the deep ravine to a line just slightly beneath our position and began hurling grenades upwards at us. Grenades were tossed back and soon the infiltrators were killed or driven backward, but we had suffered too. - - WWII Today
Posted by gerardvanderleun at May 17, 2015 9:50 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
Grabbing a live grenade and throwing it back has to be right up there at the top of the list of things that will make your anus pucker, just under noticing your canopy collapsing.
Posted by: ghostsniper ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://americandigest.org/sidelines/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 17, 2015 11:51 AM
On my list of the toughest battles fought in WW II. Cold comfort for the GIs routing to the Pacific Theater from Europe.
Posted by: Casey Klahn at May 17, 2015 6:07 PM
The soldiers just did what had to be done.
Posted by: chasmatic at May 18, 2015 12:08 AM
Okinawa and Nagasaki are the two reasons why vaporizing two Japanese cities to avoid a full invasion of the main islands was the right thing to do.
Okinawa was a precursor for what to expect in Japan proper. Nagasaki was proof that Hiroshima wasn't enough to convince the Japanese to surrender. Those two bombs saved way more Japanese lives than American ones.
Posted by: DonRodrigo at May 18, 2015 8:43 AM