It Was Our World War Too

The Beginning of the End

President and Commander-in-Chief Harry Truman informed the Allies we had developed a powerful new bomb to be used against Japan. He repeated demands for unconditional surrender.

Planning for the invasion of Japan’s mainland had started in earnest at the beginning of the year when it became apparent that our island-hopping strategy was working. Several possibilities were considered. Kyushu was identified as the most important target with Honshu as a good possible alternate. The Kyushu target was given the go-ahead and was assigned the code name Olympic.

The combat operations would be carried out by the Sixth Army. It would, as the Okinawa invasion force was, be made up of members of the Army, Navy, and Marines. Planning also included the use of troops from the European Theater.

Final plans for Olympic were made in June as victory on Okinawa seemed positive. Two days before Okinawa was secured General MacArthur issued the first official instructions. They called for the landing of the Marine amphibious corps at Kushikino, Ariake Bay, and at Miyazaki.

It was planned that we would take one third of the island of Kyushu, securing it and using it as the base to destroy Japan. The landing date was set for November 1, 1945.

Recognizing the possibility that Japan would surrender after the capture of Okinawa, General MacArthur was asked to also present a plan for the peaceful occupation, Operation Blacklist.

Even though all organized resistance on Okinawa was ended on June 22nd there were still many air raids and individual attacks carried out by underground resistors.

The war went on. By early August these intrusions were at a minimum but were still dangerous.

We began to secure some of our equipment and pack up for the invasion. We were able to talk about this operation openly as everyone including the Japanese knew it was coming. We of course didn’t know anything about the timetable.

We knew it would be similar to the scenario we endured as we prepared for the invasion of Okinawa.

This would be the last war in which searchlights would play an important role.

Along with the creation of the atomic bomb came specialized radar, rockets, guided missiles, night-fighting aircraft, improved weaponry, and other developments.

We can compare the searchlight era with some of the other periods that had their day and were eventually replaced, such as the steam locomotive and gas street lights. It would find a role in promotional advertising.

As a memory it will remain quite an experience to hear enemy aircraft flying overhead in the dark and all of a sudden have a searchlight illuminate it so it can become a target for our gunners.

The combination of the 584 fire-control radar with the 90mms and the Mark XX with the searchlights made a good team that was successful.

Even though things looked promising for the war to be over early in 1946, long-range planning continued.

Lt. Maples called me to headquarters for a meeting regarding the status of our packing up and readiness for moving out.

As we finished this assignment, he spoke to Captain Ierardi, our CO, and said, “About the possibility of sending some of our men to the States to be briefed on the newest developments of our radar equipment, I’d like to recommend that Sgt. Kolesa be one of these men.”

Had he stopped there, I would have considered it an honor. It would certainly have been something for me to look forward to, but he continued, “As you know, Sgt. Kolesa is married and has a daughter back home.”

The CO raised his voice, almost yelling, “We don’t do things like that in the Corps! You and I are both married and I have a family and we’d both like to get home too! If any of our men are selected to be sent home, it won’t be because they are married or have a family!”

The 8th AAA Battalion casualties during Operation Iceberg were minimal. Of the several hundred Marines making up the battalion’s strength that were subjected to constant air attacks, one enlisted man was killed. There were eight enlisted men and two officers wounded. Our companion AAA Battalion, the 16th, took a hit. Four men were killed and 32 were wounded.

With Japan’s rejection of President Truman’s peace offer our offensive continued. On August 2nd our planes dropped 6,000 tons of bombs on Japanese cities. That’s tons, not pounds.

All of the Japanese islands were under a complete air and sea blockade which we were prepared to continue until the scheduled invasion took place.

We had just concluded the capture of Iwo Jima and Okinawa which added greatly to our air supremacy and began physically preparing for the invasion. Our 20th Bombardment Group was pounding Japanese cities and our Navy was cruising along the coastline. There was no doubt that the invasion of Japan, to be called Operation Downfall, would be costly.

President Roosevelt had directed development of the atomic bomb and developed detailed plans for its use if necessary to subdue Japan.

President Truman, after discussions with our Allies and military staff, authorized its continued development. The first bomb was exploded in a test in New Mexico July 16, 1945.

Two more bombs were built. Everyone has thoughts about President Truman’s decision to use the atom bomb on the Japanese. He didn’t make the decision alone but he took full responsibility for it.

If our enemy thought so little of life that they were willing to sacrifice their military men to serve as kamikaze pilots and human torpedoes to help them defend their outer islands, it was pretty obvious to our military leaders that during an invasion of their homeland they would repeat the action. Japan’s defeat seemed inevitable, yet Japan refused President Truman’s unconditional surrender terms. The bombing, shelling, and plans for the November invasion continued.

A total of five million naval, air, and land-force men, all Americans except for three British infantry divisions, would participate in the taking of Japan.

Eleven Army divisions and three Marine divisions, along with support teams totaling over half a million experienced combat troops, would invade Kyushu. General MacArthur’s strategies which had proven successful in getting us this far by using the planned route of island hopping and bypassing were followed.

Three separate landings would take place on Kyushu. We, the Fifth Amphibious Corps—2nd, 3rd, and 5th Marine Divisions—would take on the west coast. Both Presidents and Commanders-in-Chief Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman and their staffs of professional military leaders had brought us to this point in the war.

The entire operation was fine-tuned with contingencies if all didn’t go as planned and included support and reinforcing with units from Africa, Europe, and previous Pacific Theater campaigns.

Japan had time to prepare for their defense. All women from the age of 17 to 40 and all men from 15 to 60 were conscripted to repel the invasion.

Fatalities on both sides were predicted to be unfathomable. Some military experts predicted that the toll for the submission of the Japanese military would be one million Allied casualties.

Others pointed out that the military always estimated low and that the figure would probably be higher. All I know is that the decision to drop the bombs saved thousands upon thousands of American soldiers’, sailors’, and Marines’ lives by having the Japanese surrender.

It was predawn on August 6, 1945, as a B-29 took off from the Marianas, headed for Hiroshima with the first atomic bomb called Little Boy. At 8:15 a.m. the first bomb was released over one of Japan’s major cities.

“Unconditional surrender?” “No!”

Three days later the second bomb, Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki. On August 10th the Japanese asked for peace.

Within a few days all fighting stopped. There were no more air raids or individual attacks.

On August 14th, with his cabinet resigning and his senior officers committing suicide, Emperor Hirohito announced an end to all hostilities.

On August 30th our paratroopers landed on the Japanese mainland and Operation Blacklist was started.

Three days later, on September 2nd, the official surrender ceremony took place on the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay with General MacArthur heading the Allied delegation. World War II was officially over.

With the war over, everyone wanted to go home. This created a great logistical problem. Only a small percentage of the troops were actually needed for the occupation. There was no need for assault troops, artillery, antiaircraft, radar, searchlight units, and numerous other technical support groups.