HISTORY: US, Japan mark 80 years since the end of the Battle of Okinawa.

Many of the Marines and soldiers fighting on Okinawa were veterans of the island hopping campaign. However the 82 days of fighting on Okinawa would not be easy. Japanese forces set up extensive defenses, aiming to lure Americans deeply inland to where they could inflict heavy casualties. The invasion was not helped by the weather or Okinawa’s rough terrain, with troops finding themselves caught in hellish storms, walking into Japanese ambushes, or combinations of the two. Eugene Sledge, whose memoir ‘With the Old Breed: recounted the battle and provided some of the basis for the miniseries ‘The Pacific,’ recounted the overflowing mud, flooding foxholes and miserable conditions that left soldiers and Marines as worn down as the combat was.

At sea, the worn-down Japanese navy heavily utilized kamikaze attacks to strike the larger British and American navies. These damaged the aircraft carrier the USS Bunker Hill, among others. However the U.S. Navy managed to score heavy victories, including sinking the battleship Yamato in April 1945.

Slowly the ground invasion gained momentum. In May, after two months, Americans captured the fortified area around Shuri castle. Japanese forces were pressed back to one end of the island. Despite that, they continued to resist. It was only on June 22 that fighting ended and the Tenth Army raised the flag in conquest.

Ultimately the fighting costs the lives of 12,000 Americans. Three times as many were wounded.

“Thank God for the Atom Bomb,” as Paul Fussell wrote, because Operation Downfall — the invasion of Japan — would have been one long Okinawa from start to finish.