Landing Zone x-ray; Roya Island
United States Marines, Sherman Tank "Lightnin edge" Captain Bob Wolker
April 13th, 1945 5:03 pm
"Reece. You ok to man up that 50 cal?" Captain Wolker asked as he popped his head up through the hatch.
"Fine Sir." Reece replied, though the head bandage was a pain in the ass because the fabric rubbed his forehead raw. Wolker dropped down to command the gunner…"Load HE."
The gunner turned around, grabbed a 75mm round from the amo rack and pushed it into the breech. "HE UP!"
Wolker then turned to his driver. "Smedley, start backing us up nice and slow. "Guns? You keep training back and forth, watch if they start coming out of those tunnels."
Landing Zone x-Ray; Roya Island
Marine Sherman Tank named "Kimba's Shredders"
April 13th, 1945 5:05 pm
Captain Cook backed his Sherman up to where Major Cahn stood with Staff Sergeant Knox and his mortar teams. "What's the plan here Sir?"
"We're making space so the fleet can pound the mountain and the scrubs; buy time for the engineers on the hill to flood the tunnels with gas. I tried to talk the General in there into surrender….no joy. I'm expecting them to come out swinging."
"Where do you want us?" Cook asked.
"On the flanks. Tell the other two tanks. I want "Lightnin" on our right and "Triple Nickles" in the center." Cahn said as he pointed.
"Gotcha Sir...I'll make sure they get in the right places." Cook replied as he gave orders to his driver and the tank spun around and moved down the left side of the beach.
Landing Zone x-Ray; Roya Island
Marine LVT named "SS Minnow
April 11th, 1945 5:07pm
Jonus called down to Jason Dawes as he and his marines held their foxhole beyond the scrub line. "You guys need to come out of there and get in here where it's safe! Once the big guns start pounding the mountain there's going to be steel and rock flying all over the place!"
"What are you going to do Sarge?" Jason asked.
"I'm parking sideways with my broadside to the scrub, at least we'll have some protection if they charge us but if they shoot a Panzerfaust well….hope you got a lucky rabbit's foot because the old girl here ain't got better than a K Ration sheet of tin for protection."
Jonus's 50 cal gunner was busy hastily painting letters on the machine gun body…
"Hey Landry?" Jonus asked. "What the hell is a "Gilligan?"
"My kid sarge!" Landry replied. "Born last month."
"You named him Gilligan? What about Joe or John or something that doesn't cause a gut bust? Sheesh you want the kid to have a complex all his life?"
Landing Zone x-Ray; Roya Island
Japanese HQ caven
April 13th, 1945 5:15pm
A soldier came running into the command caven breathing heavilly. "CHOKAN! THE AMERICAN MARINES ARE PULLING BACK!"
Nagai moaned to himself…"So the closing act begins." He turned to his officers and slapped a hand on the map table. "The hour of glory is upon us comrades...general attack! Every man will do his duty for our nation. No quarter! Make every shot count!"
The officers returned a loud "BANZAI! BANZAI! BANZAI! in reply and ran out of the cavern to their units.
April 21th, 2016
Present Day….Roya Island
Landing Zone X-Ray
Astro was still studying the sword in the tent when Reno came through the flap. "Well guess what? The Doc says you can take the Zero out of here and deliver it to the "NIP-EE" Company in Sagami. They'll work on cleaning the engine and the fuel system and see if they can get the old thing to turn over….under one condition? No one rides in the cockpit if you intend to carry it back yourself."
Alegio snorted. "Well that sucks."
"Nothing against Astro's ability but the Doc called it a safety and insurance issue." Reno said smirking. "By the way? Any luck with the sword?"
"Yeah." Astro replied. "There was an inscription near the hilt and part of it survived being rusted…"Cahn." which is probably a last name. I looked up on the net for a Cahn who might have been with the US Marines and found a Major Jonathan Cahn who was attached to the 9th Marine Division."
"Probably dropped it in the heat of battle." Reno said as he motioned and held the sword. "By this time you know the sword was as useful on a modern battlefield as a rock in the time of the Shogun."
"He probably dropped it because he didn't survive. Major Jonathan Cahn was killed on Roya 13th April 1945 as the Marines withdrew under fire. The sword probably got buried by a tank or by sand getting tossed around by explosions."
Reno handed Astro back the sword. "You should track down any surviving family members." He said as he looked up at the mountain. "We haven't gone through every tunnel yet."
Astro sighed…"We're not going too. There's some of the inner recesses I think we should leave alone...by accounts a majority of the 36th Division who survived the last moments of the battle perished deep inside the mountain when….you know…...when they flooded the tunnels with gasoline."
Alegio pursed his lips. "Barbarians."
"I'm pretty sure that's what most Americans and the allies were saying about what the Japanese troops did in Asia. At this stage in the war? Everyone was a barbarian."
NBC's Situation Critical with Brian Williams
The Killing Year...1945 in the Pacific War.
Brian Williams: The battle for Roya Island was about to reach its terrible apex on the afternoon of April 13th 1945 in what was to that point the most costly and deadly battle of the Pacific campaign as Allied forces fought the Japanese on Okinawa. The commander of Japanese troops on Roya, General Hideo Nagai, vowed no surrender and had issued orders to his remaining command to make the Marine withdrawal from the island a blood bath. With two Battalions on a narrow strip of beach called Landing Zone X-Ray, Marine Major Jonathan Cahn gave orders to the troops atop Mount Unikah to "fire the holes", the same tactic used against Japanese troops on Fort Drum and a mountain North of Manilla in the Philippines. Off the coast of Roya stood battleships, cruisers, destroyers and rocket ships in what would be the closest concentration of firepower ever poured into an enemy target since the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Naruto Uzamaki was a prisoner of war aboard an LST off the coast.
Brian Williams: Did they keep you inside the ship the whole time?
Naruto Uzamaki: I knew what was coming so I asked the guard if I could go on deck and watch it.
Brian Williams: What were your thoughts? These were people you knew, men you had served with.
Naruto Uzamaki: I knew they wouldn't surrender. I'm sure some of them might have had second thoughts but units in the imperial army were close nit, you knew some of these guys lived maybe a few houses away from you and the idea that you might coward out in front of people you know had a big mental impact upon you. Plus it had been drilled into your head repeatedly of what the Americans would do to your family so…
Brian Williams: You wanted to be with them?
Naruto Uzamaki: It would have been hard not to say I didn't. They could have just let the Marines leave.
Brian Williams: They waited till 6pm.
Naruto Uzamaki: Yes...and then things just…..exploded.
Task Force Albany; Roya Island
USS California
April 13th, 1945 6pm
The old battleship went into battery with a rippling belching of flame as her twelve 14 inch guns launched their 2,000 pound armor piercing shells over the heads of the Marines and into the face of Mount Unikah! The shells buried themselves a good twenty feet into the granite rock before their fuses detonated and chunks the size of studebakers were blown outwards and down into the scrub line. Now the Wisconsin joined in, then the South Dakota, then the Boston and Worcester. The shrieking and air shocking caused by these behemith shells was so loud and so shaking that Marines on the beach had almost dug themselves under the sand to escape the pain slamming into their ear drums.
Japanese Garrison; Roya Island
April 13th, 1945 6:02pm
If it was the intention of the Americans to produce a fireworks show...the Japanese troops now huddled in the two concrete tunnels that ran under the scrub line were not disappointed. Far thinking engineers had planned out the defenses rather well back in the mid-1930's. The two tunnels extended out from the mountain and were sunk ten feet under the sand with walls of rebar backed concrete 8 feet thick (A new way of concrete design adopted from the German Army in the 1930's but rarely used in the Pacific because of supply problems….except for Roya) The idea being that a sudden overwhelming offensive push would negate the naval support and with the beach so peppered by the previous bombardments to begin with, the Americans had actually prepared the conditions for their own nightmare.
The defense of the mountain's summit and spine were abandoned; let the Americans picnic themselves all day up there. At the moment they weren't worth expending valuable troops on. In one of the tunnels, senior major Arabe Kanzaki stood poised at the steel trap door ready to pull the restraining bar that would allow the carefully camouflaged plate to fall away and thus open the route for the massed assault by the battalion of men at his back.
"FIX BAYONETS!" He screamed and by command the motion and sounds of the fearsome long bladed "Kusotaki Saigun" "Cherished steel" came out from leather sheaths and fastened with multiple clicking sounds over rifles…
"ON MY ORDER! CLOSE WITH THE ENEMY, DEPLOY AND ATTACK! GLORY TO HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY!" Kanzaki pulled his sword and waved it to the banzai cheers of his men.
In the other tunnel, Captain Yoshijiro Mada also pulled his sword. "NO MERCY! KILL THE ROUND EYED BASTARDS!" He screamed as he reached for the restraining bar. "PREPARE TO ASSAULT!"
The Spine; Roya Island
3RD AND 4TH Battalions 9th Marines and 87th combat engineers
April 13th, 1945 6:05pm
It was hard to stay on sure feet, the whole mountain was quaking and the men who were dragging the hose lines from the parked LST down below were sure that the rock was at the point of shattering into a thousand pieces!
Private Frank Drevins fell over and almost took a bath in fuel oil as he cracked the gate valve open in his hands and a quick thinking Marine jumped upon to shut it. "Damn it man! You want us all to go up like spare ribs?!"
"Tell the navy to stop shooting at us!" Frank snapped back. "Shit...what are they doing? Carving Admiral Nimitz's face into the stupid hill?"
"Just get the damn hose set in the hole!" The Marine yelled.
"Better than you stupid jarheads could ever find the right damn hole to start with!" Frank snapped back. That started a foolish fist fight between a group of soldiers and Marines that only got stopped by one man getting shot in the foot.
"ANybody else want to get stupid?!" A Marine gunnery sergeant said as he snapped. "Get this fucken hose finished!"
April 21th, 2016
Present Day….Roya Island
Landing Zone X-Ray
Astro finished digging and flew up from the wide and deep hole in the sand that exposed part of the concrete tunnel line that ran far from the base of Mount Unikah…"Pretty clever."
"I'll say." Alegio replied. "From the opening to where the Marines must have been? About 50 yards. Same kind of tactic the North Vietnamese used at Ko Chi."
Reno stood where he thought one of the openings was…"You come up from here and the Navy didn't dare drop their shells so short. Practically hand to hand combat."
Astro waved his foot over the sand…"I'm getting metal signals off the scale….it must have been quite a shock to the Americans when the Japanese started coming out of these tunnels so close to them."
Japanese Garrison; Roya Island
April 13th, 1945 6:07pm
Kanzaki pulled the restraining bar away, allowed the steel plate to fall at his feet and waved his men on fanatically as a bugel sounded…."CHARGE! CHARGE! GO! GO!"...They surged by him, four men abreast, screaming over the sounds of the battleships shells that were slamming into the face of the mountain behind them…
"FOR GLORY!CHARGE!" Kanzaki screamed as he ran from the sloped incline of the tunnel into the evening light. He didn't get ten steps before a bullet blew a hole through his chest.
Landing Zone x-Ray; Roya Island
1st and 2nd Battalions 9th Marines
April 13th, 1945 6:08pm
Major Cahn turned about just in time to see two waves of screaming Japanese flowing forth from a pair of tunnels not 50 yards from the established defense line…."FIRE AT WILL! FIRE AT WILL! FIRE ON THE LINE!"
No time to load the artillery guns, no time to call gunfire support, the Japanese were coming too fast and too close! Now Major Cahn grabbed the hilt of his sword and drew it from its sheath as he pulled his colt 45 from its holster. shooting two charging Japanese not a half a yard away as they closed with their bayonets!
"Knox! Get someone on the horn! Japs are danger close, Japs are danger close!" Cahn screamed. "DAMN!"
Landing Zone x-Ray; Roya Island
LVT SS Minnow
April 13th, 1945 6:08pm
Jonus slapped the helmet of his 50 cal gunner…"The tunnel! Turn on the tunnel!" Son of a bitch!" The burly Sergeant swore as he started hammering away with his Thompson sub-machine gun. Damn! They're right in our face!"
Jason Dawes waisted a clip from his B.A.R. and slapped another one into the receiver as Marines around him scaled over the side of the LVT and engaged the swarming Japanese with hand grenades and close in rifle shots. "Gotta give them credit! Brilliant planning!"
"Give them nothing but damn bullets!" Jonsu snapped back. "Shut up and keep shooting!"
Japanese Garrison; Roya Island
April 13th, 1945 6:10pm
Hakose Takugawa and his MG42 gun crew emerged from the tunnel into a maelstrom of bullets and explosions, swiftly covering the ground to a deep shell hole not 30 yards from the American line. The sudden confusion of the charge gave his crew a quick advantage as they dropped into the hole and started banging away at the American line with one man holding the barrel of the 42 over his shoulder by the tripod legs while Hakose fired and a third man fed the rounds through the receiver hopper!
"BASTARDS! DIE AMERICAN BASTARDS! DIE!" Hakose screamed as he concentrated his fire on a single landing craft and ripped it shreds! He threw the gun around to take on another when a flash ended his crew's service to the Emperor.
Landing Zone x-Ray; Roya Island
Marine Sherman Tank named "Kimba's Shredders"
April 13th, 1945 6:10 pm
The 75mm gun barked and the gunner watched through his periscope as an MG42 crew simply flew apart! "DEAD!" He screamed as he pounded on the turret throttle and swung the gun around to find another cluster of Japanese jumping into a shell hole on the flank of the Marine line. "TARGET! HE UP!"
The driver threw a shell into the breach. "HE UP!"
"ON THE WAY!" The gunner screamed as he mashed the fire pedal and again another cluster of Japanese simply vanished.
Landing Zone x-ray; Roya Island
United States Marines, Sherman Tank "Lightnin edge" Captain Bob Wolker
April 13th, 1945 6:10pm
"Move right! Move right!" Reece screamed into his radio as the sherman swerved hard to avoid Marines moving to outflank the surging Japanese. "DAMN!" Reece snarled as he banged away with his 30 caliber machine gun. "Caught between our guys, the Japs, the navy….oh damn are we having fun now!"
"Shut up Reece and give us better directions!" Captain Wolker snapped as his gunner depressed the fire pedal and the tank shuddered as it's 75mm gun sent a shell slamming into the ground where one of the tunnel openings existed. Suddenly something slammed into the steel beast causing it to stall and almost throwing Reece from behind the turret. "What the hell?!"
"Shit! We've been de-tracked! They hit the damn track!" The driver screamed.
Reece pulled his 45 pistol from its holster and shot two Japanese trying to chuck grenades at him. "Tell me something that's not fucking obvious!"
Landing Zone x-ray; Roya Island
United States Marines, Major Cahn
April 13th, 1945 6:13pm
"BAM! BAM!" Cahn took down another charging Japanese with his 45 pistol while grabbing the radio hand set.. "Danger close! danger close! Request walking fire! We're being over run!"
Landing Zone x-ray; Roya Island
Japanese Garrison assault
April 13th, 1945 6:13pm
"FORWARD! FORWARD MEN!" Lieutenant Habayashi screamed and 80 men of his regiment surged from the protection of their shell holes and into murderous fire. perhaps some of them made it to the Marine line, perhaps none, it wasn't his immediate concern as he surged forth with his sword high over his head. A bullet tore off his hat, another tore through his swordless left arm, another clipped his leg but he got far enough to plunge the Samurai blade into a shocked Marine's chest before a round tore through his throat and toppled him over. His last conscious sight was that of him men crashing themselves into the Marine line and furious hand to hand combat ensued…
Landing Zone x-ray; Roya Island
LVT SS Minnow
April 13th, 1945 6:14pm
Jason Dawes was struggling to get another magazine from his belt and into his B.A.R. when a Japanese soldier jumped at him with a bayonet. He threw up the heavy rifle to deflect the blade, spun the Japanese soldier around, slammed him into the side of the Minnow and punched his lights out before pulling his K-Bar knife and stabbing the man in the chest…."Die you Jap fuck!"
Task Force ALbany; Roya Island
USS Wisconsin, Battery plot.
April 13th, 1945 6:14pm
"WE'RE BEING OVER RUN! DANGER CLOSE! REQUST ARTILLARY SHORT!" Major Cahn's voice cracked over the radio and quickly the gunnery plotting officer called out the coordinates to the petty officer maining the secondary battery board….
Task Force ALbany; Roya Island
USS Wisconsin, Starboard 5 inch number 1 of 5 duel gun turret.
April 13th, 1945 6:15pm
"LOAD HIGH EXPLOSIVE! FUSE BURST TWENTY FEET SET!" The mount captain screamed as the pair of five in gun servicing crews took up the 54 pound shells, set the bursting fuses and threw them into their gun breaches, followed in rapid succession by their brass case charges….
"LEFT LOADED!"..."RIGHT LOADED!"...The gun crews screamed and in quick following, the captain mashed his hand trigger….
Number 1 banged out its shells followed rapidly by the other four 5 inch mounts and now every mount was in rapid fire mode….ten shells every 15 seconds...fourty shells per minute were sent screaming in wide arcs over the top of the Marines and down behind the Japanese as their fighting line now solidified a mere 20 yards from the Marine positions.
87th Engineers; The Spine
Mount Unikah
April 13th, 1945 6:16pm
"Hurry up!" The Army Lieutenant screamed as a crew of soldiers pulled back one of the fuel hoses from a tunnel ventilation hole. "Bangalore torpedoes on the line now! Hurry up damn it!"
At that moment, the sounds of sharp explosions rang from the summit and the Lieutenant looked up to see Marines and soldiers in hasty retreat followed by flying hand grenades and a pair of heavy satchel charges!
"Damn stubborn Jap bastards!" The Lieutenant screamed as he pulled his 45 pistol. "Prepare for assault!"
Japanese Garrison; The Summit
Mount Unikah
April 13th, 1945 6:16pm
Yama Gataki pulled himself up through the trap hole, snatched the MG42 from another soldier and balanced the machine gun between his feet as he sat at the start of the incline and fired down the spine to cover his comrades…."YEAH! BITE THESE YOU FUCKEN AMERICAN DOGS! GO TO HELL!" His comrades charged past on his left and right...one shooting an Army officer in the face before being blown apart by an American grenade.
4th Battalion, 9th Marines; The Spine
Mount Unikah
April 13th, 1945 6:17pm
"FORM LINE! FORM LINE!" Sergeant Major Eliazar March screamed as he stood exposed firing his carbine into a pair of charging Japanese. "FIRE AT WILL! RADIOMAN GET ON THE HORN AND CALL FIRE ON THE SUMMIT!"
The radio man dove to escape the cracks of the bullets as they shot by his head…"Canner! Canner! Cowboy! Call for fire...danger close….up 60 and walk it down…..over!"
Destroyer line; Task Force Albany
Battery Plot room; USS Rhupertus
April 13th, 1945 6:17pm
"Cowboy, Canner….standby for incoming." Replied the ship's battery officer. "All ships of the line will follow our range call….up 60 and walk it down in increments of ten...all mounts commence firing!"
The five 5 inch gun mounts of the USS Rhupertus belched tongues of flame and soon all five of the destroyers in formation were unleashing a torrent of high explosive shells against the upper flanks of Mount Unikah.
Japanese Garrison; The Summit
Mount Unikah
April 13th, 1945 6:18pm
Yama Gataki heard the shells screaming in on him but he continued to fire wildly down the slope at the Marines until he vanished in a rain of explosions and flying debris. Packs of Japanese were caught in their rising or charging as the massed barrage rolled down from the summit and caught them from behind.
4th Battalion, 9th Marines; The Spine
Mount Unikah
April 13th, 1945 6:19pm
The Marine radioman called for the bombardment to stop walking downhill as he watched clusters of Japanese being blasted to pieces by the massed swarming of naval artillery. He looked around for the Sergeant Major and for a moment he saw the man standing with his carbine dangling by its sling from his curled up hand. The man stood for bit until he began to wobble back and forth then fell backwards onto the rocks…
He had no face, in fact….he didn't have much of a head to call a face. The artillery came too close.
Japanese Garrison; Roya Island
Headquarters Cavern
April 13th, 1945 6:20pm
General Nagai was on his radio phone directing the last remaining units to attack down the spine or against the Marines on the beach when an orderly came running into the cavern. "CHOKAN! THE AMERICANS ARE POURING GASOLINE INTO THE TUNNEL WORKS!"
Nagai placed down his phone and turned to his radio operator…"Send message to Okinawa and Tokyo…"Have done all we could for his majesty and the nation….we die to the last man….long live the Japanese empire."
Nagai pulled his sword from its' sheath and looked at the orderly with grim resolve. "Shall we go to meet our fate comrade?"
The young man saluted with his rifle. "It has been an honor to serve with you Sir." He then followed the General out into the tunnels. What happened to General Nagai after that is unknown.
87th Engineers; The Spine
Mount Unikah
April 13th, 1945 6:24pm
Two teams of soldiers backed by the 3rd and 4th Marine Battalions advanced back up the spine after the hasty defense and naval bombardment to stop the charging Japanese from the summit. Each team carried 5 sections of aluminum pipe packed with TNT known as the "Bang Galore" torpedo. The British Army invented the explosive during the Indian campaign. The end of the tube was 2,000 pounds of high explosive set off by a compressor block shot down the length of the assembled tube by another block of explosives at the end.
The army Lieutenant screamed and pointed to two ventilation holes that he wanted the soldiers to shove the torpedoes into and when then had assembled their tubes and had them thrusted into the holes….he gave the signal for them to "pop" the firing pins.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE...CLEAR THE SINGLES!" He screamed and the soldiers struck their fuses and ran like mad to clear what was about to come.
Landing Zone x-ray; Roya Island
April 13th, 1945 6:24pm
The naval bombardment was ripping the beach apart as wave after wave of 5 inch shells rained down upon the still charging Japanese. Major Cahn was running back and forth, encouraging his men to keep shooting to stand their ground when an explosion from a Japanese grenade caught him in mid-run. His sword flew from his hand and landed behind the treads of "Kimba's Shredder" where it was pushed into the sand as the tank rolled back from another gun recoil.
The last thing Cahn saw was Jason Dawes and his Marines grabbing the officer up in their arms and carrying him to an LST called "SS Minnow". In the distance came a huge explosion and tongues of fuel fed flame came shooting from every open sniper hole in the face of Mount Unikah…
Major Jonathan Cahn died as the Minnow pulled off the beach and headed for the task force.
April 21th, 2016
Present Day….Roya Island
Afternoon in the tunnels
Astro, Reno and Alegio stopped at the blockage and for a moment said nothing to each other as they knew this was where the remaining soldiers of the 36th met their end. Alegio rubbed his hand over the rusted steel Marine Corps helmet and then placed it at the base of the cave in, a bit of a sob escaped and a tear rolled from an eye as he stepped back.
Astro then knelt down and placed a rusted Japanese bayonet next to the helmet and patted them both before he stepped back.
Reno slowly opened the bottle of Sake he had been filled two glasses side by side as he set them down between the helmet and the bayonet. The last thing he did was to put a candle down and light it before he got up and stood next to the other two boys…
"Anyone want to say something appropriate?" Reno asked.
Alegio looked at the other two and pulled out a piece of paper…"We are gathered here, representatives of the major warring powers, to conclude a solemn agreement whereby peace may be restored. The issues, involving divergent ideals and ideologies, have been determined on the battlefields of the world and hence are not for our discussion or debate. Nor is it for us here to meet, representing as we do a majority of the people of the earth, in a spirit of distrust, malice or hatred. But rather it is for us, both victors and vanquished, to rise to that higher dignity which alone befits the sacred purposes we are about to serve, committing all our people unreservedly to faithful compliance with the understanding they are here formally to assume. It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past - a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance and justice…..General Douglas MacArthur."
Astro turned to Alegio and smiled. "You're always ready with something."
Alegio nodded back. "Though we still haven't learned anything. War didn't stop with the end of World War II did it? Almost makes doing this….well….feels like we haven't done these men any service at all."
Astro reached out and wrapped his arms around both Alegio and Reno…."Guys? AS long as even one human cares not to forget? Then there's always hope." Astro stiffened up with the other two boys following his lead, all three of them bowed deeply…"We thank all of you for your sacrifice." Astro said softly. "At least we won't forget."
History Channel Program
Lost Evidence, The Battle of Roya
Background Music: Reflective music….
April 13th, 1945 7pm...Roya Island. The fighting finally ends as the last Japanese soldiers are killed on Landing Zone X-Ray and the 87th Combat Engineers set fire to the thousand of gallons of gasoline dumped into the tunnels of Mount Unikah. Of the 36th Imperial Division and the Naval Landing Force garrison which held the island, only 2 survivors remain. The toll on the Americans is horrific, thousand of Marines and Sailors are killed and ships sunk in the worst single battle casualty count of the Pacific Campaign since Pearl Harbor.
The man who led the Marines onto Landing Zone X-ray, Major Jonathan Cahn, is killed as the 1st and 2nd battalions withdraw from Roya Island but dead too is General Nagai who's last radio message to Tokyo reads.. "We have done all that we could for Emperor and Nation...we die to the last man."
War Historian: Roya Island was lumped into Okinawa in the history books as this side fight to the Okinawan campaign but that came after the war; what happened on Roya and Okinawa really set the worrisome tone for the rest of the war and it became a deciding factor in Harry Truman's decision to order the use of the atomic bombs three months later. No one by that time wanted to even think of the nightmare of Operation Downfall; the plan to invade the Japanese home islands because of how ferociously the Japanese fought on Okinawa and Roya.
Narrator: The battle of Roya didn't figure in the end for the careers of Admiral Nimitz and Halsey. The horrific losses did not prevent Nimitz from obtaining his rank of fleet admiral. he would go on to become Chief of Naval Operations while Admiral Halsey would end the war as a four star admiral.
For his gallant and effective command of Task Force Albany after the death of Admiral Mackenzie, Commander Davis would be awarded the Navy Cross, become a four star admiral and vice chief of naval operations under President Kennedy. he would die in 1969.
Colonel Stephen Smith would rise to the rank of Marine Corps Major General. He would die in 1952 in Korea, the second highest American officer to die in that conflict.
Naruto Uchiha, the sole survivor of the 36th Imperial Division, would immigrate to the United States with his mother, become a university professor at the University of Washington and retire in 2005.
Jason Dawes left the US Marines when he was musted out of service in December of 1945, using his G.I. Bill he would live the rest of his life in the town of Ithica, Missouri as an auto repair shop owner. He died in 2014.
One of the most amazing stories to come out of the Marines who served on Roya was that of Marine Sergeant Jonus Grumby. In 1965, Grumby, his first mate and five passengers of the charter boat SS Minnow would be caught in a typhoon and marooned on an uncharted island in the south pacific. He would keep them alive until all of them were rescued by the US Coast Guard off Hawaii in 1980. Grumby died in 1990.
The battle of Roya, while not as remembered as the bloody fight for Okinawa, is no less of worthy significance in the measure of the Pacific War. No where was the violence more horrific nor the death toll so high, if anything it expedited the decision for the use of the atomic bomb and in the end it perhaps served the intention of the men who fought so hard to defend it; making the thought of invasion of Japan so repulsive that it aided the quest to bring the war to a swift and decisive conclusion.
April 22nd, 2016
Present Day….Roya Island
Landing Zone X-Ray
The boys finished packing up their camping gear just in time for the ministry helicopter to appear over the horizon…
"Now...you're sure you can handle that plane by yourself?" Reno asked Astro as they watched the chopper land on the beach.
"Yeah. Shouldn't be a problem." Astro replied. "Now I'm taking it to NIPI?"
"No." Reno replied. "You're going to fly it to Chiba and deliver it to the flat bed driver and crew the Doc has paid to take it to NIPI. He says he doesn't want you piggy backing that plane all over Kanto."
Astro reached down and grabbed the Japanese army marching pack at his feet. "This has to go with the stuffed bear remember? You and I were going to take this to the family."
Reno took the pack and nodded. "Of course. Don't spend all day sitting around ok? The weather's going to be nice until around 3pm so just go get the plane and get going?"
"No." Astro snorted. "I'm gonna stay another day and pick my nose. Both of you get on the chopper and leave me alone?"
Alegio shook Astro's hand. "Thanks for letting me come here Astro, this was like a once in a lifetime experience."
"Alway good to have my friends along with me." Astro replied smiling as he boosted Alegio onto the chopper and waved it off. He stood for a moment watching it slowly fly out of sight then he flew up to the aircraft cavern and spent a quiet moment alone with the old Zero. "Can't wait to see you fly again." He said as he patted the cowling before getting under the plane's body lifting it up over his head…"Hmph….can I get it back? Gee Reno, an elephant would be far more difficult than this." Astro said to himself smiling as he lit off his leg rockets and slowly carried the Zero from the hanger and into the air. He spun around for a moment to have one last look at Roya Island before he flew off back to Japan with the plane.
May 18, 2016
Hachinohei, Japan
Masayohi came to the front door when the bell rang and opened it to the two boys standing outside. "Good morning….can I help you?"
"I'm Astro and this is Reno...we called you yesterday?" Astro said as he held a large paper bag in his arms.
"Oh…." Masayoshi replied. "Oh yes….come in. My Great grandmother is here...she's in the garden in the back."
Masayohi brought the boys into the living room. "Would you both like something to drink?"
Reno nodded. "If you have soda, that would be ok."
Masayohi nodded. "I'll get you a glass. Meanwhile, may I see the teddy bear?"
Astro opened the bag and took out the stuffed animal in a sealed plastic bag. "The ministry put it in this vacuum bag to keep it safe. Hope you don't mind?"
Masayohi looked at it with a slight frown…"This might be a little difficult for my great grandmother. She speaks very little of my great uncle...the subject of the whole war is….well it is very painful for her generation. I hope you'll understand her reaction."
Reno nodded. "We couldn't just tuck it away in some museum. We found many personal effects but this one we thought should be returned to the family. We also have his military backpack in the bag."
Masayohi gave Astro back the bear. "Let me get her for you?"
After a moment, Masayohi returned with an elderly white haired woman and helped her to sit down in a chair. He then gave Reno his soda in a glass…
"Great Grandmother? These two boys have something for you…"Masayohi said softly.
Astro placed the bag down and clasped his hands together…."Miss Edogawa….me and Reno were on a survey a month ago for the ministry of science to Roya Island. Uh…...we felt….well we found something that we felt should go back to the family…." Astro reached into the bag and placed the teddy bear on the table…."This belonged to your brother, Aichi Masuraki.
The old woman was silent for a moment before her trembling hands reached out to touch and then hold the stuffed animal. She pulled back into her chest and started to cry…but as she cried, she also smiled as if a long lost happiness had been returned to her….
"Great Grandmother?" Masayohi asked. "Are you alright?"
"Oh…." The old woman said as she wiped her face. "It took getting used to...I haven't really cried for my brother since the end of the war. Emotions were so suppressed back then...it was not becoming of woman and young girls to overly weep in public; we were to be stoic like samurai women when our men were killed." She looked at the bear again and hugged it. "So many memories this thing...oh if there was anything that was comforting during the war it was this little thing. My brother gave it to me and then I gave it to him the day he left. Please wait a moment?"
The old woman got up from her chair and returned with an old photo album. SItting between Astro and Reno she opened it to a very old photo. "Here I am when I was a little girl and here is Aichi at 18 in his new uniform. Oh I was such a mischievous thing, I was trying to get him to not be so serious."
Astro giggled at the photo. "That's the bear in your hand. He was handsome."
"Yes…." The old woman replied. "And proud. We were like most people in Koga, farmers and laborers. My father was a machinist with a home business, owned his own lathing machine. He turned out parts for the Mitsubishi factory in Osaka. By then, most of our industry was sent into the small towns to escape the allied bombers. Though we were all proud of Akai being accepted into enlistment; my mother dreaded it so much. She suffered losing him to her dying day. I believe any mother anywhere would grieve for their children and not be so proud to support wars again. I rarely talked about Akai to my own children because it took many years to get over the stigma of the war being a disgrace. The pain of not seeing my brother again has weighed on me all these years."
The old woman then wrapped her arms around Reno and Astro and kissed them both tenderly. "Thank you for this gift. You are both wonderful."
Astro then pulled the backpack from the bag. "This was his backpack too...I went through it to make sure it was safe to bring back here."
The old woman went through the contents and showed them to the boys and her great grandson one at a time. "This black cap was made by my mother and her mother. They went around the village and people would add a stitch to it...for good luck. And this headband with the rising sun was made from one of my old toddler kimono. Ahh… this red book was his pay book. If you lost this? The punishments could be severe. I was such an undisciplined little thing back then….I hid it just to watch my poor brother panic."
Astro huffed. "Zoran….definitely Zoran. That's my little sister all right."
"She does it because she loves you." Reno snickered.
"She does it because she's a terrorist." Astro snapped back.
"Oh...I could tell so many stories." She said as she put the things back into the bag. "I really must sit with Masayohi and put all my memories to recordings before I become too feeble minded. Having all these things now makes me feel so much better about my brother. But I am glad that we live today in a different time when you young people don't have to fear conscription and the way things were back then. But always never forget why you have so many opportunities? It was not just my brother but thousands of young people died in that horrible war and things could have been so radically different had they not."
Hugging Astro and Reno again, the old woman went back to her garden while Masayohi showed them out. "Thank you both. You've done my family a wonderful service."
Astro bowed. "We were happy to do so."
June 6, 2016
Renton, Washington
Astro rang the door bell and waited for the answer. He had come alone to the states since Reno was busy in Mayori with Abby...which Astro snickered to himself in thought as to "how busy" he could be. He calmed himself just as the door opened and an elderly man looked down at him.
"Can I help you?" The man asked.
"Mister Uzamaki? I'm Astro Tenma, I called you a couple of weeks ago?" Astro said bowing.
"Come in." Naruto replied. "I'm the only one here at the moment, the wife is out with the grandchildren. So… you're a Japanese robot?"
"That's at least what some of my part say." Astro joked. "I'm an electronic mutt actually."
"A funny way to talk about yourself." Naruto said as he sat down. "So in your phone call you said you had visited Roya Island?"
"Yes." Astro replied as he placed a box and a bag down on the floor. "From the Ministry of Science in Metro City, we were asked to do a survey of the battle sites, mark explosives, identify any human remains and personal effects. No one's been back there since the post war recovery of remains in 1946."
Naruto sighed…."After I was captured and interned for a while in Tokyo, my mother and I emigrated to the United States. I never found my father. Met my wife in 1960 and we've been here ever since."
"You were a professor at WAZU?" Astro asked.
"Taught mechanics and applied design. Wonderful thing about the emigration program in America back then, if you showed a skill? They would place you in an apprentice program. I graduated from WAZU top of my class in 1961 and became a teacher a year later."
Astro picked up the box and patted it. "Did you know….Major Jonathan Cahn?"
Naruto smiled. "Major Cahn….oh yes...wonderful man, treated me kindly. I wish I could have taken back much of the things I said to him...really mean stuff but then again when you're full of spirit and hate for the enemy? You'll say everything."
Astro sighed. "Did you know he was killed on Landing Zone x-ray on the last day of the battle?"
"I had no idea for several years. I tried to find him, or at least the family but you know back then there was no internet and the US Military is very sensitive about releasing information. I found out only after giving interviews for television documentaries."
Astro opened the box and handed Naruto the sword…"Remember this?"
"Oh….." Naruto replied…"Oh….I remember the hand guard…" He read the engraving and smiled. "This was his. I remember he had it on his belt when he came to see me. What a good man he was...you know...my hate of Americans came about because of my father...but inside I never really hated America, not even when they torched the mountain. The battle had been most brutal. I had survivor guilt for decades…"
Astro then took the package off the floor and handed it to Naruto. "Then this you should remember too."
Naruto opened the package and his eyes bulged when he saw his name in sewn kanji on the folded cloth. "Uh… the division's battle flag? You found it."
"Someone thought it was worth saving so they stashed it under the seat of the last Zero fighter that was left in the aircraft cavern." Astro watched as Naruto felt his hand over the cloth, carefully laying it out on his lap…
"Yama…..Toshi…..Mata…...Kuzaburo…...General Nagai…" Naruto closed his eyes and a tear rolled down his cheek. "This needs to go home...back to Koga."
Astro held the sword. "We can't find any relatives of Major Cahn so...we don't know what to do with the sword."
Naruto wiped his eyes. "I would think the Marines would have a place for it, perhaps their museum at Quantico Virginia? Or they will be able to find some family relatives to take it. I would make sure that it goes to only those who will care for it...treat it with respect. If not? I'll be honored to take care of it."
Astro thought for a moment. "I hope I'm not asking too bad a question. If the whole purpose of what the 36th Division did on Roya was to prevent an invasion of Japan? Was it worth…..was it worth it?"
Naruto wiped another tear…"Look at Japan today and you tell me? Look at yourself? What if there was no Okinawa? No Roya? What if the scientists at Los Alamos got it wrong? What if the two bombs didn't get dropped? What then? I think it's better to leave the speculations where they deserve to be...dead and buried back 70 years ago with that Island."
Naruto put a hand on Astro's shoulder…"You just make sure we humans don't do something that stupid ever again ok?"
Astro nodded with a smile.
"You're a good….young man Astro….thank you." Naruto said cheerfully.
"You're very welcome SIr." Astro bowed. "And thank you."
June 20, 2016
NIPI AIrcraft company
Sagami/Atsugi Japan
"Don't try and take this thing out for a spin." Reno said as he stood on the wing of the repaired Roya Zero as Astro climbed into the cockpit.
"I never get to have any fun do I?" Astro replied as he wiggled in the seat. "You guys put a thicker cushion in here?"
"We did a lot of things." The vice president of NIPI said as he stood on the other wing. "We added more stiffeners to the original frame, built a brand new wing structure and totally refurbished the Sakai 31 engine. Right now we don't want to take her up until we've done more taxi runs around the field but you get the first chance to turn the engine...I don't suppose you need a lesson?"
Astro snickered. "Nah….where's the bottle opener again?"
Reno held on to the canopy as Astro started throwing switches. "You afraid I'm going to take off there Reno?"
"No….I'm making sure you don't." Reno replied as Astro flicked on the contact switch. The whine from the plane's battery pack started out low then surged to a high pitch before it kicked the engine into start and brought the propeller to a high RPM spin that had Astro panicking for the throttle controls. "Woe…...woe….."
"Like that?" The Vice President said smiling.
"You're not kidding when you said you overhauled the engine….sheesh!" Astro sat listening to the engine for a moment. "It sounds great...Does it have the original supercharger?"
"Yes it does." The man replied. "We think she will do the max speed of the Saki 31 and with the reinforced airframe she's almost racer quality."
Astro smiled wide…."If I could pee my pants? I'd be soaked right now."
Reno slapped Astro shoulders…"It's not your play toy."
"But I found it first! I want the first flight." Astro pleaded. "Can I take it up first?"
"Well you did find it." The Vice President replied. "When it's ready to go up, we'll call you but you have to be responsible Astro….no fooling around."
Astro snorted. "Such confidence." As he shut down the plane's engine, a beeping tone went off inside Astro's head…."Yes Doctor?" Astro asked.
"When you get back to the Ministry Astro...there's some things we've been asked to do."
Epilogue
19 April 2019
Koga, Japan
The noon of the day was clear and the sun shining as four blocks of soldiers with their colors flying in the wind passed through the city of Koga. There were two units from the Japanese Self Defense Force both the ground and the navy and behind them the United States Marines from Camp Fuji and the US Navy from Atsugi Naval AIr Station; all marching to the Scottish warrior hymn "The Black Bear of Kullkirnin" They passed through the city center by the throngs of citizen who came out to follow them as they wound their way up to the flat ground of Ketsugai Park from which the 36th Imperial Division last mustered before it left for war.
Now in place of what was once a bare grassy field, stood a large red Japanese shinto-like temple. As the military units marched onto the paved concrete and took their places in front of the temple on each side of a speaking platform; five planes flew over the top of it. In the lead was the restored "Zero of Koga" followed by two old Marine Corps F4U Corsairs, a modern F-18 Super hornet from the USS Ronald Reagan and an F-15 fighter from the JMSDF.
When the civilians had arrived to fill the park around the new shrine. The Mayor of Koga got up to speak…
"We the citizens of Koga bid you all welcome today as we humbly remember those of our community and those Americans forever entwined together in what was the last terrible battle of the Pacific War. It was from this field that our great fathers, sons and loved ones marched away from us for the last time. It is a right time and well over due time that we recognize and honor their service to our nation. It is also of greater importance that with their sacrifice comes the responsibility of their progeny to remember and give them due respect, that by such memorial we will hopefully in the time to come learn to avoid the terrible cost which took them from us."
The next to speak was the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps…
"Mister Mayor, members of the service, our good friends...in his speech concluding the end of hostilities in 1945, General Douglas MacArthur expressed the profound hope of not only every man but of every soldier….
" We are gathered here, representatives of the major warring powers, to conclude a solemn agreement whereby peace may be restored. The issues, involving divergent ideals and ideologies, have been determined on the battlefields of the world and hence are not for our discussion or debate. Nor is it for us here to meet, representing as we do a majority of the people of the earth, in a spirit of distrust, malice or hatred. But rather it is for us, both victors and vanquished, to rise to that higher dignity which alone befits the sacred purposes we are about to serve, committing all our people unreservedly to faithful compliance with the understanding they are here formally to assume. It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past - a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance and justice."
"Today ladies and gentlemen the guns inside this wonderful memorial are silent, they no more bark death between our two peoples. We, both Americans and Japanese share a bond most unique among the nations of the Earth...a bond affixed with the blood of our fallen. May it be the fervent wish of our peoples, guided and secured under the grace of God, that never again shall we see such terrible scenes as those witnessed by the survivors and by the dead. As the guns now lay on the floor of this memorial...so may the hatred of old so remain. May we forever honor the dead by teaching the living of the utter futility of war. I now declare this memorial officially open to our posterity."
At that moment….the planes came back with a low flyover pass and as they topped the memorial, the Japanese Zero pitched up from the formation and barrel rolled away in the missing man formation…
Astro kicked the rudder pedals strait and let the control stick drift back to neutral…"This is so cool." He thought to himself as he banked the plane around in a wide circle and looked down at the memorial below…"Maybe there's hope for humans after all….if they'll just remember."
Inside the shrine was the fully displayed divisional flag of the 36th Imperial Army Division. On its left sat the fully restored 5 inch gun mount from the USS Boston and on it's right one of the German 88 Krupp guns. Their barrels had been cut off and lay on the floor, a symbolic gesture of swords turned to pruning hooks, of war instruments deprived of their deadly use. And center and front of the display was a black granite stone with a single word in both Kanji and english….."Remember"
And let us do that…...let us remember and let us hope and pray for the end of war.
The End