Imperial Valley press., 1945-04-17
0kinawa Island
Reminds Yanks
OF Home Scenes
BY ERNIE PYLE

OkINAWA-tBy navy RaQlOD -
We eamped one night on little
hillside that led up to a bluff over
looking a small river. The bluff
dropped straight down for a long
way. Up there on top of the bluff
it was just like a little park.
The bluff was terraced. although
it wasn't farmed. The grass on it
was soft and green. And those small,
Straight-l -limbed pine trees were dot
ted all over it.
Looking down from TIE bluff,
the river made a turn and across
1t was an old stone bridge. AT the
end of the bridge was a village
or what had been a village.
1t was now just jumble of ashes
and sagging thatched roofs from
our bombardment. In every direc-
ton little valleys led away from
the turn in the river.
It was as pretty and gentle
sight as you ever saw. IT had the
softneSs of antiquity about it and
the miniature charm and dainti-
ness that we see in Japanese prints
And the sad, uncanny silence that
follows the bedlam of war.
PEACEFUL SCENE
A bright sun made the morning
hot and a refreshing little breeze
sang through the pine trees. There
wasn't a shot nor a Warlike sound
within hearing. I sat on the bluff
for a long time, just looking. 1t all
seemed so quiet and peaceful. l no.
ticed a lot of the marines sitting
and just looking too.
You could come from a dozen Diff
ferent parts of America and still
find scenery on Okinawa that look
&C like your country at home.
Southern boys say the reddish
clay and the pine trees remind them
of Georgia. Westerners see Califor-
mia in the green rolling hills, partly
wooden parry patch with little
green fields. And the farmed plains
look like our Midwest.
Okinawa is one of the few places
I've been in this war where our
troops don't grippe about what an
awful place it is. In fact most of
The boys say tiley would like Oki-
naWa if it weren't at war with us
and if the people weren't so dirty.
The countryside itself is neat and
the little farms are well kept. SO
far the Okinawa climate is superb
and the vistas undeniably pretty.
The worst crosses to bear are the
mosquitoes, fleas and the sight Of
the pathetic people.
NARROW DIRT TRAILS
Most of the roads on Okinawa are
narrow dirt trails for small horse
drawn carts. Then there are several
wider gravel roads. One man aptly
described it as IAN excellent net
work of poor roads
Our heavy traffic of course has
played hob with the roads. Already
/ they are tire-deep in dust and troops
on the road have mask-like faces,
caked with dust. A
BulldozerS and scrapers are at
work constantly. q
! I've mentioned before about our
fear of snakes before we got here,
All the booklets and literature given
us ahead OF Time about Okinawa
dwelt at length on snakes. They
! told us there were three kinds Of
poisonous adders. all three being
fatal. The booklets warned us not
to wander off the main roads. not
TO stop under the trees or snakes
would drop on us as if you could
/ fight a war without getting off the
roads. In some of the troop brief
/ ingS, they had the marines more
scared Of snakes than Japs.
JUST NO SNAKES
Well, I've kept a close watch and
made a lot of inquiries And the
| result is that in the central part OF
/ OkinaWa where we've been there
are just practically no snakes at
all.
Our troops have walked, poked,
sprawled and slept on nearly every
square yard of the ground. And in
my regiment, for one, they have
seen only two snakes.
One was found dead. The other
was killed by battalion surgeon,
coiled into a gallon glass jar and
sent to the regimental command
post as a souvenir 1t was a vicious
rattler, a type called Habu.
Those are the only snakes I've
I baord of Tbare uyac q rtIr1or tho +
ia one battalion they have caught
and made pets of couple of snakes,
but I don't believe it.
The local people say the island
was very snaky up until the middle
2Cs when they imported some mon-
gooseS which killed most of the
snakes. But we haven't seen any