Imperial Valley press., 1945-04-09
Ampthrack Puts
Fighters on
0kinawa Beach
BY ERNIE PYLE

1NiAND w I'D nav lSzALlof' ,
The LCVP in which I rode shore
ward on Love Morning" at Okina-
wa was so crowded the men just
stood against each other. l knew
most of them FOR they were all from
the ship that brought us up.
They had been riding for an hour
before they picked us up off the
control boat and they were soaked
to the skin from the spray.
The morning was warm and SUM-
shiny, yet they had all gotten very
cold Just from being wet. Some of
them cot the cold shakes and could
mt STOP They joked with each other
about quaking with fear, instead of
cold. We all smiled sort of sickly
like.
/ We talked most of the way, but l
can't remember much of what We
said. We were all sort of tensed up
inside.
REEFS ARE BAD
These Pacific Islands have one
bad feature that we never had to
contend with in any Of the Euro
pean invaSionS. And that is a reef
that lies Just under water, three or
four hundred yards out. Hence a
boat of any size can't run up to the
beach, for it can't get over the
reef.
Consequently, We had to transfer
again about q half mile from shore.
We ran up along a fleet OF amph-
tracks-amphibious tractors-which
were waiting there for us.
Thes care like big trucks, only
they're on tractors. When in the
water the tractor treads, built cup
like, propel the thing. The moment
it touches bottom it crawls along
like a tractor. They can go miles to
sea or miles inland. S+
Our packs were so heavy it was
/ hard to get from one boat to the
| other. 1t took our load about 10
minutes to transfer. And then we
started the last lap, the one that
really counted.
The terrific bombardment COM
pletely had stopped about minute
before H-Hour. BY now almost an
hour had passed and the ships were
again firing, spasmodically.
SMALL FIRES
Small fires were buring inland and
a great cloud of black smoke rose
from the airport, up on high ground.
But the pail of smoke and dust
which had covered the beach had
blown away, and we could clearly see
the men on shore and the wave
ahead of us landing.
We all had expected to go onto
the beach in a hailstorm Of tracer
bullets mortar shells throwing sand,
and artillery shells Whistling into
the water near us. And yet We
couldn't see bit of firing ahead. We
hoped it was true. We hoped.
While we were hoping somebody
took out his canteen and had q
drink People get awfully thirsty
as they approached a beachead. The
canteen went around. When it came
TO me took a big gulp, and almost
choked. For it wasn't water at all
but straight brandy!
During the bombardment and all
during the landings lone four-e en-
qined Liberator bomber flew slowly
back and forth over the beach. We
marveled at his audacity for he
seemed an easy target for ack-ack.
Yet he didn't seem to get shot at.
FROM LAND BASE
Liberators are too big for carriers
to handle so it would have had to
come all the way from the Philip-
pines or Iva Jima or Saipan. We
presumed it carried photographers.
1t seemed incongruous, numbering
around up there alone so nonchal-
antly.
We were musing on the Liberator
when suddenly the Omphtrack hit
bottom, tilted way over on one side
as though it was going to upset, then
tilted back with a big thump that
almost threw us off our feet.
We were crossing the coral reef.
1t was good crossing at that. The
water was smooth and there were no
rollers on the reef. The gods were
good to us on that invasion day.
The weather was warm and spring
like. The sun shone brightly. There
was no wind 1t couldn't have been
better
JOGCLED ON IN
From the reef on in, the Amph-
track joggled and tilted as it rode
the rough coral bottom. Then at
last it climbed out of the water and
onto the sand.
We ran up about 20 feet from the
waters edge. The driver let down
the ramp that forms. the rear end
of the Amphtrack and we stepped
out. We were on OkinaWa an hour
and half after H-Hour without
getting shot at and we hadn't even
! got our feet wet.
The first words I heard on Jap
anese soil were from an incredu-
| lous marine who said,
Hell, this is just like one Of Mac
Arthur's landings"