The Wilmington morning star., 1945-04-12
BY ERNIE PYLE

OkINAWA-(By Navy Radio)-
Since this island is the closest to
Japan wa've landed on and since
we seem to feel this really is ia
pan, rather than just some far out
post, I'll try to describe to you
what it looks like.
Actually it doesn't look great
deal different from most of Amer
lea. In fact it looks much more like
America than anything the marines
have seen for the last three years.
The climate is temperate rather
than tropical, and so is the vege-
tation. There are tropical-like trees
on and near the beaches think
they're Pandanus bushes. But there
are also many trees of the fir
family with horizontal limbs.
The country over which my regi-
ment parsed during the first two
days was cultivated. It rose grad
ually from the sea and was all
formed into small fields.
1T didn't look at all unlike In
diana in late summer when things
have started to turn dry and brown
except that the fields were much
smaller
The wheat, which looks just like
ours, is dead ripe in the fields now
The marines are cutting it with
little sickles. In other fields are
cane and sweet potatoes.
Each field has a ditch around
its edge and dividing the fields
are little ridges about two feet
wide. On top of the ridges are
paths wheEe the people walk. All
through the country are narrow
dirt lanes and now and then a
fairly decent gravel road.
AS you get inland, the country
becomes rougher. In the hills there
is less cultivation and more trees.
1t is really a pretty country. We
had read about what a worthless
place Okinawa was, but I think
most of us have been surprised
about how pretty it is.
OkinaWa civilians we bring in
are pitiful The only ones left seem
to be real old or real young. And
they are all very, very poor.
They're not very clean. And their
homes are utterly filthy. Over and
over you hear marines say. "This
could be a nice country if the
people weren't so dirty
Obviously their living standard
is low. Yet I've never understood
why poverty and filth need to be
synonymous. A person doesn't have
to be we'll off to get clean. But a2-
parently he has to be well off to
want to keep clean. We've found
it that way clear around the world.
The people here dress as we see
Japanese dressed in pictures: wo-
men in Kinonos and old men in
skintight pants. Some wear loose
kneelength garment that shows
their skinny legs.
The kids are cute as kids are
all over the world. I've noticed ma
rines reaching out and tousling
their hair as they marched past
them. We're rounding up all the
civilians and putting them in
camps. They are puzzled by It all.
Most of the farm families must
have got out when our heavy bonn
ardments started. Lots Of farm
houses have either been demolish-
ed or burned to the ground before
we came. Often, in passing a
wrecked farmhouse, you smell
the sickening odor of death inside.
But there are always people who
won't leave no matter what. We
couldn't help feeling sorry for the
Okinawans we picked up in the
first few days. We found two who
spoke little English. They had
once lived in Hawaii. One was an
old man who had a son (Hawaiian
Japanese) somewhere in the Amer
lean Army!
They were all shocked from the
bombardment and yet think rath-
er stupid too, so that when they
talked they didn't make much
sense.
J I don't believe they had any idea