Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-05-30
Something Special in F|oq-Roisinq
By Walter Wood

OF Shur1 CaSCIe. Inc SOunQ popped In
the ears of a Marine officer fighting
to raise the American flag over the
cloudy ramparts being wrested from
the enemy. It was Memorial Day on
Okinawa.
Today, when the bugle sounds at
dawn and the flag is run up at the San
Diego Marine Corps Base, the picture
will come back strongest to Col. Rich
ard Ross of those headquarters.
This is the story:
It started on a hillside on Okinawa
where in sacred vaults rest the bones
of ancient OkinawanS who looked to
Japan as their motherland and to
China as their fatherland. Also on
that hillside on May % 1945, was
Marine Corps tent. Inside was Maj.
Gen. Pedro A. del Vale of Alexandria,
Va, then commanding officer of the
LIST Marine Division.
The generals limp-collared leather
necks were about to take Shuri Castle.
After Is days of continuous fighting,
they were going to evict Shuri'S Japa-
coming Marines. Shuri Castle, where
Admiral Dewey opened the door to
the Orient while looking out on his
fleet OF wooden ships in Naha Bay,
was kingpin of the Japanese defense
line.
Del Vale expected the once-formi-
dable medieval castle-by then torn by
ship, shore and aerial bombardment-
to fall the next day-Memorial Day.
He wanted to have the American flag
planted there. alag -plantings were
in the news at the time. Only a few
months before-in an operation which
paved the way for the Easter Sunday
assault on Okinawa-Marines of the
5th Division had raised our flag over
Two lima. Associated Press Photog-
rapher Joe Rosenthal took q pic
ture which made Mt. Surabachi
better known to American school
children than Pixies Peak. But
this was a hag-raising that meant
something special to Del Vale He
ordered patrol to carry the flag from
his command post to the Marine COM
mander at Shuri. The patrol was to
get 1t there by Memorial Day, regard
less Of opposition.
The folks back home learned what
happened when dispatches reached the
States. A headline in The Star said:
"Ex-Star reporter, Capt. Parriott,
leader of Shuri Flag Raising
The story began:
"Okinawa Delayed)-Marine Capt.
William w. Parriott, "a, of Morgan
town, w. Va, ex-Federal Bureau of
Investigation agent, led the 2O-man
patrol which took the American flag
to Shuri Castle
"The captain, a reporter for The
Washington Evening Star in 1938-40,
was picked to head the patrol after
Maj. Gen. Pedro A. del Vale or
dered the divisions historic flag car
rled to =. Shuri.
Capt Parriott set out on the morn
ing Of May %. A f1ve-day downpour of
rain made the Okinawa battle ground
quagmire. forcing the patrol to slog
through black, knee-deep mud. One
man sank to the hips.
"At 4 pm. they reached Wanna Draw,
where few steps in the wrong direc-
ton meant death. A hidden Jap ma
chine gun opened up and pinned them
down. Capt. Parriott gave orders to
dig in for the night on the reverse
slope Of the hill.
"The next morning the patrol moved
around the hill and climbed to shell
torn Shuri barracks, within 200 yards
of the castle, before they were spotted
and fired on again-this time by an
enemy 47-mm. gun registered on the
trail to the castle.
Each man, at separate intervals,
broke in a run across the spot and got
through safely. When they entered
the grounds Of the once formidable
Jap fortress: the ruins were still under
fire from three sides
Capt. Parriott delivered the flag to
battalion commander from Maryland
who raised the colors.)
"Sniper bullets whizzed past the flag
as it unfurled. Within a few feet
were the bodies Of IS Japs killed the
night before.
1T was the third time the LIST
Division Marines had raised this flag
over territory wrested from the Japs-
first at Cape Gloucester, again at
Peleliu."
Nine days after that seemingly rou-
tine military action, this headline ap-
peareQ IN Inc star:
Flag Raised at Shuri Fulhlls Prom
Use to Late Gen. Rupertus."
The story read
"Shuri, Okinawa Delayed (AP)-A
promise made to the late Mai. Gen.
William H. Rupertus when he gave UP
command of the list Marine Division
has been kept-the American flag
which his men planted at Cape Glou-
cester and Peleliu now flies over Shuri
Castle.
when Maj. Gen. del Vale took
over command of the 1st Division, he
assured Gen. Rupertus that the same
flag would fly for the third time over
territory wreSted from the Japanese.
Gen Rupertus died in Washington
March Is, week before the men OF
his former command swarmed ashore
on Okinawa Gen. del Vale sent