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Pages of History
April 1, 1945, was Easter Sunday. It was no holiday for Frank Noelle. Sunrise marked the beginning of the invasion of Okinawa and Noelle was about to go ashore with the 96th Infantry Division. He would leave the island a battle-hardened veteran with a Bronze Star. But like many veterans who actually experienced combat, “hero” was a term Noelle rejected. “I was no hero,“ he said in an interview with this writer in March 2005. “The only heroes were the ones who didn’t come back.“ Okinawa’s strategic location made the island a crucial objective for U.S. military planners. Located less than 400 miles from the Japanese mainland, Okinawa would provide the final stepping stone for the planned invasion of the home islands. Japanese military leaders realized that if Okinawa fell, the war was lost. More than 100,000 Japanese troops were committed to the island with orders to fight to the death.
Dawn that Sunday morning revealed a fleet of 1300 American ships – more than had been assembled for the Normandy invasion – lying off the southwestern coast of Okinawa.
But the enemy garrison would not be taken by surprise. Weeks of bombardment by sea and air forecast the coming battle. Beginning at 5:30 a.m., U.S. naval guns concentrated fire on the Hakushi beaches where thousands of Marines and Infantry were preparing to make an amphibious landing.
“They were playing Easter Parade over the ship’s loudspeakers as we climbed down the nets into the landing craft,“ recalled Noelle. “I remember the time was 8:00 a.m.”
Fifteen minutes later, the leading waves of amphibious tractors (amtracs) and landing craft formed an assault line and headed toward the beaches. Gunboats led the way, firing thousands of rounds into prearranged target areas. Upon reaching the coral reef that fringed the island, the gunboats turned aside, allowing the amtracs and flat-bottomed landing craft to pass over the reef. Noelle was in the first wave of the assault.“Our boat couldn’t run up onto the beach because of the coral so we jumped out into waist-deep water and waded shore.”
Four divisions – the 6th Marines, the 1st Marines, the 7th Infantry and the 96th Infantry – participated in the initial landing. Noelle was a corporal in the 382nd Regiment of the 96th Infantry Division. As an infantry man, Noelle carried an M-1 rifle but also knew how to operate a machine gun if the situation required.
The two Marine divisions were assigned to cut the island in two at its narrow point and then turn north. The two Army divisions were ordered to drive south to capture Okinawa’s two main cities – Naha and Shuri. As it turned out, the heaviest fighting took place in that vicinity.
The landing took place with little resistance. More than 50,000 U.S. troops were put ashore with only a few dozen casualties. Two enemy airfields just behind the landing beaches were captured without firing a shot.
A Japanese pilot, who apparently hadn’t been told of the invasion, landed on one of the fields, got out of his plane, and began walking toward some American troops. Suddenly, realizing the soldiers weren’t his countrymen, the unfortunate pilot reached for his handgun and was immediately killed.
The lack of enemy resistance was explained by a recent change in defense strategy. Instead of attacking the Americans on the beaches as they had done in earlier campaigns, the new plan was to allow the invaders to land unmolested and then strike from strongly fortified positions at the southern end of the island.
In the meantime, Japanese planes and warships would attack and destroy American troop transports and supply ships. But things did not go according to plan. The Japanese lost more than 1000 planes and dozens of ships. One of these was the “Yamato” said to be the largest battleship afloat.
Kamikaze pilots scored a few hits on the invasion fleet but only moderate damage was reported. “A kamikaze plane hit the corner of the ship I was on,” recalled Noelle. “It crashed down onto a landing craft and killed everyone on board.“ For the men of the 96th Division, April 5th marked the beginning of fanatic resistance and bloody fighting. Driving south through the countryside paralleling the coast road, the Division encountered a number of strongly fortified Japanese positions. By April 8th, the advance toward Shuri and Naha had ground to a halt as GIs ran up against the elaborate defenses of the Machinato Line– a series of interconnected caves, tunnels, ridges, and ravines.
On April 10th elements of the 381st and 383rd Infantry attacked Kakazu Ridge, one of the most heavily-fortified positions on Okinawa. Japanese machine guns and artillery hidden in tunnels covered all avenues of approach. After sustaining hundreds of casualties in the assault, the GIs were forced to pull back. While the 381st and 383rd were making their abortive attack on Kakazu Ridge, the 382nd (Noelle’s regiment) attacked Tombstone Ridge.
They found many of the ancient burial vaults along the sides of the ridge occupied by Japanese fighters.
“I remember Tombstone Ridge,” said Noelle. “It was the worst battle I was ever in. We were ordered to take a hill on the other side of a rice paddy. At first it was relatively quiet, but when we got across the paddy we ran into an ambush. All hell broke loose. Jap artillery and machine guns opened up on us from all directions.”
It was on or near Tombstone Ridge that Corporal Frank Noelle earned his Bronze Star and a promotion to Sergeant.
(To be continued.)
