US was unified as WW II raged on

U.S. soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen, who were doing the bulk of the fighting against Japan, were focused on the final phase of an important struggle for the island of Okinawa 80 years ago this month.

A vital airfield located there was the focus of an invasion that aimed to secure that asset and the rest of the island which was to be used as a staging area from which to facilitate an eventual invasion of Japan’s home islands.

The battle for Okinawa, which began on April 1, would last 82 days before the Allies could claim victory on June 22. No quarter was given on either side. The fighting was utterly brutal. Hand-to-hand combat was frequent. So were atrocities. The Japanese were determined to carry on to the last man.

Well over 1,000 Japanese suicide bombers swarmed over a massive Allied fleet, sinking or damaging 442 vessels. A total of 763 Allied aircraft was lost. Allied casualties amounted to about 50,000 men, most of them Americans.

Japanese soldiers defending the island used every available means to take a maximum toll on the invaders. For the Japanese, surrender was not an option. It was an existential question for them.

Nearly all of the 110,000 Japanese troops on the island were killed or injured, many of them in fruitless suicide charges directly into the face of U.S. weaponry. In addition, as many as 150,000 civilians perished, some of them via forced suicide.

The bloody battle, in the end, was a grim harbinger of what planners believed would almost surely lie ahead if/when the United States and its allies took on the gargantuan task of invading Japan itself. Carnage on a grand scale — hundreds of thousands of American dead, not to mention countless Japanese civilian casualties — was predicted.

On the home front, Americans, to a very high degree, were unified. For the most part, any issues which had divided the nation prior to the late 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had been swept away.

The situation was the polar opposite of what we see today: Bitterness, vitriol, condemnation, anger, personal attacks, violence, neighbor vs. neighbor, political hate, all of which appear to be accelerating with each passing week.

For those old enough to recall those uncertain days so many decades ago, the stark difference between then and now is sadly telling.

Will it take another protracted war that directly threatens the U.S. homeland to bring us together again — as the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, did for a relatively brief period? Let’s hope we don’t have to find out.

PROGRESS ON FACILITIES: Mercy High School broke ground on its long-sought gymnasium, the first in its 94-year history, last week. The project is planned to include a new swimming pool at the all-female Catholic campus off Adeline Drive in Burlingame as well.

However, a school spokeswoman noted that Mercy still must raise about $2.5 million to complete the entire complex and it may be necessary to finish it in phases.

Meanwhile, ribbon-cutting ceremonies to mark the debuts of two new gymnasium/fitness centers at Burlingame and San Mateo highs are scheduled for Aug. 27 and Aug. 29, respectively. Both facilities have been under construction for two years with a combined budget of just over $64 million.

In the North County, site work to prepare for a new gym and swimming pool at Jefferson High School in Daly City is commencing.

WILLIAMS LEAVING PACIFICA: Darnise Williams, superintendent of the Pacifica School District, is leaving that post for a similar position in the Antioch Unified School District July 1. She is departing at a difficult moment in the coastside community as student enrollment declines and two schools are scheduled for closure. Williams, who was facing increased pressure from parents and others, was the district’s top administrator for just two contentious years.

PAUL MARTIN’S TO SHUT DOWN: Paul Martin’s American Grill has confirmed it will be closing July 17. The upscale restaurant is located in the Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo. The mall is scheduled for extensive reconstruction, in part, to create multiunit housing and offices on a large portion of the site.

Email: johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.