How do you say "thank you" to an entire generation?

I first had the privilege of meeting Dick Whitaker in 1991 when his son, Scott, and I became friends. Dick was warm, sharp witted, and what I think of as "a man's man" based on what I learned from observing my own father and the men he chose to call his friends.

Fresh out of high school in Saugerties, New York, Dick enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in June of 1944 so that he could do his part to defend this country in the greatest conflict mankind had ever experienced. He completed boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina that summer and went on to infantry training at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina that fall. Then, as a newly-minted Marine, Dick landed on the west coast of Okinawa with the 29th regiment of the 6th Marine Division on Easter Sunday – April 1, 1945. This joint landing force of 182,000 U.S. Army and Marine personnel faced an estimated 155,000 Japanese ground, air and naval troops...dug in and prepared to die rather than surrender.?Dick was just 18 years old.

For the next three months Dick and the rest of the 6th Marines fought for control of the island in what was arguably one of the bloodiest and most vicious battles of WWII. The Japanese were desperate to stop us from gaining a foothold on what they considered to be one of their home islands. We were desperate to gain that same foothold in order to establish an airbase for our B-29 bombers that was close enough to the Japanese mainland to allow our fighters, with their limited range, to accompany the 29s to and from their targets.

With a magnitude that rivaled the Normandy invasion on the coast of France the previous summer, the battle for Okinawa was the single biggest and costliest operation of the Pacific War. More than 12,500 U.S. military personnel died taking Okinawa in less than 90 days. Major battles included Hacksaw Ridge (made famous by Mel Gibson's 2016 movie about conscientious objector and Medal of Honor recipient, Desmond Doss) and Sugar Loaf Hill...which is one of several locations where Dick fought. When interviewed a couple of years ago, a fellow member of the 29th regiment named Bill Pierce said, “We went in with 3,500 men and after 82 days of combat more than 2,800 of them were gone. The Marines' casualty rate was more than 80 per cent.” On Sugar Loaf Hill alone, 500 of the 29th regiment were killed in just one week of bitter fighting. No Marine regiment in the history of the Corps has ever suffered casualty rates that high in a single battle.

Like so many veterans of WWII, Dick did not talk much about the details of his experiences. The horror of those days was something that he and thousands like him did not want to contemplate. However, one summer evening on Scott's back deck twenty-plus years ago, after a liberal quantity of libations had been administered to all concerned, I coaxed Dick into telling me just a little bit about his time on Okinawa. He began by saying that it was impossible to describe those days in a way that would make sense to someone who had not been there. But then he stopped suddenly and with a wink in his eye said, "Smoking saved my life."

When I asked him to elaborate he explained that while sitting in his foxhole on Okinawa with his rifle slung across his chest, he leaned forward to cup his hands around his buddy's lighter as he held it out to light Dick's cigarette. At that same moment a Japanese sniper fired a round that shattered the stock of Dick's rifle and sprayed him with shrapnel. Had he not leaned forward to light his cigarette, his rifle would have been in a different position on his body and that sniper's round would have gone straight though his midsection...undoubtedly killing him. As it was, Dick ended up with fragments of a U.S.-made rifle and a Japanese-made bullet in his body, but he lived and was awarded the first of two Purple Hearts that he would receive for combat injuries sustained during his three months on the island.

For its actions at Okinawa, the 6th Marine Division and reinforcing units earned a?Presidential Unit Citation. That citation reads:

For extraordinary heroism in action against enemy Japanese forces during the assault and capture of Okinawa, April 1 to June 21, 1945. Seizing Yontan Airfield in its initial operation, the SIXTH Marine Division, Reinforced, smashed through organized resistance to capture Ishikawa Isthmus, the town of Nago and heavily fortified Motobu Peninsula in 13 days. Later committed to the southern front, units of the Division withstood overwhelming artillery and mortar barrages, repulsed furious counterattacks and staunchly pushed over the rocky terrain to reduce almost impregnable defenses and capture Sugar Loaf Hill. Turning southeast, they took the capital city of Naha and executed surprise shore-to-shore landings on Oroku Peninsula, securing the area with its prized Naha Airfield and Harbor after nine days of fierce fighting. Reentering the lines in the south, SIXTH Division Marines sought out enemy forces entrenched in a series of rocky ridges extending to the southern tip of the island, advancing relentlessly and rendering decisive support until the last remnants of enemy opposition were exterminated and the island secured. By their valor and tenacity, the officers and men of the SIXTH Marine Division, Reinforced contributed materially to the conquest of Okinawa, and their gallantry in overcoming a fanatic enemy in the face of extraordinary danger and difficulty adds new luster to Marine Corps history, and to the traditions of the United States Naval Service.

— Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal for the President

Dick Whitaker passed away peacefully last week at the age of 93...exactly seventy-four years after the horrors of the battle for Okinawa. In those seventy-four years he earned a degree from Syracuse University, raised a family, and lived his life honorably. He was one of millions of Americans –?a group we have appropriately dubbed "the greatest generation" –who understood why this country, and what it stands for, is worth defending. I don't know how we can ever truly thank Dick and the many others like him, but maybe working together to maintain the legacy of freedom and democracy they left us is a good start.