Is This the Right Time for the Marines to Leave Okinawa?

The base in Guam has been built and I could imagine the grass on the parade field has been planted and well maintained.? The seeds of the USMC moving off Okinawa to Guam were planted long ago – without fore thought or recognition of the looming CCP threat.? ?In 2006 when the first plan for rebasing the Marines off Okinawa was drafted, one could argue that it made some sense, now it seems to have been “over-come by events”.?? While stationed in Okinawa in the early 90s – I often questioned the utility of the Marines bases so far from the threat.? At that time, we were flying all our missions (AWACS) in Northern Japan near the disputed islands occupied by the USSR and along the DMZ separating the two Koreas – those were the potential flash points. ?The PLA, on the other hand, could hardly project power within their own country without the aid of bicycles.? At the same time, the US Navy’s 7th Fleet sailed the waters across the Pacific Ocean undisputed as they had since the end of the Second World War.

Strategic considerations aside, the Okinawans have long borne the brunt of the US troop presence since the bloody invasion in April 1945.? The Okinawan civilian population was decimated sustaining over 100,000 deaths – approximately a third of their population, those memories are hard to forget. ?My father fought on the island and was severely wounded when an artillery unit (4th Company, 1st Heavy Regiment) spotted jeeps traveling near Itoman in southern end of the island.? Until that point, Maj Shoichiro Ishihara was conserving his last remaining eight shells for what he thought might be a high-value target.? At almost point-blank range he fired his last shots.? My dad was lucky, Maj General Simon B. Buckner was not.? Shrapnel from a shell exploding caught the him in the chest.? The General was hurriedly moved away from the immediate area as more shells exploded.? At this point, he was beyond medical help, for General Simon B Bukner, the highest ranking military officer to be killed in action – the war was over.? He passed away surrounded by the troops he had led.

While stationed in Kadena AB, I met Mr. Ishihara, as he visited Okinawa every year with hundreds of widows, sons, daughters, and family member of fallen sons, husbands and brothers that never made it home.? Together we would enter the caves and search the never-forgotten battlefields to recover what was left of the Japanese soldiers that fought and died on the remote island.? The memory of Pacific’s bloodiest battle cannot be easily erased, nor can it be described to those who were not there.? Anyone knowing the horrors that were contained on that small island cannot dismiss the concerns of Okinawans and the fears they must have in becoming caught again between two powers on a collision course.? Admittedly, the Marine bases on present day Okinawa have caused frictions with the local hosts, I do not want to equivocate those actions of a few young Marines.?

Nature has reclaimed much of the once scorched landscape; a modern city has risen from the ashes of a devastated countryside.? In the 1960s, not too long after the battle, Mr. Ishihara erected a memorial to the fallen General on the spot he last stood. He even invited his widow to Okinawa and escorted her to the spot where her husband was mortally wounded.

Time can heal the wounds and former enemies are now friends.? However, the memories of Pacific’s bloodiest battle are harder to forget.? Peace and prosperity have returned to the people living on Okinawa – after experiencing some of the worse of mankind, they are now living long lives, many are centenarians. Perhaps this is some sort of repayment for all the lives that were cut short, or perhaps as a living reminder of the carnage of war.

Almost 80 years after the battle, the small island finds itself again in the center of a potential super power conflict as Japan along with the US, Australia and India recognize the looming threat in the CCP. The rise of China’s military came alarming fast, or so it appeared.? The PLA built a large Navy, designed, and produced stealth aircraft, and built bases overseas while we had our attention focused on the contingency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. ?China’s intentions are becoming clearer as manmade islands appear in the South China Sea threatening 60% of the worlds maritime trade and making threatening moves to unite Taiwan with mainland. ?The Pacific Pivot was slow in forming and to some without a lot of punch.? We are once more involved with two other conflicts far from the Pacific AOR – our attention and minds are again diverted to the tragedies unfolding in the Middle East and Europe.? Despite all the history, pain and suffering endured by the small island, the question remains - Is this the right time for the Marines to leave Okinawa?