Happy Birthday, Henry!

[Dusty]

Hope it's a great one!

Every one fell free to join in!

Dusty

[bakubo]

Thanks, Dusty! My birthday was yesterday here in Japan. My wife and I flew to Okinawa yesterday and we will stay here a month. Short-sleeve shirt weather here so that is very nice! First time to Okinawa! I am still working on my Thailand photos, but I brought my computer with me and will finish them while here.

I found this interesting article from 1987:

THE BLOODIEST BATTLE OF ALL

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/14/magazine/the-bloodiest-battle-of-all.html

ON OKINAWA TODAY, Flag Day will be observed with an extraordinary ceremony: two groups of elderly men, one Japanese, the other American, will gather for a solemn rite. They could scarcely have less in common.

Their motives are mirror images; each group honors the memory of men who tried to slay the men honored by those opposite them. But theirs is a common grief. After 42 years the ache is still there. They are really united by death, the one great victor in modern war.

They have come to Okinawa to dedicate a lovely monument in remembrance of the Americans, Japanese and Okinawans killed there in the last and bloodiest battle of the Pacific war. More than 200,000 perished in the 82-day struggle - twice the number of Japanese lost at Hiroshima and more American blood than had been shed at Gettysburg. My own regiment - I was a sergeant in the 29th Marines - lost more than 80 percent of the men who landed on April 1, 1945. Before the battle was over, both the Japanese and American commanding generals lay in shallow graves.

[Birma]

Belated birthday wishes, Henry

[bakubo]

Thanks, Andy!

"I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbPa31KOZg0

[Greg Beetham]

Happy b-day H , sorry I’m late to the party,
I read the account of Okinawa and it was good to read an accurate description of the horror of it by someone who was there, it’s difficult to come to terms with the heroism, the insanity and the carnage of it. This is worth reading also http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-okinawa-the-bloodiest-battle-of-the-pacific-war.htm
Greg

[bakubo]

Thanks, Greg. I will give that a read.

[bfitzgerald]

Missed this one have a good one!

[bakubo]

Thanks, Barry! I flew from Okinawa to cold Sapporo a couple of days ago for a week to see the annual Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival). I have been wanting to see it for 25 years! Wow, Sapporo looks so different now compared to the month we stayed here in late summer and early fall last year. Lots of snow! So cool!