LDAY aboard the Neshoba APA 216
| Thank you for remembering all of us that hit the beaches at 0600 on April 1, 1945 at Okinawa. I remember the Shinto tombs directly ahead of us which I at first thought might be gun emplacements. ha. |  |
| Ashore,
just below a rise in the terrain a Japanese cannon was lobbing shells at
us which just missed the Neshoba off the port bow. A cruiser off our
port beam was handling the fire control, and tried to hit the guns that
were firing at us. But could not hit them directly because of the location
below the rise.
They called for our dive bombers from Admiral Halsey's 5th fleet which was standing off. That afternoon the dive bombers made short work of those cannon, and the ammo, and fuel storage. I felt very proud of our pilots. |
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| We were of course part
of the 7th fleet, but I thought since we led the ground attack, that we
also should have received the 5th fleet citation award because we were a
vital part of the Okinawa invasion, and were also in the midst of the
Japanese air attack which crippled a cruiser near us.
They dropped a magnetic phosphorus bomb which hit the Neshoba just under my 20 mm anti-aircraft and caused me to pee down my leg when it lit up the entire area that night. ha. ha. There should be an award for that, don't you think? ha. George (Buck) Lawhorn APA 216 Neshoba |
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