Battle of Okinawa: The End of Japan’s War

Your tour begins where the battle began – on the invasion beaches of the island’s East China Sea coast. You will visit the spot where Eugene B. Sledge and the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines landed on Toguchi Beach on L-Day: Sunday, April 1, 1945. From there, you will travel to the site of Yomitan Airfield, Shimuku Gama Cave, where 72-year-old Heiji Higa saved over 1,000 Okinawan civilians by preventing them from committing mass suicide, and then Chibi Chiri Cave, where lives were not similarly saved. Understanding how the battle affected Okinawan civilians is as important as understanding how soldiers, sailors, and Marines fought it.

Today, you will board a ferry for the short trip to le Shima, where the U.S. Army’s 77th Infantry Division fought an intense battle against Japanese defenders and later established a critical airbase. You will also visit the spot where, on April 18, 1945, the well-known war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed by a Japanese bullet. The fighting on le Shima is an essential chapter in the broader story of Operation ICEBERG.

The U.S. Army’s 96th Infantry Division turned south the week after it landed on the island’s west coast and quickly ran into powerful enemy resistance in the concealed and heavily fortified Japanese positions on Kakazu Ridge. You will begin the day here before moving on to the next significant terrain feature: Hacksaw Ridge. This is where soldiers from the Army’s 77th Division encountered even stronger opposition, and one conscientious objector named Desmond Doss earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving the lives of 75 men during the Battle of Okinawa.

The day ends with a visit to the Former Japanese Naval Headquarters, the underground complex where Imperial Japanese Navy forces made their last stand on the island.

Your last day on Okinawa will examine the closing phase of the battle. You will visit three locations on the island’s southern end.

With the collapse of the Shuri Line north of Naha in late May, U.S. forces pushed the Japanese into the rolling countryside around Itoman, which is where the fighting ultimately came to an end. You will visit the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum, which is located close to the Japanese 32nd Army’s last command post and, therefore, the place where Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima committed ritual suicide on June 22, 1945. Nearby, the Himeyuri Cenotaph memorializes a cave where 222 students and 18 teachers from two girls’ schools served as a reserve medical corps throughout the battle. This place provides a powerful reminder of the way that the Pacific War began producing civilian casualties on a vast scale during its final twelve months. The last stop of the day visits the site where Japanese artillery fire killed Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. on June 18, 1945.

With the conclusion of the day’s historical program, the group will transfer to the airport for our group flight to Kyushu.

Your study of the Battle of Okinawa continues today during a visit to the Chiran Peace Museum. Between April 1st and July 28th, hundreds of kamikaze pilots flew from the Japanese Imperial Army airbase located here. They brought a new dimension of brutality to the air and sea campaign that produced the high cost of the battle. They also provided a powerful indication of what could be expected during the forthcoming invasion of the Japanese home islands that, thankfully, never happened.

Next you will visit Kanoya Air Base – a modern Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force aerodrome that was used by Imperial Navy kamikazes during the campaign. Together, Chiran and Kanoya provide the best place to remember the impact of the kamikaze on the Pacific war. Kanoya is also home to the only surviving Kawanishi H8K flying boat – the type of Imperial Navy long range maritime patrol aircraft responsible for the second attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942.

You will start the day with the experience of traveling by Shinkansen “bullet train” to Hiroshima. You will learn about the defense of the city of Hiroshima and why this city was selected to be a bomb city.

Your study of history will focus on the events of August 6, 1945, when an atomic bomb fell on the city. You will visit the Chugoku Military District Air Defense Headquarters bunker in Hiroshima Castle, which transmitted the earliest news of the explosion that devastated the city. You will end the day with a visit to the remains of the Hiroshima Imperial General Headquarters: the complex was initially built in 1894 and served as the headquarters of the 5th Division.

At 0815 on a hot August day, a second sun lit up the Japanese countryside around Hiroshima. By that afternoon, word would reach the Imperial household but little could be believed about the extent of the destruction that was being reported from what appears to have been just one bomb.

This morning you will visit Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park, the Peace Memorial Museum and the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotions Hall “A-bomb Dome” to provide context for not just how the atomic bomb changed the city’s history, but the history of the entire world as well.

The group will then transfer to the airport for a short flight to Tokyo.

August 14 and 15, 1945, marked the turning point of Japanese history during the 20th Century. Today, your historian will lead you through that story while touring the heart of the city where it happened. From the grounds of the Imperial Palace and the former Headquarters of the Imperial Guard Division to the Yasukuni Shrine, you will visit sites of venerated significance in Japanese history. At the nearby Yushukan Museum, you will learn more about the era of militarism that put Japan on a collision course with the Second World War, and at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery, you will see the high cost of it all.

With the surrender of Japanese forces in Tokyo Bay on Sunday, September 2, 1945, the shooting war came to an end and a complicated post-war era began. A signed copy of the document that made this official is displayed in the Edo-Tokyo Museum, and you will see it during your visit this morning. Situated in Tokyo’s Sumida City, this museum preserves the city’s cultural heritage up to and including the war years. This is also a part of Tokyo that burned to the ground during the Operation Meetinghouse firebombing raid in March 1945, providing one last opportunity to consider the way that strategic bombing exerted a powerful influence over the inevitable conclusion of the War in the Pacific.

This evening, you will gather with fellow guests for a farewell reception and dinner, giving you a moment to reflect on your shared experience.

You can catch your flight home from from Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT) or Tokyo Haneda International Airport in the morning – however, there will only be one airport transfer included which will take you to the Haneda airport. If you choose to fly out of the Narita airport you will be responsible for your own transport.