A touching image, some 80 years ago today, with an almost unfathomable background.
Official period caption: “Lecco, Italy. PFC George Morihiro, Co I, 442nd Inf. Regt., adopted a little orphan, one of the group from the St. Joseph’s orphanage, which attended the 4th of July party at the Red Cross given by the members of the 442nd Regt., for the evening, and made sure that she had plenty of sweets to eat.”
U.S. Army Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-340940 by Menikheim, 3131st Signal Photo Platoon. National Archives Identifier 404791224
Just in case you didn’t immediately grasp it, the famed 442nd “Go for Broke” Regimental Combat Team was made up of Japanese American troops during WWII. One of the most decorated units in U.S. military history– including five Presidential Unit Citations, 21 MoHs, and 18,000 other individual decorations– the second-generation “Nisei” men who filled its ranks often hailed from families shamefully interned by the federal government under armed guard during the war.
Born in September 1924, in Tacoma, Washington, to Gunjiro and Tsuru Morihiro, George graduated from high school in Fife, Washington, and was eager to volunteer for the Army prior to Pearl Harbor. Following the start of the Pacific War, his family was removed to the Puyallup Assembly Center and the Minidoka Concentration Camp, Idaho, where 13,000 Americans were detained in the high desert.
Nonetheless, he joined the Army in late 1943, was sent to Camp Shelby, and, in what he thought was punishment for talking smack to a sergeant there, was promptly designated as a BAR man, toting the 21-pound M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle. As anyone can tell you, it sucks to carry a BAR to the range and back, I can’t imagine having to tote one through the gumbo mud of Mississippi or up a mountain in Italy, but George did it.
Earning a Purple Heart in action against the Gothic Line, Staff Sgt. Morihiro returned to Fife after the war. Attending photography school, he worked 20 years for Tall’s Camera Supply and 24 years as owner of GEM Photo Distributors. He was also active in the Nisei Veterans Association, speaking to school groups and community organizations about his wartime experiences, going on to leave a nine-part oral history in 1998.
George passed in 2009, aged 85, and left behind a son and grandchildren. Because, of course, he did.
Official period caption: Independence Day celebration at a 10th Air Force Base “somewhere in India,” 4 July 1945. Lockheed P-38 Lightnings fire their 50 cal. machine guns and 20mm cannon.
These are possibly the “Twin Dragons” of the 80th FG’s 459th Fighter Squadron (459th FS), which at the time were based at Dudhkundi, supporting operations over Burma.
(U.S. Air Force Number 62693AC. National Archives Identifier 204961221)
Stay safe out there in your own little part of America this weekend, gents.
Only produced for a single year by the Army’s Rock Island Arsenal, the RIA-marked National Match “GI Custom” 1911 .45 is a rare gun.
Why National Match?
So-called “National Match” 1911s date back to custom-fit target guns made to compete in the U.S. National Matches held annually, first in New Jersey and Florida and then at Camp Perry, Ohio. Modifications made by military armorers and famous Colt rep Henry “Fitz” FitzGerald to GI guns led Colt to introduce a specific National Match 1911 model in 1933, with lessons learned from the event guns. Except for the gap between 1941 and 1957, Colt National Match 1911s continue to be produced, in small numbers.
Early Colt National Matches, such as this circa 1932 model in the Guns.com Vault, were little more than standard 1911s with a tuned trigger and better barrel. Only about 3,000 Colt NM pistols were made before World War II (Photo: Guns.com)
An M1911-equipped Marine Gunnery Sergeant Henry M. Bailey, winner of the Custer Trophy at the National Rifle Matches, Camp Perry, Ohio, summer 1930. First awarded in 1927, the Custer is still presented to the winner of the National Trophy Individual Pistol Match. (Photo: National Archives)
After World War II ended, with the Colt NM gun at the time out of production, the Army looked into making its own. The program, run out of the Army’s old Springfield Armory complex in Massachusetts, took existing GI M1911s already in inventory and re-worked them into more match-friendly guns. A National Match specification was established, and the conversion process included not only hand fitting and tuning but a new “hard” slide, either from Colt or Drake Manufacturing, while triggers, springs, bushings, and sights became an evolutionary process tweaked every season.
The 1962 standard GI Springfield Armory produced NM 1911 pistol. Note the sights. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
The 1962 standard GI Springfield Armory produced NM 1911 pistol. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
The 1963 standard GI Springfield Armory produced NM 1911 pistol. Note the adjustable rear sights. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
Between 1955 and 1967, Springfield Armory produced 24,055 NM M1911s, an average of about 1,850 guns per year. Of these, most were sent to assorted military marksmanship teams while just 3,876 were sold to the public through the Army-run Director of Civilian Marksmanship program, an organization that became the non-profit federally chartered Civilian Marksmanship Program in 1996.
Lieutenant Colonel Walter Walsh, Team Captain, Marine Corps Rifle and Pistol Team, 1955 National Matches. Note his NM 1911 complete with target sights and a Colt commercial slide. A competitive shooter on the FBI pistol team during the 1930s bank robbery era, he was on the teams that tracked down criminal Arthur Barker, son of gangster Ma Barker, as well as “Public Enemy Number One” Al Brady. Serving in the Marines in WWII, he reportedly made a 90-yard shot with an M1911 on a Japanese sniper on Okinawa. He went on to compete in 50M Pistol at the 1948 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal with the United States team in the 25 m Center-Fire Pistol event at the 1952 ISSF World Championships. (Photo: National Archives.)
However, with the Pentagon’s decision in the 1960s to close Springfield Armory as a money-saving measure (it would reopen in 1978 as a National Historic Site), it was decided that the Army’s in-house National Match program would shift its home to Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois.
The Short RIA NM 1911 Run
According to the FY1967 Rock Island Annual Historical Report, due to the planned phase out of Springfield Armory by the Army in February 1966, Rock Island sent two mechanical engineers and three armorers to Massachusetts to be trained specifically to support the National Matches.
Following five weeks of OTJ at Springfield, the Rock Island contingent worked side by side with Springfield Armory personnel at Camp Perry in the summer of 1966 while the tooling for the NM 1911 program shuffled from Massachusetts to Illinois. By September of that year, Rock Island officially received the Work Authorizations for the NM program, and the following month, the Army released the funds to proceed.
The program was authorized to complete overhauls on 1,533 caliber .45 M1911 National Match pistols, convert another 848 M1911 pistols to National Match standard, and overhaul 2,462 NM M14 rifles. However, the guns didn’t arrive at RIA until the end of 1966, while the technical data package was not received from Springfield until late January 1967. This put the program behind, and it wasn’t until March 1967 that a team of about 45 military and civilian armorers – many from marksmanship units from across the Army – had begun training, spread out in three, four-week classes, at RIA by the NM cadre instructors. It was only then that assembly began at the armory’s Building 61.
These original color photos were taken of the RIA NM 1911 line in Building 61 in June 1967, with armorers fitting pistols to precise National Match standards.
The production process included careful hand-fitting of the slide and parts. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
As well as detailed work, making sure the trigger and action were smooth as glass. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
Checkering the pistol’s front strap. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
Testing of finished pistols included firing proof rounds, left, and minimum accuracy tests, right, from fixtures.
Finished NM 1911s at RIA, 1967. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
The RIA NM 1911 standard. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
By July 6, 1967, 1,820 National Match M14 rifles and 1,764 NM M1911 pistols had been delivered to Camp Perry, notes the report. That August, nine RIA NM armorers went to the matches at Camp Perry to support the month-long effort there.
Then came the thunderbolt news that, with almost 500,000 U.S. troops stationed in Vietnam, the 1968 National Matches were canceled. It was the first time since 1950, when the matches were canceled during the Korean War, that Camp Perry would be shuttered for the summer. Further, the Gun Control Act of 1968 put a serious crimp on how guns were sold on the commercial market, one that is still felt today.
This brought about the end of the NM custom shop guns, with much more limited production shifted to the Army Marksmanship Unit’s Custom Firearms Shop, which continues to operate today.
Meet RIA NM 1911 #4784
The author was recently lucky enough to pick up a 4th Round Range Grade military surplus M1911 from the CMP.
A Military Model M1911A1 frame, serial number 824784, the pistol had been manufactured in 1942 at Colt. According to the CMP Forums, using the old Springfield Research Service books, it was accepted by the Army and shipped to Springfield Armory between September 18 and October 22, 1942. It likely went from there to an Army unit in Europe, as pistols in its serial number range soon after left for the New York Port of Embarkation.
Then, surely in the 1967 time frame, it was subsequently selected for upgrade to a National Match competition-grade pistol at Rock Island Arsenal, as it has both “RIA” and “NM” marked on the right side of the frame. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
It has a Colt NM 7791435 marked slide including a 1/8” .358 high front sight. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The right side is marked: “Colts PT. F.A. Mfg. Co. Hartford, Conn. U.S.A.” Lightly scratched into the rear of the right slide is “WC” likely denoting it is for use with wadcutter ammo only. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The gun carries a Colt NM 7791414 marked barrel, with the last four serial numbers (4784) electro-penciled to the hood. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The NM7267718 barrel bushing also carries a 4784. The bushing was an extremely tight fit to the barrel and slide. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
It carries a large U.S.-marked Kensight adjustable rear sight. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Note the aluminum trigger, which breaks at an amazingly crisp 3 pounds. Also note the “dummy mark” from some past incorrect reassembly at some point in the past 50+ years. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The milled front strap is standard for an RIA NM 1911. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Continued use?
Following likely use by a division, post, regional, Army, state, or other-level Marksmanship Training Unit, some signs point to #4784 being converted a second time since leaving RIA in 1967-68.
A look at the internals. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Compared to a standard GI Colt military model from 1944. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The uncheckered straight mainspring housing is different from the NM standards, likely installed in later years. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
It carries late model (Ergo XT Rigid intro’d in 2007) tapered black checkered plastic grips. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
It has a UID label on the bottom of the dust cover. The Army only started putting these on guns starting around 2004. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Doing the archival work, a FOIA request to the Army pulled the inventory records for the gun going back to 1975. It spent a lot of time at Fort Lewis, Washington, with “unknown” unit owners back when the 9th Infantry Division and 2nd Ranger Battalion were there. Sent to Anniston Army Depot in January 1989, it was soon turned around and sent to the Concept Evaluation Support Agency in Lexington (Bluegrass Army Depot) in October 1990, where it stayed for a few months before being sent to the 1st Cavalry at Fort Hood, then back to CESA in April 1992. Of note, CESA is the main supply depot for Army Special Forces and SOCOM units.
The FOIA puts the gun everywhere from Washington state to Kentucky, Alabama, and Texas over a 48-year timeline. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The pistol remained at CESA for almost 30 years, including the entire Global War on Terror. As the Program Executive Office for Special Operations Forces Support Activity (PEO-SOFSA) was at Bluegrass, the pistol may have been a loaner. Issued as needed and returned after a requirement, especially during the high-tempo SOCOM operations in the early 2000s, it may have never been “officially” transferred on paper. This could account for the OIF-era UIC sticker, Ergo Rigid grips, and straight main spring housing. Barring an email from some operator who remembers the gun and its serial, we may never know. Some GI NM 1911s have been documented as former Delta Force guns, and SF widely used accurized .45s for years post 9/11.
Sent to Anniston Army Depot storage in June 2020, #4784 was transferred to the CMP in July 2023. From there, it has just been in the Eger family collection and will stay there until its next chapter.
Special thanks to the Rock Island Arsenal Museum for their assistance with this article. If you are ever in the area, please stop in and visit the facility while you still can. It is slated, along with 20 other base museums, to close in the next few years.
Original caption: “Early in the morning, the pilot of the North American P-51D Mustang ‘Tamra,’ heads for his plane. He carries approximately 85 pounds of personal equipment including a parachute, lifebelt, life raft, seat, survival vest, helmet, and goggles. Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands. July 1945.”
USAAF Photo 68067AC, National Archives Identifier 204982187
And from the back:
USAAF Photo 67959AC, National Archives Identifier 204982142
The pilot is identified as LT Ceil A. “Denny” Dennis of the 45th Fighter Squadron, 7th Fighter Command, 20th Air Force.
The above images were likely taken at Iwo’s South Field, where the 45th called home from March through November 1945, with most of that escorting B-29s over Japan on very long-range missions, a task that earned the squadron a Distinguished Unit Citation. These 7-8 hour flights were grueling in the cramped cockpit of the P-51, and so hard on the planes that ground crews had to change the engine’s spark plugs after every VLR to avoid fouling, as prolonged low-RPM cruising with giant drop tanks burned them out.
The history of the unit goes back to 22 November 1940, when the War Department authorized the 45th Pursuit Squadron (fighter), and it was stood up a week later as part of the new 15th Pursuit Group, Wheeler Field, Hawaii Territory.
Shuttered for six years post-war, they stood back up for Korea where they flew F-86 Sabres, then moved on to the F-100, F-84F, and F-4– which they flew in Vietnam– before downshifting to the COIN role in the A-37 Dragonfly and finally transitioned to the A-10 Warthog in 1981– which they still operate out of Davis–Monthan, at least for now.
As for Denny, born in September 1923, in Blackfoot, Idaho, he joined the Army Air Corps, aged 20, in early 1944. Completing flight training at Luke Field in Arizona, he was sent to the Pacific immediately upon graduation and joined the 45th for the duration. He survived the war, retired from the Air Force as a Lt. Colonel in 1983, and spent much time as a volunteer at the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa, Idaho. Lt. Col. Dennis passed in 2013, age 89, leaving several children and grandchildren.
This week marks the 80th Anniversary of the landing at Balikpapan, Borneo. The “Ploesti of the Pacific” was finally being liberated after weeks of systematic attack by the “Jungle Air Force” of the “Fighting” 13th AAF’s bombers and fighters operating out of New Guinea and the Solomons.
Official period caption: “On July 1, 1945, Americans and Australians island-hopped right into the center of the rich, Japanese-held oil fields of Balikpapan, Borneo. Units of the Navy’s Seventh Fleet paved the way for the Australian landing. In the bombardment that preceded the landings at Balikpapan, Seventh Fleet units fired over 10,000 rockets. LCI(B) 338 opens up in the first of two rocket runs made by these craft on the beach. Rockets have proven to be very effective “persuaders” in the Navy’s amphibious landings. National Archives Identifier 153724649
Underwater demolition swimmer, SF1c John Regan gets a drink and smoke after setting charges off Balikpapan, circa early July 1945. Note his sheath knife 80-G-274698
Barring Gallipoli, this was the largest amphibious landing in Australia’s history.
USCG-manned USS LST 66 headed for a hot beach at Balikpapan. Note the oil tanks ashore. Commissioned on 12 April 1943, LST-66 was on her 12th series of landings after hitting the beach with Marines and soldiers at Cape Gloucester, Saidor, Hollandia, Toem-Wakde-Sarmi, Biak, Noemfoor, Cape Sansapor, Morotai, Leyte, Lingayen, and Mindanao, earning eight battle stars. NARA 26-G-4741
Australian landing craft reach the beach at Balikpapan to launch the invasion of Borneo’s greatest oil refining district. Beach installations and anti-aircraft positions inland still smoke from a pre-invasion pounding by bombers and fighters of the (U.S. Air Force Number 58861AC)
Original caption: This is the Balikpapan Invasion scene snapped by Coast Guard Combat Photographer James L. Lonergan as his own picture was taken by a fellow Coast Guard Photographer, Gerald C. Anker, from an adjoining LCVP. Note the identical posters in each photo of the Aussie wading ashore, the group behind the tractor, and the Coast Guardsmen bending over the bow of the vessel. A few moments later both photographers narrowly escaped death from Jap snipers when they sought a vantage point from which to “shoot” the entire invasion beach. NARA 26-G-4721
Patrols of 29 Bn, 18th Brigade (Australian) move cautiously into the village area of Penadjam, Balikpapan, Borneo, under sniper fire. 5 July, 1945. SC 374826 Photographer: Lt. Novak. U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive.
The 25-ton Matilda II carried a 40 mm QF 2-pounder main gun, a hull-mounted GPMG, and, while slow at 15 mph on its twin Leylan engines, may have been dead meat on a European battlefield in 1945 but was aces in the Pacific.
Balikpapan, Borneo, 30 July 1945. Matilda tanks of A squadron, 1st Armoured Regiment AIF (RNSWL), being overhauled in the unit’s open-air workshop. AWM 112525
Australian 1st Armoured Regt AIF (RNSW Lancers) Matilda II in action at Balikpapan, July 1945, shown clearing a former Japanese-held Royal Dutch Shell oil refinery complex.
Oil Refinery Balikpapan OBOE 2 Australian Matilda tank ‘B Sqn 1st Armoured Regiment AWM 110916
The Museum will be holding a display on Sunday, 6th July, in Lancer Barracks to commemorate the Balikpapan anniversary. All are welcome. If you are in the area…
Got some time to spare? If you are interested in Army history and the 10th Mountain, now some 80 years young, you are going to want to watch this.
Filmed in frigid upstate New York at Fort Drum and the majestic Colorado Rockies near Camp Hale, The High Ground follows soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division (LI) as they attempt to reconnect with their alpine roots by completing a mountain marathon eighty years in the making.
The film features footage of Army soldiers skiing, snowshoeing, climbing, rappelling, and glissading during 10th Mountain Division events, including the D-Series, the Hale to Vail Traverse, and Legacy Days.
Army University Films and the 10th MD partnered with the Denver Public Library Special Collections and Archives, History Colorado, the National Ski Patrol (NSP), Vail Resorts, the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), and the Colorado Army National Guard to create this documentary.
It happened 80 years ago today. A recovered Japanese Type 94 tankette in Okinawa.
Official period caption: “Japanese tankette knocked out in battle for Shuri. The tank is about 10 ft. by four and about five feet in height, and carries two men. Relative size is shown by Lt. M. A. Miller of 94 Parkway Rd., Bronxville, New York. 30 June, 1945.”
Photographer: Henderson, 3240th Signal Photo Det. U.S. Army Signal Corps photo SC 211480.
Based on the British Carden-Loyd tankettes VIb of the early 1930s– with lessons learned from the domestic 3.5-ton Type 92 heavy armored car– the Japanese Army fielded just over 800 Type 94 light armored cars starting in 1935.
Japanese Special Naval Landing Force personnel with a Carden Loyd Tankette right and a Vickers Crossley Armored Car left military exercise in 1932
Some 3.4 tons and clad in just under a half-inch of armor, they were powered by a suitcase-sized 4-cylinder 32-hp Mitsubishi Franklin air-cooled inline gasoline engine capable of hurling the little tankette and its two-man crew at speeds of up to 25 mph over good roads. Armament was just a single 7.7mm Type 92 light machine gun. The follow-on, but less numerous, Type 97 Te-Ke tankette was slightly larger and carried a 37mm tank gun, giving it much more muscle.
The Type 94 was mainly deployed in Tankette Companies attached to infantry divisions for use in the reconnaissance role. They were primarily used in China, but American troops encountered the baby tank across the Pacific as well.
1942 in northern China. A column of Japanese Type 98 tanks followed by Type 94 tankettes
An American M4A2 Sherman carrying a Japanese Type 94 tankette on its back, Namur, 1944.
Fewer than a dozen remain today, with most of those in scrap/relic condition.
How about this image of the future Soldier, complete with advanced nods, a suppressed M7 Next Generation Automatic Rifle in 6.8×51 with its M1157 FCS optic, and a compact (5-pound) Skydio X10 drone. Of note, the 173rd in Europe is testing using Skydio as a simple grenade dropper.
A Soldier assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) raises a drone during the Army’s 250th birthday parade in Washington, D.C., June 14, 2025. The demonstration showcased emerging capabilities including next-generation squad weapons, uncrewed systems, and mobility platforms. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Rene Rosas)
The above Screaming Eagle is sporting double M7 mag pouches on his plate carrier, allowing for six 20-round mags plus the mag in his rifle for just 140 rounds, mimicking the old M14 loadout from 1964. This is down from the standard 210 rounds of 5.56 in 7 30-round mags, more common to the M4, which is sure to be a whammy downfield in certain situations.
Venture Surplus, which is about the king of the milsurp market right now, has the scoop on the new pouches to support the NGSW. That means some decent 7.62 battle rifle LBE is headed to the surplus market.
The M250 Pouches in 50 and 100-round formats are upgraded SAW pouches made to carry the larger rounds the M250 fires. With adjustable buckles and a little bit more room for gear and ammo, they are a solid pouch for all sorts of uses.
For the M7 Rifle comes two new pouches come. A Single Mag pouch and a Double Mag Pouch. Both are simple and securely carry magazines. The best part about them, though, is that they can hold nearly all flavors of 7.62/.308 20-round rifle mags. This lets you easily get a pouch for your battle rifle or bolt gun and get to feeding it right.
Originally dubbed the Interim Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense, or IM-SHORAD, system when the Army issued an initial $1.219 billion contract to Gen Dyn in September 2020 after three years of prototyping tests– the system became known officially as SGT Stout, in honor of Vietnam War ADA-unit Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Mitchell W. Stout, in June 2024.
Integrating four to eight updated Stinger short-range SAMs, a Northrop Grumman XM914 30mm chain gun, an onboard radar system, and optional Hellfire missiles onto an 8×8 Stryker A1 light armored vehicle, SGT Stout is reportedly able to provide local defense against drones and other threats on the modern battlefield, with enough mobility to support all Army formations. An M240 GPMG is also fitted coaxil.
The platform recently completed an overseas deployment and live fire exercise in Norway and was shown off for the crowds at the 250th Army birthday festival in Washington, D.C.
Stinger missiles are mounted on an SGT Stout during Formidable Shield 25, May 8, 2025, in Andøya, Norway. Formidable Shield 25 is a U.S. Sixth Fleet-led, multinational exercise focused on integrated air and missile defense. The live-fire training brings together naval, air, and ground forces from 10 NATO allies and partners. The 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment is supporting the exercise with short-range air defense capabilities. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Alexander Watkins)
A SGT STOUT Manuever-Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) Stryker is on display during the U.S. Army 250th Birthday Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., June 14, 2025. The name “SGT STOUT” honors a fallen soldier, continuing the Army tradition of memorializing heroes through vehicle dedications. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jose Rolando Garcia)
With that in mind, the below contract announcement on Monday should come as no surprise.
General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $621,058,065 modification (P00056) to contract W31P4Q-20-D-0039 for SGT Stout systems, parts, services, and support. Bids were solicited via the internet, with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 29, 2028. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
The Army originally planned to field 144 air defense systems to four battalions by fiscal year 2025, with an additional 18 systems for training, operational spares, and testing. This expansion would bring the total number of systems to over 300 vehicles, enough for as many as eight battalions.
Official period caption: “Soldiers of the 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, advancing to Hill 115 on Okinawa against moderate resistance. 16 June 1945.”
Photographer: Moller, 3233rd Signal Service Detachment. SC Photo 270801
Hill 115 was one of the keys to Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima’s 32nd Army’s final defenses on Okinawa, with the boys of the 32nd Infantry clearing out the Japanese 44th Brigade’s HQ there shortly after the above image was snapped.
“With a mortar squad of the 32nd Regiment, 7th Div., on Okinawa are Pfc. Guillermo Acosta, Los Angeles, Cal., and Pfc. James Barnes, Pontiac, Mich., both of whom have also participated in the assaults on Attu, Kwajalein, and Leyte.” Photographer: Moller, 3233rd Signal Service Detachment. SC Photo SC 270795
Within the zone of the 7th Division were Hills 153 and 115, jagged protuberances of coral which, after the fall of the Yaeju-Dake and Hill 95, became General Ushijima’s last hope of defending the eastern end of his line.
The 5-day battle for these hills and the fields of coral outcroppings on the surrounding plateau, lasting from 13 to 17 June, was as much like hunting as fighting. It was a battle of massed tanks that operated ahead of the usual infantry support, blasting the coral rocks with shell bursts and almost constant machine-gun fire. The battlefield was perfect for armored flame throwers, which poured flame into the caves and clusters of rocky crags and wooded areas, either killing the Japanese at once or forcing them into lanes of machine-gun fire. In five days, flame tanks of the 713th Armored Flame Thrower Battalion directed more than 37,000 gallons of burning gasoline at the enemy. It was also a battle of infantry platoons or individual infantrymen against disorganized but desperate enemy soldiers.
Some of the largest cave defenses in southern Okinawa were in the Yaeju and Yuza Peaks. Infantrymen of the 96th Division destroyed these positions with hand and rifle grenades, satchel charges, and portable flame throwers. For the infantrymen, it was a search for the enemy’s hiding places, often followed by a few minutes of reckless combat. Troops of the 381st Infantry occupied the commanding ground on the Big Apple Peak on 14 June, but, for lack of enough explosives to seal the numerous caves in the area, were forced into a night-long fight with the Japanese who emerged from the caves after darkness. Yuza Peak fell two days later, on 16 June. On the same day, the 17th and 32d Regiments reached Hill 153 and Hill 115, but another day of bitter fighting was required before the Japanese forces were completely destroyed.
During this battle, the 32nd won the nickname “Spearhead” because of its continuous attacks against the enemy, one that it still carries today as a unit of the 10th (Mountain) Infantry Division.
