Easter Sunday, 1 April 1945, was Love-Day for the Okinawa operation.
With the bright clear dawn came enemy planes but the invading
armada—over 1400 ships—drove off or destroyed the attacking planes. From
the transports the troops could only see small portions of the island;
the preliminary bombardment from the naval task force and the bombs from
our planes, diving through the clouds, raised a haze of smoke and dust
that covered most of the area behind the landing beaches.
Forming into long waves, the Fourth and Twenty Second Marines, loaded in
amphibious tractors, churned toward the beaches, over the coral reef,
and landed at 0837. Every man went in with the expectation that this
beachhead, like Tarawa, Saipan, and Iwo, would be a bloody one; they
were surprised but not entirely relieved to find virtually no enemy
opposition to the landing. Rapidly, units organized and moved inland and
up across the terraced fields that led to Yontan Airfield. By noon the
Fourth Marines had seized Yontan and the Twenty Second Marines were
advancing as rapidly on the left. By late afternoon the two regiments
had reached a line tentatively set to be reached on the second day and
as yet had not found the enemy. To the left of the Twenty Second Marines
lay a little peninsula jutting out to the northwest, named Zampa Misaki.
It seemed likely that an enemy force might be there; General Shepherd
requested III Amphibious Corps to release from its reserve one battalion
of the Twenty Ninth Marines. The First Battalion was released to
division and placed to protect the division’s left flank. Troops dug in
for the night with mixed emotions. Everyone was extremely grateful that
the landing had not been a bloody one; still there was a certain
apprehension felt: Where was the enemy? When would he attack?
Love-Day had been successful beyond the wildest hopes; the division was
ashore safely, in a good position, and had already secured its first
objective. Yontan Airfield was firmly in our hands and had not been
badly damaged. The enemy defensive positions constructed to guard the
field were strangely empty. Casualties were negligible; the landing had
been easy.
Now the Sixth Marine Division moved rapidly to cut the island in two. In
conjunction with the First Marine Division which was making the main
effort, the Fourth and Twenty Second Marines drove quickly to the east
and, despite some opposition from small isolated enemy pockets, reached
the east coast on 4 April. Turning to the north, the division began to
seize the Ishikawa Isthmus. Averaging nearly 7000 yards each day the
troops pushed up the isthmus and by 7 April had reached Nago at the base
of Motobu Peninsula.