Here's one. Battle of Okinawa. The virtually unopposed landings by U.S. forces - four divisions - of the island's western beaches at Hagushi, and the ease with which troops captured the two airfields at Kadena and Yontan, prompted a seasoned veteran to unwonted optimism. "I may be crazy but it looks like the Japanese have quit the war, at least in this sector," radioed Adm. Kelly Turner to Adm. Chester Nimitz, to which the CINCPAC replied: "Delete all after 'crazy.' " JT
Here's another. Private disembarking for initial assault on Betio Island (Tarawa) 'After all this bombing, we should be back for lunch'!
From Eric Hammel's Munda Trail: Major Hipp's name was shouted back and forth by his troops,and the Japanese were quick to pick up on it. During one brief lull,a voice from the forest proclaimed,"Major Hipp,that President Roosevelt is no good!" To which the unflappable Hipp responded: "Hold your fire, boys. That Jap's a Republican!" JT
My favourite is slightly offbeat. It's "see the orange and taste it" made an internee (Robert Browne) of the Japanese to fellow starving prisoners who didn't have an orange between them. It was a psychological aide to overcome food fixation. It was quoted by many fellow prisoners as advice that kept them going but has been forgotten because Browne was an African-American. I just like it.
Nothing would please me better than if they would give me three months and then attack here. - General Douglas Macarthur, Supreme Allied Commander of South-West Pacific (speaking of the Philippines, December 5, 1940)
We must not again underestimate the Japanese. - Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet (after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941)
The atom bomb was no great decision... It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness. -President Harry Truman
A bright light filled the plane. The first shock-wave hit us. We were eleven and a half miles slant range from the atomic explosion but the whole airplane cracked and crinkled from the blast... We turned back to look at Hiroshima. The city was hidden by that awful cloud... mushrooming, terrible and incredibly tall. - Colonel Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the B-29 Enola Gay
When this war is over, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell. - Admiral Bill Halsey (December 7, 1941)
It is the function of the Navy to carry the war to the enemy so that it will not be fought on U.S. soil. - Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet
Don't fire until you can see the whites of their eyes. - Major Devereux (the battle of Wake Island, 1941)
“Lack of weapons is no excuse for defeat.” – Lt. Gen. Mataguchi One of Japan’s methods of destroying tanks was to bury a very large artillery shell with on ly the nose exposed. When a tank came near the enough a soldier would whack the shell with a hammer.
"Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue." Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz - March 16, 1945
"Leave him alone! He's been to nice to us"(roughly) -Mitscher when Japanese strike leader was detected, at Battle of the Phillipine Sea "Blood for the Emperor"-Japanese on Guadalcanal "Blood for Eleanor"-Marine's response "The navy could win a war without coffee but it wouldn't like to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison
Funniest thing a Marine ever said; "All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us... they can't get away this time." "Chesty" Puller USMC, when surrounded by japs. Take care,
