US veterans praise their forgotten ally

The Battle of Okinawa

"When I turned 16, I began to think about the possibility of serving in the military," Whitaker, now 91, recalled.

Upon graduation in 1942 and 1943, several of his friends joined the military. Whitaker enlisted in the summer of 1944, and landed at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands with the Sixth Marine Division just six months later.

"My mission was to win battles, to defeat Japan, and hopefully to survive intact," he said.

"We sailed from Guadalcanal on March 13, 1945, my 19th birthday. On April 1, 1945, we landed in Okinawa."

The Battle of Okinawa lasted 82 days and was one of WWII's fiercest. Whitaker's regiment suffered heavy losses, with 82 percent of his comrades wounded or killed. Last year, Hacksaw Ridge, a film based on the story of the battle, was a hit with audiences in both China and the US.

"After 82 days of killing Japanese soldiers, which was very satisfying at the time, I came to feel sorry for them," he said.

"They were treated badly by their superiors. They were starving. They were fighting for a lost cause and instructed to kill themselves if defeated - not much of a plan!"

The battle left more than 90,000 Japanese soldiers dead; only 7,400 were taken prisoner. About 100,000 local civilians lost their lives.

"I weighed about 115 pounds (52 kilograms), having lost about 20 pounds on Okinawa," Whitaker said.

After WWII, Whitaker's division was dispatched to Qingdao in East China's Shandong province to work on repatriating Japanese forces from North China.

"We were there for six months. I will never forget the welcome I received. The Chinese are fine people," he said.

"The Japanese soldiers we rounded up and sent back to Japan knew we were Marines and would take no nonsense," Whitaker said. "They were very aware of our reputation and our hatred of them. They were docile and seldom made eye contact."

On a Greyhound bus at 3 am on Memorial Day, May 27, 1946, Whitaker arrived in Saugerties, New York, a town just 35 kilometers from Hyde Park, Roosevelt's hometown.

"The parade started at 11 am. I went with my mom and dad and had my hand shaken 100 times. It was a great day to get home from a war," Whitaker recalled.

Before retirement, he spent 28 years at Kent School in Connecticut as director of public relations, alumni secretary and assistant secretary to the board of trustees.

He now volunteers on the carrier USS Yorktown in South Carolina, and speaks at schools and retirement homes.