![]() ![]() That was the approach Buckner took overseeing the 1942–43 recapture of the Aleutian Islands and, two years later, the assault on Okinawa, his first true combat command. From 1941 until he took over the Tenth Army, he commanded ground troops in Alaska, where he tended to default to standard army doctrine: make sure to have more men and materiel than the foe, and deploy them to make steady, mechanistic progress. In the afterlife of history, Buckner’s record did not help him. ![]() Skeptics maligned Buckner for his methodical style and for what they derided as too cozy a relationship with the Marines and the navy, and challenged his decision against making a second landing on the southern end of Okinawa, a refusal some said prolonged a battle that cost 62,000 American casualties. He made an easy target for Douglas MacArthur, Joseph Stilwell, and other ax-grinding contemporaries, as well as debunkery-minded historians. Many combat commanders go on to write memoirs, but death let others define Buckner’s legacy. Not quite seven weeks later, Japan surrendered. The general’s command went to Marine Major General Roy Geiger, who three days later declared Okinawa secure and began mop-up operations against its few remaining defenders. Someone broke the silence by reciting the 23rd Psalm. As a young Marine held his hand and comforted him, he became the highest-ranking American commander to die from enemy fire during the war. The general asked if anyone else was hurt, then fell silent while his rescuers muscled him downhill.īut Buckner had run out of time. Marines wrestled the wounded officer onto a poncho and started for an aid station. A sliver of coral had ripped into him, and he was bleeding badly from his chest. The rest of the men on the crest scrambled to their feet unhurt, but Buckner lay still. At the summit Buckner had just switched to a plain helmet when a Japanese barrage sent all hands diving for shelter behind the coral boulders that dotted the hilltop.Īs quickly as it had struck, the enemy fire lifted. That Monday morning, he and his staff drove to the foot of the hill where the 8th Marines had their observation post. The display sometimes drew enemy fire, but Buckner thought the morale boost worth the risk. Believing men at war needed to see their generals, the 58-year-old Buckner made a point of roving even the most remote corners of embattled Okinawa, often unannounced but usually wearing a helmet decorated with three stars and riding in a jeep with a flag to match. Buckner, who had admired the unit’s vigor as it trained for the assault, wanted to watch the Marines eliminate enemy holdouts.īuckner’s white hair and love of outdoor activity, particularly hiking rugged landscapes, inspired his troops to call the large-framed, amiable West Pointer the Old Man of the Mountain. The regiment had reached the endgame in a brutal clash in the valley below. climbed to an 8th Marine Regiment observation post. Now the invading Americans, victory in their sights, were readying a final push at Okinawa’s southern tip, where Tenth Army commander Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. For 79 days, the American Tenth Army and Japan’s 32nd Army had been struggling for the island in a slow, bloody battle of attrition. MONDAY, JUNE 18, 1945, dawned hot and steamy on Okinawa. How Simon Bolivar Buckner fought to keep the services from fighting- each other. The Peacemaker: Simon Bolivar Buckner Close ![]()
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