Half Moon Hill
The beautiful, peaceful countryside of the Amekudai plateau, where in times past I had enjoyed, riding with General Ushijima, was now steeped in the blood of thousands of soldiers – Japanese and American. Enemy tanks fired at our headquarters, and direct hits echoed ominously throughout the limestone caves. Machine-gun fire day and night was punctuated by the rumble or artillery. (The Battle for Okinawa (1995 Pacific Basin Institute) – Colonel Hiromichi Yahara pg. 61
Videographer - Mr. Chris Majewski Director - Battle of Okinawa Historical Society *Use of video without permission prohibited. | |
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Photographer - Akira Half Moon Today circa 2009 "Hell’s half-acre” – flat, bare ground beneath Sugar Loaf, Horseshoe, and Half Moon exposed them to simultaneous crossfire from the several interlocking sources, unseen and unreachable positions causing half to three-quarters of the American casualties. “At first we were totally unaware of the power of the whole defensive line and Sugar Loaf’s part in it,” Captain Stebbins would put it with restrained regret. “It took several days to begin grasping the extent to which it was fortified with pillboxes, tunnels, mazes, and interlocking automatic weapons. (The Battle of Okinawa (2001 Lyons Press) – George Feifer pgs -201,202 | 
Right - Sugar Loaf Hill Center- Half Moon Top Left - Shuri Castle Photographer - Akira Check out Akira's Okinawa photo website on Flicker |
Photographer - Akira Half Moon Today circa 2009 |  |