Hurst, Edward, BGen

HURST, EDWARD H.

Citation:

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Edward H. Hurst (0-5854), Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism as Commanding Officer, Third Battalion, Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 18 May 1945. While directing his battalion's assault against the heavily-defended Wana Ridge, Lieutenant Colonel Hurst occupied a forward observation post which was swept by intense hostile small-arms fire and mortar concentrations. Observing that platoons of the assault company were being subjected to devastating enemy fire, he courageously moved forward from his post to the company and, in the face of heavy Japanese mortar and small-arms fire, personally directed the assault on the desperately defended crest of the ridge. While returning to his observation post after his troops had gained a foothold on the ridge, Lieutenant Colonel Hurst personally assisted in the evacuation of a wounded man over a path swept by hostile small-arms fire. His bravery, able leadership, and gallant fighting spirit throughout were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

The Battle of Okinawa, fought on the Japanese island of Okinawa, was the largest amphibious assault during the Pacific campaigns of World War II. It lasted from late March through June 1945.

The battle has been referred to as the "Typhoon of Steel" in English, and tetsu no ame ("rain of steel") or tetsu no bôfû ("violent wind of steel") in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of gunfire involved, and sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. Okinawa had a prewar civilian population of 435,000, of whom an estimated 75,000 to 140,000 died during the battle.

The Allies were planning to use Okinawa as a staging ground for Operation Downfall, the invasion of the Japanese mainland; however, after a disastrous series of events which included the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's declaration of war on Japan in August 1945, Japan surrendered and World War II ended.