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"CARLSON, VERNON L. (Ole): Vernon Lyman Carlson was born at Havre, MT on 8 January 1922 and passed over on 14 October 2003. The family moved to Vista,CA in 1931. He graduated Vista, CA High School in June 1940, enlisting that month in the US Marine Corps. He was in the Detachment of Marines, USS West Virginia when she was sunk at Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec.'41. Subsequent assignments included the defense of Midway; training mortarmen at then Camp Elliot, CA; 1st Prov. Marine Brigade, Guadalcanal, preparing to invade Guam; the Guam Operation; Okinawan Operation with the Sixth Marine Division, then to China with the same Division disarming Japanese military. "Ole" was honorably separated from the USMC on 17 Jun.'46. He attended San Diego State College for one year then transferred to the Univ. of Montana at Bozeman, MT. He married Belma (Peggy) Brown, a former USMC Aux. in '48, graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering in June '50. His career in that field took him to many places. Knoxville, TN; the Arabian nation of Aden; Kuwait; France; Mexico; Libya; El Cajon, CA; Philippines; Thailand; Vietnam; and Moffat, CA to name a few. He retired to Alabama, the home State of Peggy who passed over three months before he succumbed to a series of strokes. They had no children. His survivors are brothers Carsten D. Carlson of San Marcos, CA and Charles R.(Ole II) Carlson of Sultan, WA, sister Sarah E. Jones of Ridgecrest, CA and several nieces and nephews. His ashes were placed in a niche at the Cemetery, Fort Rosecrans, CA where his father, PFC Charles A. Carlson, (France, WWI, US Army Signal Corps Air Service) has rested since October '60. A memorial service and military honors were provided by the USMCRD, San Diego at Fort Rosecrans Cemetery on 9 January 2004.
Description The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg. was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland (coded Operation Downfall). Four divisions of the U.S. 10th Army (the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th) and two Marine Divisions (the 1st and 6th) fought on the island. Their invasion was supported by naval, amphibious, and tactical air forces.
The battle has been referred to as the "typhoon of steel" in English, and tetsu no ame ("rain of steel") or ("violent wind of steel") in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese defenders, and to the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Based on Okinawan government sources, mainland Japan lost 77,166 soldiers, who were either killed or committed suicide, and the Allies suffered 14,009 deaths (with an estimated total of more than 65,000 casualties of all kinds). Simultaneously, 42,000–150,000 local civilians were killed or committed suicide, a significant proportion of the local population. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki together with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria caused Japan to surrender less than two months after the end of the fighting on Okinawa.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
June / 1945
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories With the 6th Marine Division. Participated in initial landing and one additional landing.