It was nearly two years after the Hussein regime was toppled and major combat operations ended but still, U.S. and coalition troops are still fighting an Iraqi insurgency.  As of January 7, 2008, there have been 4,210 coalition deaths in the war in Iraq.  It was on May 1, 2003 that President George Bush addressed the nation not from the White House but from the dramatic setting of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln: 

“Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”

Aircraft weapons used in the war by the U.S. Coalition Forces are bombers, cargo, fighter/attack, refueling, special operations, surveillance, UAVs, Canberra, Harrier GR7, Jaguar GR1, Nimrod, Tornado GR1, Tornado GR4, Tornado F3, Puma helicopter, VC10C1K, Lynx helicopter and Merlin helicopter.  The Iraqi forces deployed Mirage F1 fighter, MiG-29 fighter, SU-25 plane, MiG-21 short-range fighter, An-26 basic transport aircraft, An-12 cargo plane and helicopters.   

Warships used by the U.S. Coalition Forces include the Abraham Lincoln, USS Constellation, USS Kitty Hawk, USS Harry S. Truman, USS Theodore Roosevelt , carrier battle group ships, guided-missile cruiser, guided-missile destroyer, attack submarine, guided missile frigate, amphibious assault ship, oiler, fast combat support ships, amphibious transport/dockship, landing craft, air cushioned.  The Iraqi forces only used the Zhuk patrol ship. 

As of September 25, 2003, 1,268 U.S. military personnel were listed as wounded during Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Iraq has not released details of military casualties. 

“3,240 Iraqi civilians were killed, based on records from 60 of Iraq’s 124 hospitals, including almost all of the large ones.”

Associated Press 

As for most people, the war in Iraq couldn’t have been avoided; there are the pros and cons of war and consequently, the pros outweigh the cons.  It was really fortunate that the long war in Iraq have finally been put to an end.  You could just imagine how many civilians and innocents were killed in the process.  Sadly, blood of the innocents must be spilled to regain order and peace.  In the long run, we all know that war is for the better good.  It was indeed a bittersweet victory.

One of the most gripping tales of World War II in the Pacific was the battle of Wake Island, commencing on the same day as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Wake Island, actually three small islands arranged in a horseshoe shape known as an atoll, was the location of the first permanent military station built by the Navy in January 1941. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, the garrison on Wake Island consisted of 449 Marine officers and men, and 68 naval personnel. There were also more than 1,200 civilian contractors. All personnel were subordinate to naval Commander Winfield S. Cunningham.

Armament at the ready consisted of a dozen 76.2 mm anti-aircraft guns, six 5” cannons which had been salvaged from an old scuttled cruiser, and around fifty machines guns of various size and working order.

Wake Island is on the other side of the International Date Line. Thus it was on 8 December 1941 that the news broke about Pearl Harbor, and simultaneously the small garrison was attacked by a number of Japanese medium bombers, destroying all but four of the twelve F4F Wildcatfighters of the VMF-211 Fighter Squadron

Three days later, Japan tried to land on Wake Island, but were tricked into getting too close to the island before the Marines opened up with their 5” cannons. They managed to sink the Japanese destroyer Hayate and seriously damage most of the others in the fleet. The four remaining Wildcats successfully sunk another Japanese destroyer, the Kisagari.

Several “firsts” occurred during this landing attempt. Hayate was the first Japanese naval vessel sunk in WWII, as well as the first Japanese defeat of the war. It was also the only instance in the entire war that saw an amphibious assault defeated solely by land-based guns.

The Japanese were determined to take the island, so – because of the resistance encountered during the first landing attempt – they sent two aircraft carriers, the Soryu and the Hiryu, to help in the second landing assault. The Americans were assaulted relentlessly in Japan’s attempt to “soften up” the island for their next assault. Meanwhile, Admiral Wilson Brown was ordered to set sail from Pearl Harbor to re-supply and reinforce the island’s personnel. The reinforcements consisted of the VMF-221 Fighter Squadron, who flew the F2A Brewster Buffalo fighters, and a large supply of ammunition and additional small arms, and the 4^th Marine Coastal Defense Battalion. But on 22 December, they were ordered by Vice Admiral William Pye (Acting CinCPAC) to abort the mission and return to Pearl Harbor, for fear of losses.

At 0230 hours on 23 December the Japanese launched their second invasion attempt, and heavy resistance caused some serious losses on the part of the Japanese. But by mid-afternoon the following day, the Americans surrendered. Losses were comparatively light for the Americans with 121 Navy, Marine, and civilian personnel killed after fifteen days of intense battle. The Japanese lost as many as 900 killed and 1,000 or more wounded.

Japan occupies the island from that point until their surrender in 1945. Using the captive Americans as forced labor, they installed more formidable fortifications, but were bombed thoroughly and often by American bombers. Former president George H.W. Bush flew his first sortie over the island.

On 5 October 1943, fighters from the USS Yorktown carried out a successful raid, which led to one of the darker episodes of the war in the Pacific. Fearing an invasion, Rear Admiral Shigematsu Sakaibara issued orders to execute the remaining 98 civilian contract workers on the island who had been doing forced labor. They were taken out, blindfolded, machine-gunned, and buried in a mass grave. One unknown man somehow escaped the malignant and carved an inscription, “98 US PW 5-10-43” on a large coral rock near the site of the mass grave. The inscription is still visible to this day and is a Wake Island landmark.

The man was captured again within a few weeks and personally beheaded by the malignant Sakaibara. On 4 September 1945, the Japanese garrison surrendered to the US Marines, and all Japanese officers were taken into custody. While there, several of them wrote notes telling of the massacre and committed hara-kiri. Sakaibara and his immediate subordinate were convicted of war crimes, and while the subordinate’s death sentence was eventually commuted to life in prison, Sakaibara was executed.

Since World War I, the Marianas Islands, along with the Caroline Islands and the Palau Islands had constituted Japan’s main line of defense and were heavily fortified. In 1943 and for some time in 1944, the Allies conducted successful campaigns to capture many of the Island chains in the Pacific: The Solomon Islands, the Gilbert Islands, and the Marshall Islands. This line had to be broken in order to begin operations directly against Japan and the Philippines.

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress, recently introduced into service, had a range of 1,500 miles, and as such needed a fairly close base of operations for targets in Japan, and the Marianas Islands filled the need perfectly. Thus Admiral Nimitz’ Central Pacific Command were ordered to take the Marianas. The bombardment began on Saipan on 13 June 1944, with around 160,000 shells fired from fifteen battleships.

By 0700 on 15 June 1944, 8,000 Marines landed on Saipan’s west coast. The Japanese had placed flags in the bay to help them estimate range and with this advantage they were able to destroy around twenty amphibious tanks, but by the end of the day the Marines had established a beachhead. The next day the Army’s 27th Infantry Division landed and began the struggle for the Aslito airfield. The Japanese counter-attacked at night but were repulsed with heavy losses, and on 18 June the commander of the Imperial Japanese Army, Yoshitsugu Saito, abandoned the airfield.

Saito expected the Americans to attack the Caroline Islands first, and had prepared an operational plan – A-Go – to provide naval and air superiority and reinforce their garrisons there. When they recovered from their surprise, they attempted to use the A-Go force to counter-attack the US Naval forces around Saipan. However, the disastrous battle of the Philippine Sea caused the loss of three aircraft carriers and several hundred planes, and as such, the Japanese garrisons in the Marianas were isolated and beyond help. There would be no hope of either supplies or reinforcements.

As hopeless as it was, the Japanese nevertheless organized a fairly effective defense and were determined to fight to the death. Saito organized his troops around Mount Topochau in the central region of Saipan’s mountainous area, from which they defended the island. The fighting was very intense, and the Japanese utilized the same techniques later seen on Iwo Jima, hiding in the many caves during the day. At night they emerged to carry out raids against the Americans, and they eventually developed tactics to utilize flame-throwers to clear the caves.

Saito ordered his remaining soldiers forward on a suicide charge, then committed hiri-kiri, killing himself. Several hundred Japanese civilians jumped from cliffs to kill themselves rather than be captured, and efforts to stop them were unsuccessful.

Saipan was the setting for the movie “Hell to Eternity,” starring the late Jeffery Hunter as PFC Guy Gabaldon, an Hispanic from Los Angeles, California who was raised in a Japanese-American household and as such was fluent in Japanese. PFC Gabaldon was credited with taking more than 1,000 Japanese prisoners during the campaign, and was awarded the Navy Cross.

Once Saipan was taken, it was made into a base for further excursions into the Marianas as well as the invasion of the Philippines that October.

The Japanese forces invaded the Philippines from the north at Luzon in early 1942, and by April 9, Bataan fell, but the campaign was yet incomplete because of the Allies’ occupation of Corregidor. As long as it was in American hands, the Japanese would have no access to Manila Bay, a natural harbor with obvious strategic advantages, because of its position guarding the bay. Thus Corregidor was a significant obstacle to Japan’s 14^th Imperial Army, commanded by Lt. General Masaharu Homma. The island was very well defended, and General Homma was acutely aware of the necessity as well as the daunting task of its capture.

Two miles away from Bataan, Corregidor is the largest of four islands located at the mouth of Manila Bay, ideally situated to protect the bay from attack. Shaped like a tadpole, its topography is such that the widest and most elevated area, the “head” is known as Topside, and is where the bulk of the artillery was installed. Middleside is a smaller plateau with barracks and more artillery and Bottomside is an even lower ground with docks, close to the civilian town of San Jose. Further east is Malinta tunnel, where MacArthur’s command post and a hospital was located.

After America’s loss at Bataan, the garrison at Corregidor received reinforcements who were assigned to the 4^th Marine Division upon their arrival. Few if any of them were trained or experienced in ground combat, but at any rate, by the end of April 1942, the personnel count was around 230 officers and almost 3800 men, not counting the artillery crews or the attached Filipino troops.

The actual siege began at the end of December 1941 with aerial bombardments on a fairly regular basis through January 1942, but from the start of the raids until the end of April 1942, fought tirelessly and well, costing the Japanese significant losses in terms of men and materiel. General MacArthur was evacuated at night on March 12, 1942 to Mindanao. He swore to return and that statement is remembered to this day as one of the most famous in American history. He eventually was flown to Australia where he set about organizing the recapture of the Philippine Islands.

With all the bombardment, the food supply was dwindling down to the point that the men were living on around thirty ounces of food per day, and the constant bombing played havoc with the distribution of the rations of food and water. As the bombs killed cavalry mules, the carcasses were utilized for their meat, but the men grew weaker as the days passed and were unable fully to defend the island. Meanwhile, the assault was continuous and mercilessly ferocious as the aerial bombs and artillery pounded Corregidor day and night. Estimates were that on one day alone, more than 16,000 explosives hit the island, from artillery as well as air bombardment.

The Japanese launched their final assault on 5 May, but even as weakened as the defenders were, they managed to hold the Japanese at bay for almost two days of heavy fighting. In some cases, clashes were carried out with bayonets only, due to both sides’ shortage of ammunition. However, the enemy was finally able to land three tanks, with which they eventually gained control. When they reached the entrance to the Malinta Tunnel, General Wainwright surrendered rather than risk the lives of over 1,000 wounded men who were being treated in the tunnel. Wainwright sent two officers forward with a white flag on 6 May 1942, after sending a radio message to President Franklin Roosevelt, which said in part: “There is a limit of human endurance, and that point has long been passed.” The surrender of Corregidor marked the end of resistance to Japan’s occupation of the Philippines. Wainwright had tried to arrange control over the remaining islands so that when he surrendered, the deal was only for Corregidor. However, the Japanese curtly informed him that his surrender would encompass all the islands under American control, or the new prisoners would be tortured until it did. There was little doubt that the Japanese would do exactly that, so Wainwright sent handwritten letters to General Sharp and his men to convince them to surrender. Once the organized resistance was ended, however, Philippine guerrillas continued to be a thorn in Japan’s side for the rest of the time of their occupation.