Japanese soldier hanging from the rope on the side of a U.S. ship near Okinawa, Japan, 1945

Description: 

Photograph. Japanese soldier hanging from the side of a U.S. landing craft near Okinawa; American soldiers and sailors are standing near the side of the ship. Official Caption: "Rome 7/31/45. JAPANESE SOLDIER SWIMS FROM OKINAWA TO SURRENDER TO U.S. SHIP. A Japanese soldier is assisted aboard a U.S. LCI (landing craft, infantry) after swimming from southern Okinawa in response to a call to surrender over the vessel's loud speaker system. A substantial number of the 9,498 Japanese captured on Okinawa and nearby islands were induced to surrender by appeals directed to them from ships off shore. Okinawa, main Ryukyu (Loochoo) island, 375 miles (600 kms.) from Japan, was wrested from the enemy in a bitter 82-day battle, and has been developed into a major U.S. base from which the great air assault on enemy targets has been intensified. The Okinawa campaign ended on June 20. PHOTO THROUGH ROME U.S.I.S. APPROVED BY APPROPRIATE U.S. AUTHORITY. Near Okinawa, Japan. 31 July 1945

Image Information

Donor: 
Dylan Utley
Accession Number: 
2012.019.786
Date: 
07/31/1945
Location: 
Hometown: 
Branch: 
Theater of Service: 
Unit: 
Campaign / Event: 
Okinawa (April - June 1945)
POW / KIA: 
Topical Subjects: 
Soldiers--Japanese--Okinawa
Soldiers--American--Okinawa
Landing craft--American--Okinawa
Surrenders--Japanese--Okinawa
Collection Level: 
Items from the service of Isaac "Ike" Bethel Utley, who was born in Smith Mills, Kentucky on 3 March 1920. Ike enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 19 January 1942. He was shipped overseas to the European Theatre and worked with a supply division based out of the city of Naples with an office set up in a residential villa. Utley worked with the Office of War Information and used their photographs in news articles to inform soldiers of the progress of the war. At war's end, Utley returned stateside. A trunk full of over 800 photographs from the O.W.I. arrived on his doorstep from his office in Italy, sender unknown. This collection consists of those photographs.
Geography: 
Okinawa-jima
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials: 
Soldiers--Japanese--Okinawa
Soldiers--American--Okinawa
Landing craft--American--Okinawa
Surrenders--Japanese--Okinawa