How a soldier’s relentless charge broke Japan’s line on Okinawa

The United States and Europe this week celebrated some form of “Victory in Europe Day,” or V-E Day, to mark the 80th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s downfall and Nazi Germany’s surrender to Allied forces. Despite all the jubilation 80 years ago on May 8, 1945, however, there was still unfinished business to attend to. Soviet forces were already being transferred via Trans-Siberian Railroad to Japanese-held Manchukuo, a British army was battling its way into Burma (now Myanmar) and a Royal Navy task force was assisting its American allies in taking Okinawa, the last major island standing between the Allies and