Men of the 77th Infantry Division listen to radio reports of Germany's surrender, Okinawa, Japan, June 1945

Description: 

Photograph. On the island of Okinawa, five men of the 77th Infantry Division listen to radio reports of Germany's surrender. Official Caption: "Rome, 6/4/45--Americans on Okinawa hear of V-E Day--A few yards (meters) behind the front lines on Okinawa Island, fighting men of the U.S. Army's 77th Infantry Division listen to radio reports of Germany's surrender. Their battle-hardened faces indicate the impassiveness with which they received the news of the victory on the far-distant front. One minute after this picture was taken, they returned to their combat posts. Officially, however, U.S. forces on Okinawa celebrated the end of the war in Europe by training every ship and shore battery on a Japanese target and firing one shell simultaneously at precisely midnight. Okinawa is a strategic island in the Ryukyu (Loochoo) Chain, situated 375 miles (600 kms.) from Japan.--FA photo--serviced by Rome OWI (A list out). Approved by appropriate military authority. 6578." Okinawa, Japan. 4 June 1945

Image Information

Donor: 
Dylan Utley
Accession Number: 
2012.019.208
Date: 
06/04/1945
Location: 
Hometown: 
Branch: 
Theater of Service: 
Unit: 
77th Infantry Division
Campaign / Event: 
Okinawa (April - June 1945)
POW / KIA: 
Topical Subjects: 
Soldiers--American--Okinawa
Radios--Okinawa
Helmets--American--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--American--Okinawa
Radios--Okinawa
Helmets--American--Okinawa