U.S. Marine kneeling at grave of comrade who died on Okinawa, Japan, 1945

Description: 

Photograph. Silhouette of a U.S. Marine holding a rifle and kneeling next to a cemetery cross; American flag being lowered/raised in background. Official Caption: "Rome 9/12/45. Marine kneels at grave of comrade who fell on Okinawa at sunset, as the flag is lowered, in a U.S. Marine Corps cemetery on Okinawa, a Marine kneels beside the grave of one of his comrades after a fierce, costly 82-day long battle, the main Ryukyu (Loochoo) Island was wrested from the Japanese on June 20, 1945. It was the last major land battle before the unconditional surrender of Japan on Aug. 14, 1945. The formal surrender ceremonies took place aboard the U.S. Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, South of the enemy capital, Sept. 1, 1945 [sic]. USMC Photo thru U.S.I.S.Rome 43790-FMC." Okinawa, Japan. 1945

Image Information

Donor: 
Dylan Utley
Accession Number: 
2012.019.782
Date: 
1945
Location: 
Hometown: 
Branch: 
Theater of Service: 
Unit: 
Campaign / Event: 
Okinawa (April - June 1945)
POW / KIA: 
Topical Subjects: 
Marines (Military personnel)--Okinawa
Silhouettes
Rifles--American--Okinawa
Cemeteries--American--Okinawa
Flags--American
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: 
Marines (Military personnel)--Okinawa
Silhouettes
Rifles--American--Okinawa
Cemeteries--American--Okinawa
Flags--American