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Casualty Info
Home Town Tustin CA
Last Address Lost at Sea. YMS-341, sunk 9/16/45. Foundered off Okinawa during a typhoon. Also see: Honolulu Memorial, Hawaii, USA and, Tustin CA Memorial (1958)
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Okinawa Gunto Operation
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
June / 1945
Description The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg. was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland (coded Operation Downfall). Four divisions of the U.S. 10th Army (the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th) and two Marine Divisions (the 1st and 6th) fought on the island. Their invasion was supported by naval, amphibious, and tactical air forces.
The battle has been referred to as the "typhoon of steel" in English, and tetsu no ame ("rain of steel") or ("violent wind of steel") in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese defenders, and to the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Based on Okinawan government sources, mainland Japan lost 77,166 soldiers, who were either killed or committed suicide, and the Allies suffered 14,009 deaths (with an estimated total of more than 65,000 casualties of all kinds). Simultaneously, 42,000–150,000 local civilians were killed or committed suicide, a significant proportion of the local population. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki together with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria caused Japan to surrender less than two months after the end of the fighting on Okinawa.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
June / 1945
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories Theodore (Ted) Taulbee Coxswain
Missing in action since the typhoon of September 16, 1945, in the Pacific theatre.
Theodore L. Taulbee (Ted) was a member of the crew of YMS 341 as operator of mine-sweeping gear. Previously he served in the Atlantic theatre and at Guadalcanal, Manus, Hollandia, Ulithi, Guam, Saipan and in the invasion of Okinawa. Son of Mrs. N. S. Keirsey, he attended Tustin elementary and high schools and was graduated in 1940. He entered Naval Reserve service in May, 1942, and received training at Los Alamitos and Roosevelt bases. Departure for overseas service was in October 1943.
