This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Katherine Tindell-Family
to remember
Beltz, Richard Norman, Y3c.
If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Buxton, ND
Last Address Fulda, MN
Date of Passing Jan 20, 2009
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Richard Beltz was born the son of Maurice & Annette Combs Beltz. He grew up in Buxton, and graduated from high school in 1935. He earned a B.A. degree from MayvilleStateTeachers College, Mayville, ND, in 1940. Richard taught business classes at the high school at White Lake, SD for one and one-half years before enlisting in the US Navy in 1942, as a Yeoman. He was honorably discharged in 1945. He continued his education at the University of Denver, and earned a MBA degree in 1947.
On June 23, 1950, Helen Olson and Richard, both of Buxton were united in marriage. They moved to Granby, CO where Richard was Superintendent of a large county school. In 1957 the family moved to Fulda, MN where Richard taught Business Education for 22 years. He retired in 1979.
Other Comments:
Service number: 6482344
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.
