GUEST OPINION: Young World War II soldier loses life in Japan before birthday, becoming a father

By JIM WATKINS, guest columnist

“War weary” is the term British historian Sir Max Hastings uses in describing the American home front mood in the spring of 1945.

The war in Europe was winding down as the Russians pushed toward Berlin in the east and the Americans and Brits from the west. On the home front the news reporters were cautiously optimistic that “Thank God!” the carnage would be over in Europe in a matter of weeks.

In the Pacific theatre of the war however there was no such optimism. Each island battle followed a similar pattern with the Japanese soldiers refusing to surrender even when facing insurmountable Allied strength. According to their code of conduct, Bushido, living in shame as a prisoner was not an option. Suicide was preferable and as the Allies closed in on the Japanese homeland the tenacity of the Japanese soldiers even increased.

Such was the state of the war that Charles Barnes of rural Jackson Township entered as he crossed the Pacific in March of 1945. The patriotic fervor that characterized the early months of the war had pretty much subsided.

The previous twelve months of Barnes’ life had been filled with life altering events. The 19 year old was just a year removed from Helmsburg High School and fond memories of starting for the varsity basketball team were seldom revisited. Barnes married Martha Kimberlin of Indianapolis on Sept. 3, 1944, and just three weeks later he became a member of the United States Army. He was soon off to Texas for basic training. He got leave and was home for the holidays before finishing up his advanced boot camp. Stops in Hawaii and then the recently captured Saipan preceded his ultimate destination: Okinawa.

Watkins

Okinawa lies just 350 miles from Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost island, making its airfields a prime objective of the Allies. Okinawa’s population was 450,000 people, who possessed Japanese nationality while remaining culturally distinct. The emperor as well as the people of Japan considered it part of their homeland. It would be fiercely defended. It would give the Allies a true measure of what they would face when Japan’s main islands were invaded in the fall.

As in all the Pacific offensives of the war there would be two facets; the naval engagement followed by the invasion and the land battle. In both phases of “Operation Iceberg”, the battle of Okinawa, the American sailors and foot soldiers would experience the deadliest and bloodiest fighting of the Pacific War. D-Day for Okinawa would be April 1, Easter Sunday.

The Allied armada that the Japanese faced was second in size only to the Normandy D-Day invasion fleet. It was commanded by one of the heroes of Midway, Admiral Raymond Spruance (Indianapolis Shortridge High School). At Midway there had been three aircraft carriers. At Okinawa there were 40! Several of the 18 battleships present, now refitted, had been at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Kamikaze, Japanese suicide pilots would account for sinking 36 ships and damaging 368 others. Naval deaths would number 4,900 men.

Surprisingly to the American commanders the Japanese army strategy did not contest at the shoreline. The Japanese officers had withdrawn their troops to the south where they could more easily defend the rugged terrain which was characterized by steep ridges and escarpments. Having had months to anticipate this coming battle they had ample time to dig deep caves where their forces could survive bombardment and use surprise attacks often at night.

The first two weeks moving south saw little opposition. Barnes and his fellow combatants had become optimistic that the horror stories they had heard about island fighting were overblown. Their mantra had changed from “Golden Gate in ‘48” to “Home Alive in ’45!”

There had however been fierce fighting on Ie Shima, a small island on the west coast of Okinawa. On April 18 a sniper’s bullet killed former Indiana University student and famous war correspondent Ernie Pyle of Dana, Indiana. IU’s School of Journalism would be named for Ernie.

Opposition began to increase the third week of April as the G.I.s and marines approached the main fortifications of the Japanese, the Shuri Line. Among these enemy entrenchments was the Maeda Escarpment or better known by the name applied to it by the American soldiers, Hacksaw Ridge.

The battle at Hacksaw Ridge would be immortalized by the actions of Cpl. Desmond Doss, the conscientious objector medic who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor while saving the lives on the battlefield of 75 soldiers all without possessing a firearm. Doss’ story is depicted in the 2016 film “Hacksaw Ridge.”

This film as well as newsreel footage of the battle of Okinawa show what words cannot convey. And it was while fighting in this horrific battle that Barnes learned that Martha was pregnant. He was going to be a father.

Barnes would survive Hacksaw Ridge and continue south with the 96th Infantry, the Deadeyes, taking equally tough encounters at Conical Hill and Sugar Hill before losing his life on May 23 — a few weeks short of his 20th birthday.

The Japanese would hold out until June 22. There were few prisoners. There were many Japanese suicides as was discovered in the caves but also witnessed as Japanese soldiers and officers jumped off cliffs dying in the ocean or on the rocks below.

The cover of “The Fallen” by Jim Watkins that memorializes Brown County soldiers who never returned home from World War II. “Every fatality of war is a tragic story. The enormity of it nationwide taxes all comprehension, but when narrowed down to a little rural area of middle America one is more able to appreciate the terrible sacrifices made during that time,” Watkins said.

Okinawa was vivid evidence that the invasion of Japan’s homeland would be fiercely contested by the military and the civilian population brainwashed for years as to how they would be treated if the Allies won. The original mantra of the American soldier “Golden Gate by 48” was now the more credible one.

Everything changed the next month. On July 16, 1945, the world’s first nuclear device was tested successfully at a site 210 miles south of Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Barnes was the son of Charles S. and Ruth M. (Boren) Barnes. Charles had two sisters, Marilyn and Maxine and one brother, Ronald.

Charles is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Charles’ and Martha’s child would be born on Sept. 7. She would be named Charlene Faye in remembrance of her father. Charlene’s own family would eventually include two daughters, eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Jim Watkins is a Brown County Historical Society member who wrote “The Fallen,” a memorial document about young men from Brown County who never returned home from World War II. Watkins was a public school teacher for 42 years and has always been interested in learning about WWII. He can be reached at [email protected].