Chapter 14, Beyond Shuri Summary and Analysis

In early June, the marines quickly advance south, having destroyed the major Japanese defenses at Shuri. On one strange occasion, a Japanese prisoner wearing only a loincloth steps in front of marching troops and defiantly blocks the way. As combat veterans unlimber weapons, military police rush forward and move the man aside. Sledge wonders whether the man deliberately was attempting to be killed rather than face the supposed shame of capture. Marine casualties mount as the advance continues. The marines frequently come across abandoned caches of materiel. Sledge scavenges Japanese rations as he finds them superior—and different—from American K rations. He frequently carries stretchers. The rain continues but slackens somewhat.

One day Sledge enters a hut and discovers an aged Okinawa woman who has a gangrenous wound. She puts his gun muzzle to...