From the Archives

There is nothing spectacular about the mop-up operation. That would be very nice except that men continue to die in skirmishes waged in caves, draws and canyons. These pitched, butter little battle do not make news.

After the shocking news of President Kennedy's assassination swept Okinawa Saturday, people on the island began asking each other in anguish: "Why did the assassin have to kill. the young President?"

Admiral Minoru Ota is dead. In a cave overlooking the completely levelled installations of the Naha harbor, with only the masts and stacks of sunken ships showing, the commanding officers of the Japanese Okinawa base forces committed suicide.

Osan Air Base has cut two hours off the time that the adjacent shopping area is off-limits each day, aware that hundreds of business are suffering due to a standoff between the U.S. military and “juicy bars” over prostitution concerns.

One of Stars and Stripes’ own has a role on Army Wives. For the Feb. 15 Spouse Calls, I talked to Julie Negron, creator of the “Jenny The Military Spouse” comic strip -- a regular feature in Stars and Stripes Sunday Scene section -- about “Jenny’s” recent appearances on the Lifetime television drama.

Now that censorship has been lifted on the details of flame-throwing tanks, it’s possible to tell how they clicked during the largest-scale tank action of the Okinawa campaign.