The Battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest and costliest of World War II in the Pacific. The United States needed a base to stage an invasion of mainland Japan. The island of Okinawa was the ...

while Okinawa Prefecture was the site of a ground battle against the Allied forces. Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko visited Iwo Jima in February 1994, a year before the 50th ...