U.S. Marines guard Japanese prisoners on Okinawa. The more than 300 Japanese soldiers who surrendered to the U.S.

U.S. Marines guard Japanese prisoners on Okinawa. The more than 300 Japanese soldiers who surrendered to the U.S. Sixth Marine Division during the final 24-hours of organized resistance on Okinawa, main Ryukyu (Loochoo) island wrested from the Japanese June 20, 1945, crowd a prisoner of war stockade on the strategic island. The toll of Japanese prisoners taken on the island through June 27, was 9,948, U.S. Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander of Allied naval forces in the Pacific, announced. Many of the prisoners taken after organized resistance ceased walked up to American patrols waving surrender pamphlets scattered over the captured island by U.S. planes. NI 9212