Veterans Day Courage: ‘Rain of Steel’

Review by Bill Doughty––

The courage it takes: fighting on the other side of an ocean, often at night, relying on relatively primitive radar and spotty information, facing death-cult suicidal attacks from a fierce enemy unwilling to accept the reality of defeat.

Such was the fate of Sailors and Marines at the end of World War II, fighting in the Battle of Okinawa. Stephen L. Moore describes the warfare in “Rain of Steel: Mitscher’s Task Force 58, Ugaki’s Thunder Gods, and the Kamikaze War off Okinawa” (Naval Institute Press, 2020).

In many ways, his narrative is a tribute to courage, which makes this a great read for Veterans Day. This is also a fitting tribute to a titan of U.S. Naval aviation, Vice Adm. Marc Andrew Mitscher.

“The wrinkles in his pug face, chiseled from years of wind exposure and chain-smoking, creased as the short, frail-looking man tugged hard on another cigarette. A sly smile nipped at the corners of his mouth as the morning breeze rushed across the open air wing outside Flag Plot, his tactical control center high atop his flagship aircraft carrier. Sporting a signature duckbilled hat to protect his hairless scalp and shade his eyes from the sun, he was a staple figure, frequently sitting on a stool on the elevated island structure of his ship to watch the takeoffs and landings of the naval aviators he commanded.”

Adm. Marc Mitscher

"Rain of Steel" presents a narrative of Naval Academy bad boy Mitscher (reminiscent of John S. McCains, especially McCain III) taking on the stoic samurai and follower of a suicidal pact, Matome Ugaki, leader of kamikaze pilots. We see the role of Senator McCain’s grandfather, Adm. “Slew” McCain, Adm. Raymond A. Spruance, Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz, and other brown shoe and black shoe leaders in the Pacific War.

But, Moore also gives us the heroic narratives of American veterans –– patriots like Dean Caswell, Gene Valencia, Clinton Lamar “Smitty” Smith, Archie Glenn Donahue, James Joseph “Jocko” Clark, Harris “Mitch” Mitchell, Frank Sistrunk, Dean Caswell, Tilman “Tilly” Pool, Charles Edward “Billy” Watts, and Marshall Ulrich Beebe. In fact, the book’s prologue opens with Beebe being awakened at 0400 for his Composite Squadron 39 (VC-39) call of duty.

USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) burning after being hit by a Kamikaze, off Okinawa, 11 May 1945. Photographed from USS Bataan (CVL-29), NHHC.

The danger to the warfighters is palpable and their courage and commitment is inspiring.

“Berube’s F6F was smoking badly, its engine was sputtering, his canopy was so badly shattered that the hatch was jammed closed and unable to be jettisoned, and the rest of the plane was riddled with holes. The ensign announced to Clark that he would crash-land on Okinawa. Before friendly territory could be reached, however, his engine died, and Berube was forced to ditch. The impact must have torn off his copy, for in about twenty seconds he emerged from the cockpit with his Mae West inflated.

Clark circled Berube and broadcast his position over the radio to a lifeguard submarine until an acknowledgment was received. Despite his Hellcat being badly damaged as well, Clark selflessly dropped his own life raft. His heart sank as he saw the deflated raft sink before Berube could reach it. Clark remained in radio contact with the lifeguard sub, finally dropping his dye markers as he headed home due to low fuel, going up with another Essex pilot en route … A PBY rescue plane scoured the seas at the last-reported position of the downed VF-84 pilot, but Ensign Berube was never seen again.”

Marines on Okinawa, 1945.

Moore tells the story of the last great battle of the War in the Pacific with masterful grace. His detailed narrative is factual and specific, and includes dozens of Marine Corps and Navy squadrons, U.S. air groups, task groups, and task forces.

He features the courage of Marines on the ground, often in hand-to-hand combat, as well as Sailors aboard, among others, USS Essex (CV 9), USS Hancock (CV 19), USS Hornet (CV 12), USS Bennington (CV 20), USS San Jacinto (CVL 30), USS Yorktown (CV 10), USS Lexington (CV2/CV16), USS Enterprise (CV 6), and USS Belleau Wood (CVL 24).

Fortunately, we get both the U.S. an IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy) perspectives, as Mitscher and Ugaki face off even as “Japan’s once mighty carrier fleet was a ghost of its former self.”

Ugaki Matome

With hardened resolve despite their obvious defeat, the IJN aviators –– believing they were fighting with God’s providence as a “divine wind” –– crashed their planes into Allied targets, aiming especially to disable American aircraft carriers. Courage on both sides is obvious and profound.

Moore’s work is clearly a labor of love, describing a one-of-a-kind, now-unimaginable warfare coordinated by a peerless leader in Adm. Mitscher. This book is packed with extensive notes, references, photos, glossary, and information from both historical records and witness interviews. Moore provides context and nuance in an objective and steady style that is a pleasure to read, especially on this Veterans Day 2020.

A little more than two months after the thunderous Battle of Okinawa, but not until more lives were lost on both sides, Japan accepted defeat. That acceptance of defeat led to the end of revanchist colonialism, military controlled government, and divine leader worship –– replaced by constitutional democratic rule of law in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Commodore Arleigh Burke, Mitscher's chief of staff and future Chief of Naval Operations, would help Japan develop its own naval service, modeled after the United States Navy: the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.

Commodore Arleigh Burke and Adm. Marc Mitscher