June 23 is Okinawa Memorial Day to remember the destruction and the loss of lives the Battle of Okinawa brought and to pray for the victims' souls and for peace. It should be a day for all Japanese to think about the hardship Okinawan people have experienced and the issue of U.S. military bases in Okinawa Prefecture.
On that day 65 years ago (1945), Japan's organized military resistance in Okinawa ended. But the battle's formal end came as late as Sept. 7 that year. The United States continued to occupy Okinawa through May 14, 1972. By coincidence, the current Japan-U.S. security treaty — the basis for the U.S. military presence in Japan — went into force on June 23, 1960.
The Battle of Okinawa started March 26, 1945, when U.S. troops landed on Kerama Islands. It was the only land battle fought in the Japanese archipelago during the Pacific War. For Japanese rulers and military leaders, Okinawa was a sacrifice stone to delay the U.S. armed forces' landing on Japan's main islands.