Dear Robert,
There was a book published that my father had as far back as I can remember that had the History of the 6th Mar.Div. In the book I can remember seeing elevations and pictures of Sugar Loaf Hill and other battle sites. My dad who was on Okinawa described the battle for Sugar Loaf as such. The Japs would through grenades over the hill and we would throw them back. We'd throw some and they would through them back. It was not much more than a bump in the landscape. Hope this helps.
Regards,
John Heibel

John, I've today returned from an extended vacation, and have this moment found your note here, so I hope you'll excuse my belated response to your 2/27 entry. The same goes, too, to both Bill and Dick, whose e-mails I've only discovered this afternoon. My profound thanks to the three of you for your kind notes.

For the past five years I've been putting together a book on the battle for Okinawa, in hope that I might be able to accurately depict or translate the events which took place there sixty-one years ago. My desire to do so stems in part from a January 2001 meeting with author William Manchester, and my deceased father's Okinawa role as a member of First Marine Division and Naval Fleet Hospital 116. My book will also highlight the Navy's considerable role--where our destroyers and carriers took an historically severe beating--as well as the life of my former neighbor and friend, Clarence E. Craft, who, as a member of the Army's 96th Infantry Division ("The Deadeyes"), earned the MOH following particularly bitter fighting on and around Conical Hill, along Okinawa's Pacific coast.

I don't know how long it will take me to complete this book, though along the way I'll be asking help from numerous among you--with your express permission, of course.

I'd like to say that one of my primary reasons for attempting this work is inspired by the extraordinary dearth of collective American knowledge about costly Okinawa, a fight that might well be described as our greatest and most meaningful island victory of the war.

My highest regard to your beloved dad, John, and to all the men of the Sixth. One of these was my former neighbor, Rolla Magruder, of Springdale, Arkansas. Before his death in 2000, Magruder explained that he'd been with an element of Third Marine Division at Guam, and had later landed at the Hagushi beachhead with the Twenty-second Marines. "I saw virtually every inch of that island, from stem to stern," noted Magruder. "Sad thing is, my kids and grandkids are barely aware that I was even in the Marine Corps, and I seriously doubt they could pinpoint Okinawa on a map."

In writing this book, I like to think that I can somehow dispel or eliminate that sort of blind ignorance.

Again, my eternal thanks to both Dick and Bill for their help with this endeavor, and to all who keep this webpage rolling.

Mr. Leiobold - it was great to read your note - I was just doing a google search on family members for a heritage scrapbook that I'm working on and came across this reference to my uncle, Rolla Magruder. His second wife, Anita Kilpatrick, was my aunt - they married in 1969 and we were crazy about our new Uncle Mac, as his new nieces and nephew called him. Thanks for posting this info and his quote! Sincerely, Brenda McCulloch, Sacramento, CA

My grandfather in law was part of the battle and I would love to know more about the role the 6th Marine Division played in the battle for Okinawa. He would never talk about it with my wife's family and one of my biggest regrets is never asking him about it after we got married.