General Buckner came on the intercom and told all the troops, "Men, we're about ready to invade the island of Okinawa." He said, "I want you to know you're not only fighting for your country, but you're fighting for your loved ones back home." That really comforted me, because I told some of my friends, "I think I'll be the first one killed." December 7th, 1941, the United States of American was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. It was on a Sunday afternoon. About 2 o'clock in the afternoon I was walking down the main street in my hometown,
and a car came by. The radio was blasting, "We're at war!" The Japs had bombed Pearl Harbor. I was fifteen years old at that time. But when I heard all the casualties at Pearl
Harbor, it made me want to go in the war. Shortly after graduating high school, Ted
Estridge was drafted into the United States Marines. The next few months saw him going through
basic training and joining up with the First Marine Division. They sent me to San Diego, California. I went through boot camp there. Then we went to Camp Pendleton. That's where we had advanced training. The First Marine Division was in Pavuvu, Solomon
Islands. They had just finished their campaign at Peleliu. Prior to Ted’s arrival, the First Marine
Division had already endured what was to them “hell on earth”, seeing intense combat at Guadalcanal, New
Britain, and Peleliu. Each campaign dragged on far longer than anticipated, costing the First Division nearly ten thousand
casualties. But now, with Ted among their ranks, the next objective would be the Division’s
deadliest campaign yet. The first day of April. April Fools' Day. They started early in the morning - battleships
shelling the island. Then General Buckner came on the intercom
and told all the troops, "Men, we're about ready to invade the island
of Okinawa." He said, "I want you to know you're not only
fighting for your country, but you're fighting for your loved ones back
home." That really comforted me, because I told some
of my friends, "I think I'll be the first one killed." When we landed, the Army went south and the
Marines went north. I tell you, war is a terrible thing. Kill or be killed. The Japanese had that whole island mapped out. They had tunnels where they could escape and
go back to the next hill. They knew everywhere to place artillery. You would hear those shells come in, screaming,
bursting - debris falling all over you. General Buckner was killed in the Battle of
Okinawa. On the 18th of June, as Lieutenant General
Simon Buckner observed the battle from a few hundred yard
behind the front lines, he was hit by shrapnel from a Japanese artillery
shell. This is the last known photo of the General,
taken only moments before his death. For the First Marine Division, the Battle
of Okinawa was a painstaking process of eliminating an enemy who was firmly entrenched
in a series of heavily fortified hills. Casualties continued to mount, and Ted would
be one of them. We were taking a hill. We were two-thirds of the way up the hill,
and a mortar round came in. It hit me right in the shoulder. It was almost like a sledgehammer. I fell down on the ground, and my buddy in
front of me, Norton Larson, the same shell that got me - he had a piece of shrapnel that came in underneath
his nose and came out the back of his head. It killed him instantly. That could have been me. "Why me Lord?" That's what I thought. Then my buddy picked me up, and we went back
to where we embarked from. At that time there was wounded laying all
over the place. The next morning, the hospital ship came in
as close to shore as you could get. They had a cable run from the land to the
hospital ship, and they snapped me on that cable. That afternoon, there was a nurse over at
the hospital ship window, and she screamed out, "Oh, he's going to hit
us!" It was a suicide plane. It wasn't aiming for us, but a destroyer anchored
next to the hospital ship. It hit the destroyer. Immediately, they started bringing in sailors,
burned terribly. In fact, I was in the middle bunk. I had a sailor by my feet and one in the front. Both of them died that night. Every morning they'd have a burial service
on the hospital ship. When I was able to walk, I watched how they
buried their dead. They put an American flag over the body. They had a slide go down, right into the ocean. You know, the Bible says that in the last
resurrection the seas will give up their dead. There's been thousands buried at sea. After nearly three months of gruesome combat,
the Battle of Okinawa came to a close. With the island secure, the United States
military now held a position from which they could launch a mainland attack
on Japan. But the attack would never come. In August of 1945, two atomic bombs were dropped
on the Japanese mainland. When they bombed Hiroshima then Nagasaki,
that was the beginning of the end. There would have been millions killed if we
had to invade Japan. I'm just thankful we didn't have to. When I came back, I had points to get discharged,
and they took me to Great Lakes, Illinois. I took a train from Chicago to Indianapolis,
then rode a bus into Brookville, Indiana. When I arrived there, the streets where all
empty. But the service station was open, and I went in and there was one of my buddies
from before the war. I said, "Could you take me out to my house?" So he drove out and parked in front of my
father's house, and blew the horn. My mother came to the door and said, "Who is it?" I said, "You don't know, do you?" And she screamed. She said, "It's Theo!" They always called me Theo. She ran out there and threw her arms around
me. That was the happiest moment of my life. In November, 1958, the Lord called me in the
ministry. He called me to go back to Okinawa as a missionary. Now I'll tell you, I hated Okinawa. I hated the Japanese people at the time, until the Lord saved me and he gave me a love
for the Japanese people and Okinawans. I took my family and we spent fifteen years
on Okinawa as missionaries. Several years after the war’s end, Ted found
himself returning to Okinawa - this time with a different mission. The very place where he had seen the worst
of mankind was now his home, and the people he had once considered enemies
now were like family. Ted’s new journey lead him back to the very
hill on Okinawa where he had been wounded. I could almost go to the exact spot. I got on my knees and I said, "Oh God, I thank
you for sparing my life right here." I said, "Why me, Lord?" Norton Larson couldn't have a family, a wife,
children or grandchildren. About three weeks ago, my granddaughter came
to visit from North Carolina, and she put a little, nine-month-old great
grandson in my arms. Norton couldn't experience that. I know this: Anybody that's been in combat
- hand to hand fighting - it's just by the grace of God we made it. The real heroes are those who gave their life for their country.
