WWII

HAMILTON — During World War II, two brothers from Hamilton, serving in different companies, just so happened to meet up somewhere in the hedgerows of France on July 23, 1944.

By Luke Brantley
Staff writer
APRIL 1, 1945, OKINAWA, JAPAN —  World War II was ending. The war in Europe was drawing to a close with Germany on the verge of surrender, and now the island of Okinawa stood as the final barrier between U.S. forces and the Japanese mainland.
After over a week of naval bombardment, U.S. troops made landfall. It would be one of the bloodiest battles of the war in the Pacific, with U.S. troops sustaining around 50,000 casualties as the battle raged through April and May, then into June.