Sorry I’ve been so quiet lately, it’s been a busy few months. Back in May I began preparations for a series of school presentations I gave through June called Teenage Life in Wartime Japan. I’ll be writing about that soon, but that’s being held up because I’ve been offered to do something else I will be announcing in a few weeks. What that means is I’m kind of short on time for my usual articles, but I should be back in action shortly. It’s an exciting time and I look forward to sharing it with you all when the time is right.

Attached is a photo from my recent visit to Toguchi Beach here on Okinawa, or as it was known on Apr. 1, 1945, Yellow 2. It was here the first US Marines came ashore during the invasion of Okinawa. The landing was uncontested. Before the war it was a popular recreation site and it is again today. It has the distinction of being one of the few unaltered stretches of Okinawa coastline used in the landings.

Since someone gave me a vial of black sand from the Iwo Jima invasion beaches, and I have some sand from Utah and Omaha Beach in Normandy, I decided to scoop up some sand from this one too.

These little Plantation rum tasting vials will have a new purpose…