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SSG Justin Davis
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Pell, James Patrick, Cpl.
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Home Town Davis
Date of Passing May 20, 2007
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CORPORAL JAMES PATRICK "PAT" PELL WAS A TRUCK DRIVER IN DAVIS WEST VIRGINIA BEFORE ENTERING THE SERVICE ON 26 DECEMBER 1942. AFTER SERVING ABOUT 8 MONTHS IN THE U.S. CPL PELL WAS SENT TO THE PACIFIC ON 18 AUGUST 1944. PELL SERVED WITH THE 165TH INFANTRY REGIMENT, 27TH INFANTRY DIVISION IN THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE WESTERN PACIFIC AND RYUKYUS WHERE HE WAS WOUNDED ON 20 APRIL 1945 ON OKINAWA. ON 8 JUNE 1945 CPL PELL RETURNED TO THE STATES AND 5 MONTHS LATER ON 8 NOVEMBER WAS HONORABLY DISCHARGED AT FORT KNOX KENTUCKY. "PAT PELL PASSED AWAY ON 20 MAY 2007 IN DAVIS WEST VIRGINIA AND WAS LAID TO REST AT THE DAVIS CEMETERY.
(Ryukyus Campaign 26 March to 2 July 1945) The invasion of the Ryukyus was made by troops of the U.S. Tenth Army, which had been activated on 20 June 1944 with Lt. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, Jr., as commanding general. The Ryukyus campaign began on 26 March 1945 with the capture of small islands near Okinawa, where forward naval bases were established. An amphibious assault on Okinawa took place on 1 April, and the fighting lasted until June. Here, for the first time, Americans were invading what the Japanese defenders considered their home soil, and the defense was fanatic in the extreme. American troops suffered heavy casualties, and the Navy, too, had heavy personnel losses as Japanese suicide flyers, the Kamikazes, sank some 25 American ships and damaged 165 others in a desperate attempt to save the Ryukyus. Among the nearly 35,000 American casualties were General Buckner, who was killed on 18 June. He was succeeded by Maj. Gen. Roy S. Geiger, who was in turn succeeded by General Joseph W. Stilwell, who arrived to assume command of the Tenth Army on 22 June 1945.
Capture of the Ryukyus gave Allied naval and air forces excellent bases within 700 miles of Japan proper. Throughout June and July, Japan was subjected to increasingly intensive air attack and even to naval bombardment.