US Marine raising the Confederate battle flag after the Battle of Okinawa; June 22nd, 1945.

Just think, this was only 80 years after the end of the civil war.

Once the castle had been taken, Dusenberg took off his helmet and removed a flag he had been carrying for just such a special occasion. He raised the flag at the highest point of the castle and let loose with a rebel yell. The flag waving overhead was not the Stars and Stripes, but the Confederate Stars and Bars. Most of the Marines joined in the yell, but a disapproving New Englander supposedly remarked, “What does he want now? Should we sing ‘Dixie?'”

MG Andrew Bruce, the commanding general of the 77th Division, protested to the 10th Army that the Marines had stolen his prize. But LTG Buckner only mildly chided MajGen del Valle saying, “How can I be sore at him? My father fought under that flag!”

LTG Buckner’s father was the Confederate BG Buckner who had surrendered Fort Donelson to then-BG Ulysses S. Grant in 1862.

(Source)

*Well, if I ever go to war I’ll bring the flag of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. I’ll die waving that flag!

September 20, 2014 | Categories: American Civil War, American Cultural Diplomacy & National Identity, History, History of Rhetoric, I Don't Like Jokes, Images of History, Military History, Modern Warfare, Photography, Pursuit of Happiness, Stunt Queens, The Drama Of It All, U.S. Diplomacy, Weird, Won The War, World War Two | Tags: Adolf Hitler, Andrew Bruce, Battle of Okinawa, black and white photography, Confederate, Confederate BG Buckner, Confederate flag, Confederate Stars, Death, Europe, France, German, Germany, historic, Historical, History, Hitler, human history, Marines, Military, Military history, Nazi, Photo, Photography, Politics, Power, Society, Stars and Stripes, US Marine, US Politics, USA, War, Warfare, Weird, World History, World War two, WW2, wwii | Leave a comment