Kamikaze off Kerama Retto
Aircraft attacked USS O'Brien on March 27, off Kerama Retto while U.S. forces secured an advance logistics base for the attack on the Japanese home islands. ... One plane crashed into the water as a result of gunfire while another, a Val suicide plane carrying a 500 pound bomb, crashed into the port side amidships exploding a magazine. ... Fifty were killed or missing and seventy-six wounded in the valiant crew.
