Landings

The men of AWS-8's Operation "A" were among the first forces ashore during the Battle of Okinawa. They landed with the 77th Infantry Division to secure Zamami Shima on 27 March 1945. They immediately began setting up their radars on high terrain and had the SCR-602 in action before assault troops landed on Okinawa on 1 April. A few days later the SCR-270 came online with both radars reporting to the US Navy's Fighter Control Director. The men of the squadron's Operation "B" SP-1M/TPS-1B radar team were sent ashore on 31 March at Nagunnu Shima west of Okinawa.^[7] The TPS-1B was operational by 1 April while the SP-1M came on line 4 April. The inability to calibrate the radar at MCAS Ewa prior to embarkation would be the driver of many of the early issues encountered with the new radar. The squadron's early warning teams (EWT) came ashore during the first few days of the battle. EWT-1 supported the 7th Infantry Division while also working closely with the 504th AAA Battalion until 22 April when they linked up with AWS-8's main body at Yontan Airfield. EWT-2 supported the III Amphibious Corps which was tasked with securing the northern end of Okinawa. As the III Amphibious Corps pushed south to join the fighting in the vicinity of Shuri Castle, EWT-2 remained in support until 24 June. EWT #3 supported the 96th Infantry Division until 19 April when they were released from duty and also sent back to Yontan Airfield. Operation "M" with its SCR-527 radar came ashore midday on 3 April at Beach Yellow Three which was located on the north side of the mouth of the Bishi River. The final portion of the squadron, which consisted of the Headquarters and Services Marines from Operation "P", landed at Beach Red One on 6 April and established the squadron's Combat Information Center at Yontan Airfield.^[8]

Operations

The squadron suffered its first casualties on 3 April when a work crew, from Operation "A" on Zamami Shima, which was improving a radar position came under Japanese machine gun fire. This led to one Marine being wounded in action. 6 April would mark the beginning of Operation Kikusui for the Japanese which saw them launch hundreds of aircraft at the Okinawa anchorage. Within these large strike packages were hundreds of kamikaze aircraft that inflicted heavy damage on the Allied Fleet. The kamikaze aircraft specifically targeted the US Navy's Radar picket ships during these raids sinking 10 and damaging 32 during the course of the battle.^[9][10] Because of this, land based radar coverage provided by units such as AWS-8 became even more critical. On 16 May, Japanese infiltrators started a fire in the area where fuel for the SCR-270 on Zamami was being stored. It quickly spread and in the resulting chaos and follow on small arms fire three Marines from the squadron were killed in action with another twenty six Marines receiving burns. The day after the incident, Tokyo Rose took credit for the conflagration on behalf of the Japanese infiltrators.

On 20 April, the SCR-527 and SCR-602 from Operation "M" that were ashore on mainland Okinawa were moved to Ie Shima and co-located with another SCR-527 from Air Warning Squadron 1 (AWS-1). These radars were subject to almost daily air raids during the course of the battle. The AWS-8 SCR-527 crew (callsign "Arsenic") began controlling night intercepts on 26 April. By the time the war had ended this crew had directed 21 successful night interceptions.^[11] This was the most night interceptions of any radar crew during the Battle of Okinawa. Of note, six of the night interceptions were controlled by First Lieutenant Hugh Gallarneau who had been an All-American halfback for the 1940 Stanford University national championship winning football team and also played a few years with the Chicago Bears.^{[12] [13]}

On 2 June the squadron displaced from Yontan Airfield and moved its headquarters to Zamami Shima. 22 June would see a lot of movement for AWS-8. The SCR-527 which had been operating from Ie Shima was moved again, this time to Aguni Shima. That same day, the squadron also moved an SCR-270 and TPS-1B to the southernmost point of Okinawa referred to as "Point Dog." On 15 August 1945 news of the surrender of Japan travelled fast to the combat forces on Okinawa but AWS-8 would still have one more intercept left before the war ended for them. At approximately 1630 on 15 August, AWS-8 radars began tracking the final hostile aircraft of the Second World War. Despite the Emperoro Hirohito's surrender proclamation, Admiral Matome Ugaki led an eleven plane kamikaze flight bound for the Ryukyu Islands. AWS-8 controllers directed their F4U Corsair combat air patrol (CAP) aircraft against the incoming bogeys. None of the Japanese aircraft from the Ugaki raid were able to successfully engage any Allied targets.^[14][15]