OKINAWA -Towards The Bitter End - Framed Collectors Piece
by Robert Taylor
In Europe the endgame was fast approaching as the final remnants of Hitler’s Third Reich disintegrated within the shattered ruins of Berlin. But in the Pacific the war against the Japanese was far from over – if anything the savagery was intensifying.
Following their victory at Midway, American forces had fought a long, bloody and bitter campaign to retake the Japanese held islands in the Pacific. By the end of March 1945, however, they had finally captured Iwo Jima and looked towards Okinawa, a province of Japan itself. Less than 400 miles south of its mainland, it was the place from which the Allied invasion of Japan must be launched. Supported by a huge Naval presence, including one of the largest British fleets ever assembled, the assault began on 1 April 1945 with the largest amphibious landing of the Pacific war.
The Japanese response was ferocious seeing the peak of the kamikaze scourge and while the British ships with their steel decks fared much better, the relentless attacks took their toll on the US Fleet, highlighting a conflict worse than anything seen before. The 82 day battle was one of the most severe and bloody campaigns of WWII, accounting for over 14000 Allied deaths and five times that number of Japanese soldiers.
In one of the most powerful paintings of his long and distinguished career, Robert Taylor depicts USMC Ace Dean Caswell and F4U Corsairs from VMF-221, based on the carrier USS Bunker Hill, climbing away from the target area after delivering a blistering rocket attack on enemy positions on Okinawa.
Framed Collector's Piece
This stunning Collector's Edition print is personally signed by ten legendary Pilots and Aces who flew Corsairs during the assault on Okinawa, including Dean Caswell, creating a unique collector's piece.
To make it even more special, our expert team have framed this copy to full conservation standards to include the original autographs of three of the greatest US Marine Corps Aces who flew at Okinawa, including two Medal of Honor recipients, to create an astonishing THIRTEEN signature collector's piece. The full list of signatures reads:
- Colonel Dean Caswell
- Colonel Jim Swett Medal of Honor
- Colonel Joe McPhail
- Colonel Bruce Porter
- Lieutenant Colonel Lyle Bradley
- Captain Phillip De Groot
- First Lieutenant Clint Fladland
- Lieutenant Colonel William Lucas
- Lieutenant Commander Tom McBride
- Lieutenant Colonel Darrell Smith
- Colonel 'Archie' Donahue
- Lieutenant Kenneth A. Walsh USMC Medal of Honor
- Colonel Jefferson J. De Blanc USMC Medal of Honor
- Media:
- Framed Prints
- Size:
- 36 x 28 inches
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