Comments by Ari Phoutrides
The attached is a memo written by Admiral M.L. Deyo and issued to the bombardment groups at Utah Beach.
What I find interesting about this is that both of us (The Laffey and Admiral Deyo) showed up at Okinawa on
April 6, 1945. That particular day saw the first massed suicide attack on the naval forces at Okinawa. In the
early afternoon, word was received that the remnants of the Japanese fleet were on their way to Okinawa on
a suicide mission. The enemy's force included the battleship Yamato. Under the command of Admiral Deyo,
a huge American naval force was assembled and proceeded north to intercept the Japanese. In the early
morning hours of the 7th, we received word that Admiral Mitcher's carrier planes had routed the enemy.
So we did an about face and returned to the beachhead.
