Completely exposed to enemy fire, a Marine dashes across a field on Okinawa. May 1945.

Source: National Archives (127-N-120562)

In Sacramento, soon after Order 9066 was issued, hand-lettered signs went up all over town, saying “Japs must go.”

Last major battle of World War II in the Pacific and the largest and most complicated amphibious operation in the theater. Okinawa, the largest of the Ryukyu Islands and only 350 miles from the Japanese home island of Kyushu, had long been regarded as the last stepping-stone before a direct . . .

One Marine consoles another during a breaking from the fighting on Okinawa. May 1945.

Source: National Archives (127-N-120281)

Marines use a satchel charge to take out a Japanese stronghold. Okinawa, 1945.

Source: National Archives (208-AA-87-A2-8)

Japanese-American evacuees, under the watchful eye of U.S. soldiers, wait outside trains at Santa Anita Assembly Center. April 5, 1942.

Source: National Archives (WC-0780)

Sam Hynes was born in Chicago on August 29, 1924, and grew up in Minneapolis. He graduated from high school at sixteen, enrolled at the University of Minnesota in the fall of 1942, and at once signed up for the Navy flight program. He was called up in March 1943, . . .

Sam Hynes, right, in Santa Barbara. 1944. Hynes would fly combat missions over Okinawa the following year.

Source: Sam Hynes

Sam Hynes and his father in 1944. Hynes flew TBMs in the Pacific.

Source: Sam Hynes

Sam Hynes, right, served with Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 232 in the Pacific.

Source: Sam Hynes

Sam Hynes, right, and three fellow pilots. Spring 1945. Later that year, he would fly combat missions over Okinawa.

Source: Sam Hynes

Sam Hynes' Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron on Okinawa. Hynes is front row, 6th from the left.

Source: Sam Hynes

Sam Hynes was a young man looking for excitement when he decided to join the Navy.

Front cover of Sam Hynes' memoir, Flights of Passage.

"They don't look like enemies in their American clothes waiting to be sent off into the desert."

I made a decision that was going to change my life forever. And it did.

Strategic bombing may generally be defined as air attacks directed at targets or systems capable of having a major impact on the will or ability of an enemy nation to wage war. Airpower proponents have touted strategic bombing as a unique war-winning capability and have used it to justify independent . . .