Rebels raise Stars and Bars over Okinawa
By William McGaffin
WITH THE XXIV ARMY CORPS ON OKINAWA (April 28) – A group of unreconstructed G.I.’s who emphatically do not answer to the name “Yank” have hoisted the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy over Okinawa “to proclaim to the world that Texans and Brooklynites are not the only people fighting the war.”
Their grudge against Texas, which was a rather important part of the Confederacy, stems from the fact that these men, all Army combat correspondents, come from other Southern states. They are only a small group but are out to recruit other “rebels.” They have their eyes on Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, a native of Munfordville, Kentucky.
The flag flies over a deep, log-covered dugout which shelters these “reluctant, terrified warriors,” as they call themselves, during air raids. The sound you hear coming from the dugout at night, they will have you know, is a rebel yell.