The Buckners of Kentucky
by LtCol H. Thomas Hayden, USMC(Ret)
Leading from the front results in the untimely death of the Tenth Army commander on Okinawa.
The Buckner family has a long history and military tradition that predates the Revolutionary War. The Buckner farm, known as “Glen Lily,” is just outside Munfordville, KY. West Point graduate Simon Bolivar Buckner, Sr. served in the Mexican War and later became the adjutant general of the Kentucky state guard. After declining a commission of brigadier in the Union Army he was appointed brigadier general in the Confederate Army. He was left by two senior generals to surrender to BG Ulysses S. Grant, Union Army, at Fort Donelson but was later exchanged for a Union general. He led a division in Braxton Bragg’s invasion of Kentucky and fought with distinction at Perryville. He commanded a corps at Chickamauga, but due to Bragg’s incompetence, the Confederates were forced to give up early gains and withdraw from the battlefield. Had Buckner or Nathan Bedford Forrest been in command in the west, the War Between the States might have been extended or have had a different ending. He later became the governor of Kentucky and was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President on the “Gold Democrats” ticket.
LTG Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., USA, also graduated from West Point and was a “distinguished student” from the Army Command and General Staff College in 1925. He later served as Commandant of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In the early days of World War II, Buckner, Jr. directed operations against the Japanese forces on the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. In 1945 LTG Buckner, Jr. was given command of the newly formed Tenth Army with the task of invading Okinawa—officially called Operation ICEBERG. During the fighting he repeatedly exposed himself to danger by touring the frontlines and encouraging his men. His dogged determination prompted his soldiers to nickname him “The Bull.”
The invasion forces of Okinawa included the Northern Landing Force of III Amphibious Corps, commanded by MajGen Roy Geiger, with 1st and 6th Marine Divisions (1st and 6th MarDivs). The Southern Landing Force was the XXIV U.S. Army Corps, under MG John Hodge, with the 7th, 77th, and 96th Divisions. The 2d MarDiv made a demonstration against the island. The official count for the invasion was 1,600 ships, 182,112 men (of whom 81,165 were Marines), and 12,000 aircraft in the Tenth Army. L-Day was 1 April 1945, which was both April Fools’ Day and Easter.
On 4 June the 1st MarDiv, under MajGen Pedro del Valle, with the 22d Marines (22d Mar) attacking up the Oroku Peninsula and the 4th Mar making a shore-to-shore landing, followed by the 29th Mar, formed a vise against the final remnants of organized Japanese resistance. The 8th Mar was later brought ashore to join the fight.
On 18 June 1945, LTG Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. came to the front to visit the 8th Mar command post (CP), which was located on the reverse slope of a ridge overlooking the Japanese forces. LTG Buckner talked with those present at the regimental CP. The presence of the Tenth Army commander at the front had to be a boost to morale. Buckner wanted to visit the regimental forward observation post. Col William J. Wallace, the 8th Mar commanding officer, and members of his staff were already at the position when LTG Buckner’s party arrived. Marines on the frontlines radioed back that they could see the three stars on the helmet of the distinguished visitor on the ridge. Without any warning of incoming, a Japanese artillery shell landed on a coral rock outcropping next to LTG Buckner. The general took the full brunt of the explosion with shell and coral fragments in his chest. Col Wallace and two others were knocked down but uninjured.
Just 4 days prior to the final victory on Okinawa, LTG Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. became the most senior general officer to die in the Pacific theater. There were 12,520 Americans killed at Okinawa, and 33,000 more were wounded. The battle brought the greatest losses in the history of the U.S. Navy—36 ships sunk, 368 hit, and over 5,000 sailors killed. During this time the Nation also lost its Commander in Chief, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died in Georgia on 12 April 1945.
Driving past Naha toward the southern tip of Okinawa, one finds a small dirt trail that leads to the top of Mezado Ridge. The Japanese have erected a tombstone-like marker that is mostly in Japanese, but one can unmistakably read the word Buckner. In 1954 Congress posthumously promoted Buckner to the rank of general.
>LtCol Hayden is a frequent contributor to MCG. He is a relative of the Buckner clan, and his mother’s maiden name is Buckner.
