Latest news with #USServicemen
Japan Times
07-07-2025
- Japan Times
2 U.S. servicemen arrested in Okinawa for assault
Two U.S. servicemen were arrested in Okinawa Prefecture over the weekend for allegedly assaulting Japanese nationals. The Okinawa Prefectural Police on Saturday arrested Tomas Salazar, a 25-year-old airman who belongs to the U.S. Air Force's Kadena base in the prefecture, on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend at a parking lot in the city of Okinawa. He allegedly pushed down the woman, who is in her 20s, and punched her in the face several times around 3:30 a.m. Saturday, causing an injury to her mouth. Salazar has denied the allegations, saying that he did not beat his girlfriend. Gabriel Monize, a 21-year-old private first class who belongs to the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Hansen in Okinawa Prefecture, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of slightly injuring an unacquainted 40-year-old Japanese man by putting his hands around the neck of the latter, who was in a car on a street in the city of Okinawa around 12:10 a.m. the same day. According to Okinawa police, the Japanese man was in his parked car when Monize suddenly entered the vehicle and assaulted him from behind. Monize has denied the allegations while refusing to take an alcohol test.
ABC News
07-06-2025
- General
- ABC News
Heritage honour for ships sunk in Battle of the Coral Sea
It has been more than 80 years since they came to rest 3,000 metres down on the ocean floor, but their pristine markings have been remarkably well preserved. In 1942, American ships the USS Sims, the USS Neosho and the USS Lexington were patrolling the Pacific as part of the Battle of the Coral Sea when on May 7 and 8 they were struck by Japanese torpedoes. The USS Sims, a Destroyer, was escorting the fleet oiler, USS Neosho, when Japanese aircraft landed multiple direct hits, including a suicide dive from one fighter plane. Two bomb strikes exploded in the Sims' engine room, buckling the ship and causing a massive explosion that sank the vessel. The next morning, the aircraft carrier USS Lexington attacked Japanese forces who, minutes later, fired back. The ship suffered two direct torpedo strikes, followed by an explosion from one of the internal fires that ignited petrol vapours. The strikes caused significant damage, but it was American torpedoes that finally sank the vessel to prevent it from being captured by the Japanese. It was a devastating loss, with 635 US servicemen losing their lives and just a few surviving. The wrecks laid undisturbed for 75 years, more than 3 kilometres down in the Coral Sea, about 1,000km east of Far North Queensland. Rediscovered in 2018 by a team led by US billionaire Paul Allen, the shipwrecks and war graves will now have extra protection. The federal government announced on June 1 that they had been added to the National Heritage List. Federal Minister for the Environment Murray Watt said the site was of national significance in Australia's history. "The Second World War was a time of such terrible and unimaginable loss suffered by so many and the Battle of the Coral Sea was central to keeping Australians at home safe," he said. "By including the site on the National Heritage List, we can ensure greater protection for a number of historic shipwrecks, while preserving a significant piece of world history for future generations." Richard Scully, from the University of New England, said heritage protection was crucial because some WWII warships had already disappeared from the Pacific. He said it was important to remember that, as well as having historical value, these were war graves. "Now that we know where these graves are located means we can protect them," Professor Scully said. "We can register them as heritage and we can continue to do justice to the men who fought and died." Professor Scully says the remarkable preservation also gives a vivid insight into the experience of the battle. "The Lexington, an unarmoured warship essentially being attacked from the sky, was burning in the sea before it was scuttled." Professor Scully said it was also important to raise the profile of the conflict in Australia's collective memory. He said the Pacific War was sometimes the poor cousin to the European war, with the war against Hitler holding the imagination more than the Pacific War. "This is Australia's war in so many ways, and I think it is important to remember that." He said the battles in the Coral Sea to defend Australia and New Guinea were remarkable. "This is the first naval battle in history where the opposing warships never saw each other. "It was fought entirely by aircraft flying off aircraft carriers over the horizon, locating the enemy and attacking them."
