Pre-Invasion Prayer. Coast Guardsmen and Marines kneel in prayer at church services aboard a Coast Guard-manned LST just prior to the invasion of Ihiya [Iheya] Shima. Officiating is Marine Cpl. Robert L. Swafford of Nashville, Tenn., who was ordained a minister before the war. The announcement of the capture of Ihiya Shima was made this week by Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Seventeenth island in the Okinawa group to be seized by our forces, Ihiya Shima lies 25 miles northwest of Okinawa itself.

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Photo credit: © NB/USC / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: 17-a2-212, 26-, coast, guard, history, job, rdss, rg