Outstanding story! Thanks for posting. I was stationed on Okinawa in the mid 70's and studied quite a bit about the campaign. Surprised I had never heard this one.
What a man! Back in 68-69 I was stationed at Sobe which was just a few miles south of Maeda Point (where his exploits were). At that time it was pretty much in the middle of nowhere but it was a good place to party and be in the ocean. I had no knowledge of what happened there during the war, had I known I probably would have been a little more serious about just being there.