tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post4240150130094097338..comments2024-03-28T11:33:16.797-05:00Comments on Bayou Renaissance Man: Hiroshima - a view from the front linesPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10595089829300831372noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-34796509290182036062015-08-08T13:13:41.383-05:002015-08-08T13:13:41.383-05:00Was it right? I don't think it was. But a lot ...Was it right? I don't think it was. But a lot of things in that war weren't right. Trying to find some moral ground to stand on after that disaster is to tread on the bodies of those who fell in the conflict.<br /><br />What is it they say? War doesn't determine who is right, only who is left.m4noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-14474174026683377662015-08-07T17:08:12.305-05:002015-08-07T17:08:12.305-05:00If they were so ready to surrender why did some in...If they were so ready to surrender why did some in the Imperial Army tried to stage a coup to stop the surrender<br />http://www.amazon.com/Japans-Longest-Day-Kazutoshi-Hando/dp/0870114220/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438985233&sr=1-1&keywords=japan%27s+longest+dayChuck-Knoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-7599173886201733022015-08-07T08:52:36.329-05:002015-08-07T08:52:36.329-05:00My dad was a fighter pilot, flew P-38 Lightnings a...My dad was a fighter pilot, flew P-38 Lightnings and P-51's in the island-hopping campsign of the Pacific Theater. On Iwo Jima he and the other 125 fighter pilots survived a night time suicide attack by 250 Japanese soldiers, and then a couple of weeks later began escorting the B-29's on the first land-based bombing missions of the Japanese home islands.<br /><br />He would have flown fighter cover for the invasion and he did not expect to survive the war. He fully expected to be killed in combat or be shot down, captured, and tortured to death.<br /><br />His five children and six grandchildren would never have been born.<br /><br />Put him down as a plus and myself also.<br /><br /><br />DonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-82133014302583649762015-08-07T07:45:26.486-05:002015-08-07T07:45:26.486-05:00Dad was the coxswain on a landing craft in the vas...Dad was the coxswain on a landing craft in the vast buildup to the invasion of Japan. That he spent the next two months as a marine taxi driver in Tokyo Bay instead of several thousand red stains in the water off the invasion beaches is due to the Bomb.<br /><br />Put me down as a 'plus'.<br /><br />MCmostly cajunhttp://mostlycajun.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-37253494960790315252015-08-06T23:19:24.209-05:002015-08-06T23:19:24.209-05:00Downfall -Richard B Frank
Hell to Pay - D M Giangr...Downfall -Richard B Frank<br />Hell to Pay - D M Giangreco<br /><br />Outstanding books dedicated to this subject specifically. USSHelmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05631403888192633756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-28107999830108708242015-08-06T20:52:18.799-05:002015-08-06T20:52:18.799-05:00I'm typing this, in all probability had the bo...I'm typing this, in all probability had the bombs not been dropped, I wouldn't be.zdogk9https://www.blogger.com/profile/04295483098573950904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-58721102058097335922015-08-06T18:09:56.412-05:002015-08-06T18:09:56.412-05:00I recommend Fraser's book, as I think, you may...I recommend Fraser's book, as I think, you may have recommended it to me! A great read by a great storyteller, his comments about the bomb are insightful and moving.<br /><br />Great post!libertymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13987591250148492879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-2701287427311444842015-08-06T17:57:02.220-05:002015-08-06T17:57:02.220-05:00My mother was an Army nurse in the Pacific and par...My mother was an Army nurse in the Pacific and part of the after war<br />effort in Japan. <br /><br />She talked to people, like the girl mentioned above, who had been instructed<br />to tie kitchen knives to broom handles and fight the invasion forces with <br />the improvised weapon. So, there would have been a lot of casualties <br />in an invasion of Japan.<br /><br />She also met a man who had been trained as a Kamaikaze pilot but not <br />sent on a mission due to the end of the war. He told her he had planned to <br />land someplace and surrender instead of going through with the attack. <br /><br />Dad was in Italy in the Army Air Corps. After that he was sent back to the <br />U.S. and was supposed to be trained for the Pacific and the invasion. <br />He was discharged instead after the bombs were dropped. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-77816496122495590142015-08-06T13:45:13.181-05:002015-08-06T13:45:13.181-05:00A possible view from the other side of the war. M...A possible view from the other side of the war. My dad (Navy) was stationed on Guam during the build-up for the invasion of Japan. A Japanese POW taught him and 3 other sailors the art of welding. They ask him why he was willing to work with them. He said he believed it was wrong for Japan to attack the USA. He had no desire to be a part of the Japanese war effort; he was drafted. Plus he was bored sitting there and the food was better if he worked.<br /><br />I suspect this gentleman was like many average Joes in this world who don't agree with what their governments are doing but have little or no real power to stop the stupidity. And God has blessed us here in this country because we can say, we think TPTB are wrong without losing our heads.Judyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06530748998376076224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-24529356419792128042015-08-06T13:43:17.750-05:002015-08-06T13:43:17.750-05:00We have a friend who, as a young girl in Japan, wa...We have a friend who, as a young girl in Japan, was trained to use a spear to attack American soldiers when they invaded.<br /><br />Apparently, machine gunning an 11 year old girl armed with a stick is morally superior, in some minds, to blowing her to bits.Shermhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07098953206824247173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-15541838788294148172015-08-06T13:28:14.970-05:002015-08-06T13:28:14.970-05:00It was a horrible thing.
That does not preclude i...It was a horrible thing.<br /><br />That does not preclude it from being a *necessary* thing.<br /><br />"War is Hell," became a saying for a reason...B. Durbinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07559705448147986730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-58953099600722443942015-08-06T12:35:59.806-05:002015-08-06T12:35:59.806-05:00Very interesting! It is difficult to see the other...Very interesting! It is difficult to see the other side. Of course lives were saved. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04899177125372996519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-54866128461374541462015-08-06T11:54:23.932-05:002015-08-06T11:54:23.932-05:00Let’s understand the where the war was at the time...Let’s understand the where the war was at the time. XX Bomber Command was staging firebombing raids. Casualties from these raids typically numbered in the hundreds of thousands. The problem was that the Japanese military understood how these worked and would not surrender.<br /><br />In retrospect, judging from the last holdouts on the various islands of the Pacific, the plan to starve out the Japanese would have taken decades if it worked at all. Likewise, if civilian casualties from the invasion of Saipan were any indication, an invasion of Japan would have become a genocide of the Japanese people. Much as we didn’t like the Japanese at the time, this was still too much for us.<br /><br />The bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were different. One plane flew over and dropped one bomb. Casualties were little different from a fire bombing raid but the prospect of those hundreds of B-29s, each armed with the new bomb, broke the Japanese resolve and made peace talks possible. This was a cheap victory in comparison to the alternatives.<br />Jay Deenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-59780464141657746682015-08-06T11:36:56.248-05:002015-08-06T11:36:56.248-05:00My Father spend WWII in Oak Ridge Tennessee; refin...My Father spend WWII in Oak Ridge Tennessee; refining uranium for the Manhattan Project. He never lost a second's sleep over it, and had scant patience for those who do. <br /><br />I gather that the general sentiment in any of the Asian countries the Japanese invaded is that the flaw in the bombing of Japan was we stopped too early. They REALLY despise the Japanese, and for good reason. <br /><br />The Atom Bombing of Japan was no worse than the fire-bombing, and one hell of lot more morally defensible than the rape of Nanking. <br /><br />When you lose a war, bad things happen to you. And when you started it in the first place, and behaved throughout in a manner calculated to enrage your enemies you have very little grounds for complaint.C. S. P. Schofieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18307088118631856756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-15578235118558887232015-08-06T10:38:03.208-05:002015-08-06T10:38:03.208-05:00My uncle was a driver in MacArthur's HQ prepar...My uncle was a driver in MacArthur's HQ preparing for the invasion of Japan. Instead, he went in as part of the occupation force, and took a 9 inch blade through his wrist while walking guard one night (and since the war was over, didn't receive a purple heart). To his dying day, he believed he had survived only because we dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.<br /><br />Back in the late '90's, we (my father, mother, sister, & I) met General Paul Tibbets and his navigator. Colonel Tibbets was the pilot of the Enola Gay. Over 45 years after dropping those bombs, he said that there was no doubt in his mind that dropping them was the right thing to do. That it was necessary, and that doing so saved countless allied and Japanese lives.Brucenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-27401699290587887982015-08-06T10:29:02.376-05:002015-08-06T10:29:02.376-05:00The Japanese people were starving, but the Japanes...The Japanese people were starving, but the Japanese military were preparing for invasion. The Japanese army was looking forward to it, believing that they could stop us on the beaches and capture enough US military for hostages/bargaining chips to end the war on their terms.<br /><br />MacArthur was planning the invasion of Japan, the army had ordered enough Purple Heart medals in preparation that we didn't run out for over 40 years afterwards. Nimitz didn't want to invade, he believed that a blockade and burning the Japanese harvest (inadequate as it was for feeding their people) would induce them to surrender.<br /><br />President Truman chose the bomb over the Nimitz plan, he didn't get along with MacArthur and thought invading Japan would cost us dearly. If those bombs (and the bluff that we had many more to destroy every city in Japan) weren't used, the Japanese would have lost millions to starvation. Even with our best efforts to feed them after the surrender, it was a close thing. I read one rationing bulletin in September 1946 authorizing an increase to 1800 calories from 1500 - a year later, and they were still hungry.<br /><br />So, a hundred thousand lost in two nuclear explosions versus 10-20 million starved to death, and those starved would be overwhelmingly civilian women and children. The Japanese military had made sure they would starve last. Truman made the right choice, IMHO.tweellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08164718561825615886noreply@blogger.com