Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2002 4:37 am
Hi all..I guess it's time to add my 2 cents worth:)
Pasternakski brings up very good points about seeing history thru the eyes of those that lived it. It's hard for us today to imagine that the Japanese could really have threatened the US..especially by conducting a west coast invasion. But the people in those days believed it was a reality. My mom too tells me of what it was like on the west coast during the war and how everyone feared the Japs were gonna attack. This attitude was pretty predominant in the beginning, I'm sure by 44 that the invasion paranoia had passed though. Also, if you look at the pacific war movies that were made during that time, by today's standards, they were very racsist, almost to the point of being comical...but again...that was the prevailing mentality of the time. The "kill or be killed" attitude was the norm.
My dad fought as an infantryman with the 24 ID during the war and was at PH when the Japs bombed it, fought in the latter stages of the N Guinea operation and on into the Philipines and then as occupational forces in Japan till 48. He adored Mac Arthur, according to him, there was nothing that guy couldn't do wrong, and for me to mention otherwise would cause him to roll over in his grave:) He had a very good diary he kept of his days overseas, and it's interesting to see what life was like thru his eyes. He mentions how prisoners were never taken by either side and how no quarter was given or expected during the fighting (We know pow's were taken by both sides at times, but these are his experiences). He goes on to say how on several occasions they came across buddies of theirs that had been hacked to pieces after they had been taken, in one case the front half of their feet cut off and then forced to run thru the jungle, things like this can definitly harden your attitude. His outlook then versus what it was like during the occupation was in sharp contrast to one another. You would almost think it was a different person doing the writing. As I grew up, even though my dad was a very prejudicial person, he never once spoke ill of the Japanese, he had even stated on many occasions how he liked the Japanese people a lot and wished he could go back there. It's pretty obvious that his exposure to the Japanese civilian post war population had changed his outlook compared to his experience during the jungle fighting.
As for dropping the atomic bombs, they were used to stop the war...to try and knock some sense into the Japanese leadership on the folly of continuing the war. Even then it took two of them to do this...fortunately for us, that was all we had at the time, but the Japanese didn't know that. Sure they were intended to kill people...but war kills people..and the bombs were but a tool to accomplish that task. But in the bigger picture, it was a political statement to stop the war now or face complete destruction. Heck, the fire bombings caused many more casualties than the Atomic bombs ever did, and the Japanese were determined to continue the war despite this. The psychological effect of a single weapon doing so much damage stopped the war and saved probably millions of casualties that an invasion would have caused.
Ok...so you got a nickel's worth:)
Andy
Pasternakski brings up very good points about seeing history thru the eyes of those that lived it. It's hard for us today to imagine that the Japanese could really have threatened the US..especially by conducting a west coast invasion. But the people in those days believed it was a reality. My mom too tells me of what it was like on the west coast during the war and how everyone feared the Japs were gonna attack. This attitude was pretty predominant in the beginning, I'm sure by 44 that the invasion paranoia had passed though. Also, if you look at the pacific war movies that were made during that time, by today's standards, they were very racsist, almost to the point of being comical...but again...that was the prevailing mentality of the time. The "kill or be killed" attitude was the norm.
My dad fought as an infantryman with the 24 ID during the war and was at PH when the Japs bombed it, fought in the latter stages of the N Guinea operation and on into the Philipines and then as occupational forces in Japan till 48. He adored Mac Arthur, according to him, there was nothing that guy couldn't do wrong, and for me to mention otherwise would cause him to roll over in his grave:) He had a very good diary he kept of his days overseas, and it's interesting to see what life was like thru his eyes. He mentions how prisoners were never taken by either side and how no quarter was given or expected during the fighting (We know pow's were taken by both sides at times, but these are his experiences). He goes on to say how on several occasions they came across buddies of theirs that had been hacked to pieces after they had been taken, in one case the front half of their feet cut off and then forced to run thru the jungle, things like this can definitly harden your attitude. His outlook then versus what it was like during the occupation was in sharp contrast to one another. You would almost think it was a different person doing the writing. As I grew up, even though my dad was a very prejudicial person, he never once spoke ill of the Japanese, he had even stated on many occasions how he liked the Japanese people a lot and wished he could go back there. It's pretty obvious that his exposure to the Japanese civilian post war population had changed his outlook compared to his experience during the jungle fighting.
As for dropping the atomic bombs, they were used to stop the war...to try and knock some sense into the Japanese leadership on the folly of continuing the war. Even then it took two of them to do this...fortunately for us, that was all we had at the time, but the Japanese didn't know that. Sure they were intended to kill people...but war kills people..and the bombs were but a tool to accomplish that task. But in the bigger picture, it was a political statement to stop the war now or face complete destruction. Heck, the fire bombings caused many more casualties than the Atomic bombs ever did, and the Japanese were determined to continue the war despite this. The psychological effect of a single weapon doing so much damage stopped the war and saved probably millions of casualties that an invasion would have caused.
Ok...so you got a nickel's worth:)
Andy