Subj : Re: WWII
To   : JOE MACKEY
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Sat Dec 19 2020 12:04:00

Joe,


 JM>   Have they apologized to China?  To Korea?  To Vietnam?  To Thailand?
 JM> And a few other places here and there?

  I don't think so. And, that's the same for most (if not all) the
tyrannical and despotic countries.

 JM>   Japan was ready to fight to the last man, woman and child.  Can you
 JM> imagine the bloodbath (on both sides) if we didn't have the bomb?

  I shudder to think. That was the consensus, and the war would've
likely dragged on for much longer. 

  After the first bomb was dropped, the pilot of the Enola Gay aircraft
lamented "My God!! What have we done??!!".

  After the second bomb was dropped, the Japanese realized they were 
helpless. Many of the soldiers committed suicide by hari-kiri (sp?)
(disemboweling themselves), as they felt it was better than the 
disgrace of surrender. 

 JM>   If we hadn't used it the same people bemoaning we did would probably
 JM> complain we had it and didn't use it.

  Probably so. I think that's why President Truman decided to use it,
as it likely would've cost a ton more lives on both sides.

 JM>   When they were dropped the Japanese Army didn't see them as anything
 JM> different from other bombs, other than being bigger ones.  The generals
 JM> wanted the war to continue, thinking we only had two, which is a fact,
 JM> but a third was being built.

  That I did not know.

 JM>    Yep, he was a pilot and shot down.  He was rescued after a while in
 JM> the water.

  When I'm out, I wear my ham radio cap with my callsign and name on it,
plus a COVID-19 mask...both which have "the American Flag look". Folks
have thought I was a veteran, but I tell them that "I never would've
passed the physical...due to poor eyesight, buck teeth, and severe
trouble with my feet". 

  It reminds me of the joke where the guy goes to apply for disability,
and after hearing the meager amount he'd get (it is that), his wife
angrily said "you should've dropped your pants to them, and you would
have gotten more money". <G>

 JM>    I had a brother (from my fathers first marriage) who died at
 JM> Guadalcanal in January, 1945.  He was on a supply ship loaded down with
 JM> ammo that blew up in the harbour.  (We had already taken Guadalcanal
 JM> and it was being used as a staging area).  There were

  I don't remember how many ships my late father served on. Some names I
do recall were the Nimitz, the Amberjack, and the Barracuda.

Daryl

.... Floggings will continue until morale improves.
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