Have you ever been to a foreign military museum?

CPT Jack Durish - This new version of history terrifies me. People act as though by saying that a nation committed an atrocity 75 years ago that they are still bad people. Germany has overreacted by attempting to scrub the evidence of the Holocaust for the most part, and the Swastika is ordered removed from any military uniforms in the country. I somewhat understand the intent there, but preservation of history is still a critical role towards preventing it's repetition.

Japan still denies it's roles in the Nanking Massacre, despite numerous Japanese newspaper publishings proudly declaring killing contests and extensively documenting the horrors that underwent the Chinese populous. Furthermore, they continue to maintain the "right" on the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, among other things.

Was the nuclear bomb horrible? Absolutely. It's a devastating weapon that killed more than 175,000 in the two blasts and created cancers and birth defects in an unknown percentage beyond that. However, is that more humane than the fire-bombing of Tokyo and Dresden? Both of those killed more people, and often it was a far more gruesome death.

Additionally, why should American lives be sacrificed to prevent killing the enemy?? They didn't have guided bombs, they didn't have the ability to infiltrate and destroy communications from within as effectively. Elderly, women, and children were all being taught it was their duty to protect their homes from an American invader. Some question the casualty rate of 1,000,000 in the initial raid, but even if it was 1/4 of that killed then that is 250,000 Americans killed to prevent the death of 175,000 Japanese that could have potentially been used against us in an invasion. This Western concept of "there are non-combatants" has no place in Japanese society, and I dislike how people choose to question the motives of the attack rather than learning about their adversary.

This is a lazy way to study history. Understand that Japanese people lived under a warrior based caste system that valued individual sacrifices for the common good could have helped understand the motives for the use of the A-Bomb. You don't have to demonize the enemy to justify your own values, as there were good Japanese as well. One of the ones that I remember and respect is Saburo Sakai. He did his duty, but did it honorably (in accordance with the Samurai Code) and after the war he was a leading proponent in the restoration of Japanese-American relations. Sakai even sent his daughter to the United States, wanting her to learn from an American university. There are so many quality things that can be gleaned from history....and people need to start looking at it without their polarized, rose-colored glasses....
v/r,
CPT Butler

My wife and I hosted a Japanese exchange student for 1 year for his Jr year abroad and he returned for 2 more years of college. When he saw the video, Pearl Harbor on our shelf he asked to watch it and really seemed to enjoy the whole movie. Then, it hit me. His parents were born years after the event and of course, he was even further removed. They didn't witness any of the bombing of their country and of course neither were they conscious of how their military fought against us. Having lived in Japan from 1951 to 1959 I could see the evidence of our bombings and I got to know people who had family killed. But, it appeared to me that they mostly felt they didn't have a choice but to follow what they were told to do. When someone went into the military, their family had a funeral for them as they weren't expected to return unless they were the victors. I'm not in any agreement with that mentality but it helps to understand how those in the military did what they did, including crashing their planes into our ships.

I visited the Peace Memorial Park at Itoman Okinawa once and it was also very sobering. I thought it was very nice that they had names of American servicemen and Japanese servicemen on both sides of the memorial. It is very sad to think about the thousands of lives that were lost on that island. So many were killed, but I think the efforts taken to honor their memory are very much appreciates.

Speaking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I also got to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and museum. Seeing all the personal items (the seared and melted tricycle, melted glass cups, and the stopped pocketwatch) really brought home the humanity of the lives lost. Some people were literally turned into carbon with the only thing remaining being a permanent "atomic shadow" seared into the concrete next to where they stood. You could really feel the spirits lingering. It was definitely tragic, but I also understood the necessity of it. It is important that we remember these things.

seen the smaller version in Tinian...we were there evaluating Pacific Guard units and I took a vehicle out to check out (tourist) the island.

It was the only place I ever met older Japanese who weren't polite but simply cold & distant. Their local guide w/them said they'd had relatives die there during the US assault and had come to see the place.

Also found bunkers w/sake and plates laid out, a Guardsman told me that was offerings to the Japanese dead.

That sounds like an amazing and humbling experience SSgt Randy Saulsberry. I'm sure it was quite an honor to be there.

that is a grand story indeed!