Only leftists lack the native intelligence and common sense to understand the realities.
I remember many of the stories of his time spent in the Pacific, although most were humourous.
What sacrifices our folks made. I know most would be willing to do the same today if it came down to it.
Scrap metal drives
Then there were the sand buckets in the attic! With instructions for the proper handling of incendiary bombs.
Ration books for almost everything at the grocery store.
Victory gardens. Vegetables everywhere. And after they ripened, canning at home.
Never forget the day that Mrs. Martin, my 3rd grade teacher showed us her husbands Purple Heart.
Geography lessons in the newspaper & radio as the American troops advanced through the Pacific & Europe. (Tunisia, Sicily, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pelieu, Iwo Jima and the list goes on.)
We knew that we were winning the war, not only because the newspapers reported it, BUT because we saw the German POW's working in the fields in central Michigan. When they were being transported to & from work, they rode in trucks guarded by MP's. But they also smiled and waved whenever they saw children in passing cars.
Many "hardships" but compared to other children, we lived in PARADISE. A paradise bought & paid for with the blood of American fighting men.
Especially the Japanese. The A-bombs saved at least a million lives, the vast majority of them Japanese.
Remember the scene in "Saving Private Ryan" where they make "sticky bombs" by putting explosives in their socks and coating them with tar so they can stick them on a tank? Japan had plans like that. Except instead of socks, they were going to use their children. There was a massive nationwide effort to train the civilian population in kamikaze tactics to resist invasion.
Based on everything I've learned and read, the invasion of Japan likely would have been the bloodiest, most brutal campaign in at least the last 300 years of warfare. No quarter asked, none given, and the Allies would have no choice but to kill anything that moves. Iwo Jima, Okinawa, those were bad enough --- just imagine how fiercely they would have defended the home islands.
I don’t buy Japanese anything — I’m stilled miffed about the Bataan Death March.