Posted on 05/13/2008 3:29:38 PM PDT by Dubya
The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that a small team of Japanese and U.S. specialists is visiting Attu Island, Alaska, in search of burial locations of the Japanese soldiers who are still missing from a 1943 World War II battle there.
The Department of Defense, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are supporting a team of three Japanese and 11 Americans. The team departed from Kodiak today via a C-130 on a flight to the U.S. Coast Guard Station on Attu Island. Some engineering equipment will be flown to Eareckson AFS on a U.S. Air Force C-17 and from there, the Coast Guard will move the equipment via C-130 to Attu Island.
The team's work on Attu Island will be supported by Army engineers from Ft. Richardson, Alaska, who will also employ ground-penetrating radar to help locate remains and guard against unexploded ordnance.
While visiting the island, the team is being housed at the long range navigation station and will be supported by the U.S. Coast Guard garrison. Attu Island is under the management and protection of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which administers the Aleutian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. At the end of Alaska's Aleutian island chain, Attu is the westernmost point of land of the United States.
In June 1942, a unit of the Japanese Army occupied Attu, capturing and imprisoning many of its inhabitants. U.S. forces began action to recapture the small island in May 1943, where fierce hand-to-hand battles led to about 540 American and 2,300 Japanese deaths. It was the site of the only land battle in WWII in North America.
In 1953, 235 sets of Japanese remains were recovered on Attu and reburied at Ft. Richardson, near Anchorage, Alaska. The Japanese later disinterred those remains, cremated them as part of a religious ceremony and reburied them at the same location.
The Japanese government assisted U.S. investigators in June 2007 in a visit to Iwo Jima in search of information related to American WWII MIAs. This 14-day deployment to Attu Island follows a similar four-day investigation there in July 2007.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.
One of the least known campaigns of WWII.
Thanks for the post. I have learned something new today. I hope they locate their MIA and have the opportunity to give them proper ceremonies.
Ping.
I understand your anger, and response, but after a while, maybe it's time to lay it down and respect the dead on both sides.
No one in the current government of Japan is responsible for the war.
We whipped them, nuked them, it is over. Being a good winner is as important as being a good loser. We won. We don't need an apology.
/johnny
This is a honorable effort, I think it should be applauded and encouraged.
“When is one to let go of a war and let it become history ....”
It always seems to be a one-way street, and not in our favor. Americans will probably never hear the end of our “war crimes” of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, including among the Japanese.
Three questions.
(1) are you white or of any european extraction?
(2) are you willing to apologize for your families involvement in slavery of africans in America?
(3) after apologizing, are you willing to pay reparations for your involvement in slavery of africans in America?
If the answer to either question two or three is no, what makes you any different than those of Japanese who have been born since WW2?
If you are going to condemn Japan of 2008 for what their fathers did, then aren’t you also culpable for what yours have done?
And one of the most miserable. Glad I wasn’t there.
Sticks and stones are very different things than words.
My rule is to ignore the talkers, and kill the fighters.
/johnny
The difference is some of the victims of the Japanese are still alive.
Your analogy will work in 20 years.
And who do we prosecute for the American commanding officer who decided NOT to issue winter-issue gear to the troops. Some of those guys froze to death in their foxholes, many while trying to burn their rifle stocks to keep warm.
It was a criminal act to withhold those uniforms.
Would you direct your anger at that guy?
Attu is about the end of the Aleutian chain and halfway to nowhere.
As I see it, if you’re demanding the Japanese government apologize for actions they had no hand in, you’re making them responsible.
If you can place responsibility on someone who never raised a hand in support of these atrocities, then you had better be willing to make yourself responsible for anything that might have happened in the past because of something your ancestors might have done.
Those few remaining WW2 vets who are still alive in Japan may or may not have had a hand in the evil visited on the victims of the Japanese emperor, but holding those born since and running the country responsible for their actions is wrong.
(1) are you white or of any european extraction? Actually, I'm a black albino transgendered Hermaphrodite. Unless you're lesbian quadriplegic, I've got you trumped!
(2) are you willing to apologize for your families involvement in slavery of africans in America? That's not funny, Doctor, I WAS a slave!
(3) after apologizing, are you willing to pay reparations for your involvement in slavery of africans in America? See #2: when can I expect my check from you?
If the answer to either question two or three is no, what makes you any different than those of Japanese who have been born since WW2? Well, because the Japanese today think they were the victims of WWII, and no-one in that God-forsaken country has the balls to set the record straight.
If you are going to condemn Japan of 2008 for what their fathers did, then aren’t you also culpable for what yours have done? Now, if you had compared me to Germany, I would have granted the case: The Germans have bent over backward since the war to make sure it never happens again; the Japanese have cried victim. Why do I get the sense most of the posters on this thread are of Japanese origin?
My color is pasty, fish-belly white.
/johnny
We need a bridge.
The problem is that the people alive today think they are victims of Western aggression--If you've ever experienced the annual Hiroshima cry-fest over there you would know this. And furthermore, there are still a few American and British people alive today who experienced this brutality first-hand. You know what? The Japanese still haven't apologized to them. We're not talking about the civil way here. My father lived through this crap, and a lot of the Japanese that did these warcrimes are still alive. So don't lecture me about forgiving and forgetting.
Well, keep the old hate alive if that’s your choice.
When you die you can go to your grave knowing that you allowed those who committed the atrocities during WW2 to exercise control over your heart and mind from decades long past.
I would prefer to give no one that much power over me, especially people I have never met and who don’t even know I’m alive.
Feel as you will, but it’s a poor choice to hold a grudge over something that happened almost 70 years ago.
I watched a program on the History Channel about this a while back. It was titled “Save Our History: Alaska’s Bloodiest Battle,” and hosted by Steve Thomas of This Old House. The program focused on WWII in the Aleutian Islands, and I believe one part focused on Attu. Along with Steve were a few WWII vets who had fought hand-to-hand combat with the Japs. It was an excellent program, and is offered in DVD format through the History Channel, A&E, and the Biography Channel.
Not so fast, Doc. You presumed to query me regarding three totally juvenile questions that were apparently meant to strike fear into my heathen, biased and hateful heart. However, I fear your own meager span of “goodness” in terms of perspective (what else can I call it, given your simple responses to my queries), leads me to believe it is you, friend, who arches your back at Imagined slights and “un-politic” perspectives. As I have mentioned several times, my main objections to “honoring” this initiative is the fact that the Japanese government has not apologized for, and in fact still denies, the country’s horrid actions during WWII. When they, as the Germany have done, do, I will be among the first to note it. But to call me and people like me bitter, old souls who love only hateful things. Then, I can only say, thank God such people were there to make sure we do not now live in World where Japanese and German tend to be languages tend to high school electives.
Odd place Attu.
A giant UXO dump - dangerous to wander about.
Also - head due South from Attu and you will find
New Zealand.
Japan will never admit it committed any warcrimes, the japanese government will brush that issue under the rug and will not address it. Not too long ago, the japanese government and some publishers were in a big fit, and it was about japanese people that jumped off cliffs when the “americans” arrived on the japanese islands and we have all seen the videos and pictures of the women doing that. Yet on person/group, I forgot which but I want to say some okinawan group wanted the history text to include that the japanese army/government propaganda urged the civilians to committ suicide. Then during golden week I had a trip down to Kagoshima, and I visited a freaking kamikaze museum that to me glorified what these pilots did. I think it was called in english “Special Attack Peace Hall.” I mean, what the hell are these people thinking? Oh the museum conveniently forgot about the japanese aggression... And when its the anniversary for the hiroshima/nagasaki bombings, it is nothing but how the japanese were victims. Children are not taught anything in this country, unless it uses the victim card and how the US nuked japan, dont forget that the japanese will always cry “we were nuked!”
I have seen the nuke cry fest and its disgusting. The US is labeled the aggressor. I hear rubbish like but who is the only nation to ever use nuclear weapons(cue Euros,muslims,chicoms,russians,and other assorted anti-US curmudgeons)! Uh hello imbecile our homeland was attacked and we saved more US and Japanese live with the 2 nukes that if we invaded by land and killed them wholesale. Revisionist history imbeciles.
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