Posted on 08/06/2011 4:13:19 PM PDT by Shalmaneser
“After Biak the enemy withdrew to deep caverns.
Rooting them out became a bloody business which reached its
ultimate horrors in the last months of the war.
You think of the lives which would have been lost in an invasion of Japan’s home islands
– a staggering number of Americans but millions more of Japanese..."
(Excerpt) Read more at brucelewis.com ...
"You think of the lives which would have been lost in an invasion of Japan’s home islands – a staggering number of Americans but millions more of Japanese..."
That about sums it up.The one thing worse than dropping the bomb would have been not dropping it.
Anyone who thinks dropping the bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were war crimes are fools. While usage of such terrible weapons were horrible they were necessary. The Japanese militarists would have sacrificed untold millions of their own people in furtherance of their war aims. The numbers of US dead would have been equally catastrophic.
wow, i’ve never seen that photo.
The flash was so intense it burned shadows onto the surfaces they fell on.
The hands on clock faces were welded frozen.
Hiroshima, we did it once, we can do it again.
Japan’s Longest Day: there was an actual firefight on the grounds of the Imperial Palance, in an effort to head-off a broadcast of the Emperor’s Voice announcing the end of the war.
Some Japanese planes did attack US ones even after the surrender.
Were it not for the broadcast they SURELY would have fought on. The surrender had much more to do with RUSSIA than the atomic bombs —the Japanese knew the Russians would never agree to permitting the Emperor system to remain in place.
Moral of the story: Don’t start a war with the United States, especially with a surprise attack. My late father was one of the millions of soldiers, sailors and Marines almost certainly saved by those two explosions. He was on Okinawa, ready to take part in the attack on the main islands of Japan. Today, we’d probably apologize to a country that attacked us.
We apologize to Muzzies everyday.
There are many of us who would not be here if Japan had been invaded. Thank your lucky stars we had leadership at the time smart enough to understand.
Anyone that says that likely had a grandfather that would have been in the first or second wave of a mainland invasion.
One fanatical Japanese solider could have wipe them from the timeline.
For anyone with half a brain watch "World at War" it was made in the 70s and shows Nazis shooting civilians at random. 20 million Russians murdered. Bataan Death March anyone? Rape of Nanking?
Read the tagline folks, liberalism is a mental disorder!!!
Every time I think about it, I thank God President Truman made the decision that he made. I doubt that I'd be here if he had not.
Let me try that again
“Some Japanese planes did attack US ones even after the surrender.”
I remember when Japanese soldiers were found on islands in the early ‘50s. The last one surrendered in 1974
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_holdout
Here's a few "fools" who thought it was a mistake or worse:
Douglass MacArthur
Dwight Eisenhour
Curtis LeMay
Admiral Leahy
Chester Nimitz
"Bull" Halsey
Admiral Byrd
Admiral Strauss
Gen. Claire Chennault
Hap Arnold
General George Kenney
Averill Harriman
Herbert Hoover
Also, virtually all conservatives before the neocon takeover in the 80's. Bunch of lefties!!!!! /sarc
Russia continued to fight and conquer Japanese forces
even after the surrender.
If we didn’t drop this bomb, I would probably never had been born. My dad ran General Douglas MacArthurs bar in Tokyo, rather than being killed on Japans beaches in 1946.
Many do not know if this is good or bad, me being born, that is. lol
My dad had the best job in the service, he has always contended. He has always been real happy with the whole bombing thing.
You want no more Hiroshimas? Ok then, no more Pearl Harbors. Back back is a bitch, ain’t it?
My dad was on Okinawa waiting to deploy for the invasion. He was on an LSM (Landing Ship Medium). Their job was to ferry troops to the beach. Life expectancy? Very brief. Except for Truman’s decision, like you I might not be around today.
Can you please give us your source for this? Thanks.
Should be AFGANASTAN 2011!
If you are going to make scattershot representations on behalf of the dead, it behooves you to cite a little more evidence than a list of names. Even isolated statements taken out of context are better than merely assigning an opinion you favor to a respected historical figure.
Hiroshima today - contrast this with most American cities.
My dad was in the Navy on the USS Saratoga. He told me they were preparing them to invade Japan and that a high percentage would not be coming home. Then the bomb dropped, Japan surrendered and the USS Saratoga became troop transport.
War is hell. If we go to war, we go in to win at all costs and as quickly as possible.
“You think of the lives which would have been lost in an invasion of Japan’s home islands – a staggering number of Americans but millions more of Japanese...”
That about sums it up.The one thing worse than dropping the bomb would have been not dropping it.”
Agreed 100%
My dad was also on Okinawa with the 319th BG already flying missions over Japan and this was following a full tour in the ETO. The loss and extreme suffering experienced by Soldiers and Marines against the fanatical Japanese convinced them all that invading Japan would have been a nightmare of death. When I was an enlisted Marine I had the chance to talk with some of the Marines who fought their way across Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and on other islands and they all were convinced that the bombs ended the war and saved a large part of their generation.
Fewer were killed with the two bombs than in the Rape of Nanking or in the firebombings of Japanese cities. Which is worse, the low-ball estimated loss of a million+ on both sides or the few hundred thousand lost in the bombings?
They were warned by the planner of the Pearl Harbor attack that it was a mistake to attack the U.S. but they didn’t listen and they suffered the consequences.
Thanks!!!!!!!!
Definitely not a fan of the ADL, but if I quoted a sleazy or bogus site, please don’t hold it against me. Thanks for the heads up!
Fresh Wind (#29), in the link that Forgotten Amendments (#26) provided, this first sentence contains utter and absolute LIES. First, the United States dropped leaflets on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki days before the A-bombs, warning the residents of bombs that would destroy their cities. Second, the precedent of Curtis LeMay's firebombing raids on many Japanese cities was proof that the U.S. could and would destroy a city. As a result, this site is simply untrustworthy without spending a lot more time wading through to separate any facts from lies, sophistry, and half-truths.
I also would also be cautious about trusting any sites provide by the person who talks about "Truman revisionism."
***Douglass MacArthur
Dwight Eisenhour
Curtis LeMay****
They might have had a different opinion if they knew THEY were going to be in the first landing craft to hit Japan’s shores.
My dad served with Patton in Europe. He almost got Patton’s war with the Russians started.
He was sent back to the US to train for the invasion of Japan.
When Germany became toast, Japan was immediately charcoal.
My grandfather was there. On the Hancock. It’s been great going through his war journal during the last days of the war.
And a democrat president who made that decision, yet.
My dad was a radioman Marine who trained on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. He was on an invasion troop ship steaming to Japan when the bombs dropped. Instead of invading, he became part of the occupation force. My Mom’s wedding dress was made from a silk parachute for their 1947 wedding. Both gone now and I miss them terribly. Thank God for the bombs.
I have interviewed dozens of WWII vets who served in the Pacific Theater and each one of them, without fail, has indicated that had the atomic bombs NOT been dropped they would not be there then to talk about their life experiences in the war. They knew the Japanese military and society were capable of tremendous levels of self-sacrifice (i.e sepuku whilst taking out an American GI) for the Emperor. They thanked the Air Force for dropping the bomb and for the Japanese for finally coming to their senses.
don’t forget about the 100,000’s of American, British, Australian POW’s never mind innocent Chinese families that were dying yearly as they were worked to death as slave labor across indochina, burma, siam, nanking, etc....
What is your source for the list?
they actually made two copies of the recording by hiroheto announcing surrender- they had to hide the recordings overnight as they tried to assassinate the emperor’s keeper who had hid the recordings for safe measure so they could be broadcast the following day....forget about the fact jap planes attacked the next day- japs butchered 100’s of American POW’s held in camps in anger when they got word of the surrender...the Russians were more concerned about total surrender by japan then the emperor, which is why they would’ve massacred the Japs- they wanted the Japs out of what would soon be communist controlled Chinese territory...
if Jap atrocities were broadcast the way nazi atrocities are still broadcast today, Japan would be a third world country...
“The last one surrendered in 1974”
I recall seeing that reported on the evening news when it happened.
Demanding little creatures.
Harry Truman - probably the last, truly, citizen President.
Thank you for that courageous post.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
