To: gunnyg
I just returned from the cemetery where I helped my American Legion Post to place flags at the graves of U.S. veterans. Many of these soldiers served in the Pacific Theatre of Operations in World War II. In other words, they were killed by the Japanese. Henderson Field has already been paid for, by these gallant men, men better than the Japanese, who now come with their whitewash to eradicate their own disgraceful past. The Japanese have been in a state of denial about their own behavior during the war and this is evidence that nothing has changed. That's the moral side of it. Now as to the business side of it, changing the name of Henderson Field will not increase tourism, it will decrease tourism by reducing the strength of character of the attraction, and making cultural mush out of it. This is said from the standpoint of one who spent many years in tourism marketing and advertising with accomplishments far beyond those of the amateur promoters who think than by taking money from the Japanese PR machine they can somehow improve the tourist experience, as if that is important in the total scheme of things, at a place that should forever remain in memory.
To: henderson field
My wife's dad (my father-in-law) fought there as a marine aviator. He's having his 80th birthday party this summer. I'm almost afraid to tell him about this...it might cause his already frail heath to worsen.
25 posted on
05/24/2003 4:08:39 PM PDT by
ExSoldier
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