Obama already apologized on behalf of the United States.
Press here didn’t cover it.
Some people.push revisionist history, and tell us Japan was on the verge of surrender. Not sure of their sources in that. But even if true there was no way for us to have known that at the time.
Fewer and fewer people today have first hand knowledge that the japanese were little more than vicious bloodthirsty nazi’s with slanty eyes that deserved every fast neutron and gamma ray that came their way. My family was touched by it firsthand.
They asked for it — and they got it.
It’s not even open to question
And I’m thankful that HST made the decision (although he realistically didn’t have a choice) My Dad likely would have been in that invasion force. Far better the Japanese than him.
Case closed.
I have pictures of the mass graves found in Indonesia. My grandfather told me that you could smell the death and know the Japs had been there and worked the locals to death building their fortifications. Same thing in China. Everywhere they went, death followed in a way similar to the Nazis. The japs were xenophobic and looked down on other Asians, especially with the sweep of communism. It was a weak and pathetic system. The level of barbarism practiced by Japanese soldiers is rarely discussed, but I carry picture proof of it. Those poor souls left to die in the street, not even given burial rights. That alone is an unforgivable sin and shows that anyone not Japanese was lower than a dog.
I have this photo of a tank company rolling into town and you clearly see the bloated corpse of a local just laying in the street. My Grandfather pointed to it and told me this was almost every town the Americans came through. The cleanup of bodies was horrid work, dumping human meat that were once souls into pits because there wasn’t enough time or resources for proper burial.
My father was in the Navy in the South Pacific. If Truman hadn’t dropped the bomb, I might not be here.
Saved a lot of dead people (on both sides) and postwar BS.
By the time Pear Harbor came along, Japan had been at war for 10 years in China.
When they invaded Hong Kong and Singapore the troopers of the Japanese Imperial Army burst into hospitals and simply bayonetted patients right in their beds as they were being cared for.
After the Atomic Bombings in fact there was great celebration in much of Asia.
The American view of warfare in Asia at that general time starts on Dec. 7th and ends with Nagasaki. That is appropriate somehow but that view is skewed.
There are 100 wonderful things about Japan but accurate widespread teaching of Japan’s role in Asia is….so/so. There has been no process of reflection in Japan on her role, as took place in Germany and with things afoot in Asia again, well…such reflection would not now be constructive, probably.
Japan was a terrible enemy, and is still widely hated in Asia for her crimes of WWII.
My uncle survived the Bataan Death March, only to be taken to Japan to work as a slave in their mines. When repatriated, he looked like a Dachau survivor.
Funny to think how much Japan (and Germany) benefited from ‘The Allies’ winning the war: both countries are now thriving democracies. Where would their own people be today if they had won the war? Likely, both Jap and Nazi populations would have been living a somewhat ‘Soviet Era USSR’ type existence.
Fk em
Surrender or face utter destruction.
Like the Paleostinian Arabs in Gaza, they didn't budge and now they whine about casualties. Sorry, had to get that last one in...
NewsMax, 8/05/2014, Hiroshima Anniversary: Rethinking That Day
The article above is worth reading. Some may consider it revisionist history. According to the author, many, many of our top WWII military leaders opposed the atomic bombing of Japan because (1) Japan was clearly defeated by mid-1945 and (2) they opposed the continued bombing of civilians. The author does not paint a good portrait of POTUS #33 HST.
Discovered an interesting passage in James Bradley's 2003 book about American aviation in the Pacific theater during WWII, Flyboys: A True Story of Courage.
The United States Strategic Bombing Survey was a board of nearly 1,000 experts, about a third of whom were civilian, assembled to produce an impartial assessment of the effects of Anglo-American strategic bombing of Nazi Germany during the European theater of WWII. The Board was not associated with any branch of the military, it was established by the U.S. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, and chaired by a civilian, Franklin D'Olier. After publishing its report, the Survey then turned its attention to the efforts against Imperial Japan during the Pacific War, including a separate section on the recent use of the atomic bombs. It concluded with the following comments:
“It seems clear that, even without the atomic bombing attacks, air supremacy over Japan could have exerted sufficient pressure to bring about unconditional surrender and obviate the need for invasion.
Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts, and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey’s opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war; and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated.”
The fact that the Japanese won’t even admit their atrocities is plenty enough for me. They deserved what they got.
“Japan deserved Enola Gay’s visit”.
Just as Iran deserves one right NOW.
“There’s a museum in Tokyo dedicated to Japan’s ample history of warfare. But if you visit the plainly named Military Museum, you’ll find no reference to the grotesque medical experiments the Japanese army conducted in World War II or the sex slaves it kidnapped.”
I doubt you’ll see displays as to how American Air Force POWs were treated too, by the Japs. I saw that display in Dayton at the Air Force Museum 30 years ago and I’m still dealing with it. To gave you a taste, it made the Germans look like a bunch of angels.
If I encounter anyone wringing their hands over the use of the bombs, I tell them to go research Nanking and get back to me.