[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles and the occasional radio broadcast delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Also visit our general discussion thread.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941: Areas under Allied and Japanese Control, 15 August 1945
The Western Pacific: Japanese Homeland Dispositions August 1945 and Allied Plans for the Invasion of Japan (Operation Downfall)

[Demiurge2]

I’m sure going to miss these come Sept. 2.

[PeterPrinciple]

Forrestal to Urge Craft (Big E) Be Kept as National Symbol

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http://www.cv6.org/1946/scrap/announce.htm

This is why, late in 1945, former Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal wrote to the President recommending the preservation of the Enterprise “as a visible symbol of American valor...”. I am sure this still expresses the wish of the Navy. Every effort was made to donate the Enterprise for preservation, first to the State of New York and then to any city willing to undertake the project. New Orleans, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle were offered the ship but all declined and advised the Navy that the high annual maintenance cost, then estimated at $125,000.00, precluded such a transaction. Therefore, in November 1948, Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan recommended to the President that the plan to dispose of the Enterprise as a national relic be discontinued and that she be assigned to the Reserve Fleet, thus culminating almost three years of attempts by the Navy to find suitable sponsorship for the Enterprise.

[chajin]

It says on #2 that MacArthur was to set up his HQ in Hayama, which was a big surprise to me, since I lived in Hayama for three years and never heard a peep about MacArthur being there. Turned out he set up his HQ at the Dai-Ichi Insurance building in Tokyo, in part because it happened to be standing unlike most buildings in Tokyo, and in part because his office looked right across the moat into the Imperial Palace. The only reason MacArthur would have wanted to set up in Hayama is that the Emperor’s summer palace is there, right on Sagami Bay; it would have been a way of establishing MacArthur as the Emperor’s equal, but my guess is that he figured out very quickly that setting up in Hayama would have detached him from the work that was necessary in Tokyo.

P.S. I lived in Hayama from 1967-70; I used to catch the high school bus at the entrance to the summer palace. When the emperor wasn’t there, the gates were shut and there were no guards, but when he was there, the gates would be open, but there would be guards, who didn’t look any different from police officers. The palace was arson-ed the year after I left, and instead of rebuilding the whole thing, most of the grounds were turned into a public park, with a small portion having a one-story retreat built for the Imperial family.

[Larry Lucido]

Not apropos of anything in particular, I happened upon this episode of Popeye just now:

Popeye The Sailor 113 - Scrap the Japs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCFZ6nh9djY