[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)

[GregoTX]

Sure is nice seeing newspapers that have no mention of obama

[tet68]

Interesting article about the Suicide bomb plant.
The mention of a flying wing prototype is first
I’ve heard.

Okha (Cherry Blossom) or Bakka (fool) rocket gliders were the development of the suicide planes.

[The KG9 Kid]

Harold Stassen oughtta run for President.

[Radio Free Tuscaloosa]

I have really enjoyed reading these through the last couple of years. It’s been very educational.

Since we’re celebrating the 100th anniversary of The Great War, what are the chances that we could see newspapers from that era? (not meaning to sound greedy)

Thank you again for this.

[Dagnabitt]

This original source, contemporaneous reporting is great. Thanks for doing all this work.

[chajin]

There are a hundred messages I could post, and I wish we could just hang around for another month or so, not making HJS post any more, just tying up all the loose ends of things in the papers. I'm going to stick to two, because I have about 12 minutes before going back to work after the late lunch.

The first is on #12, about the surrender of the remaining Bonins, the islands including Iwo. Their head was Lt. Gen. Yoshio Tachibana, who was an evil bastard among evil bastards. Among other things, he had two Americans prisoners executed, flayed, and eaten, for which he was eventually hanged as a war criminal; cf here. But for me, that's not all...he grew up in Ehime Prefecture, meaning the Imabari/Matsuyama area of Shikoku where I worked in '97 and visited a number of times since, with Imabari being the sister city of nearby Lakeland, FL. Tachibana is a common name in Imabari (there are a few others, such as Yano), and the Tachibanas are an extended family-clan of sorts. One of the men who was instrumental in bringing together the Lakeland/Imabari sister city connection was a Mr. Tachibana, who was born in the 1920s and was in his 70s when I knew him. Look at any picture of Yoshio Tachibana, and the Tachibana-san I knew was the spitting image of the evil bastard Lt. Gen. I have no doubt they were related; my Mr. T may very well have been his nephew. That is how strange Japanese relationships are.

The second is on #3, about the baka bomb factory on Yokosuka NB. Further down, it talked about the tunnels that were excavated for the sake of factory production underground if necessary. When I was in Yokosuka in the late 60s, the tunnels were still there, an object of exploration for Boy Scouts (I was Senior Patrol Leader of Troup 33 for my first year there, before getting Eagle and forming the Explorer post I mentioned a few days ago), and also for those wishing to engage in teenage illicit activities--and it was quite possible to get lost inside the tunnels, it happened to a few people while I was there.

[central_va]

Thank you Homer!

[Leto]

It will be strange when the series ends, for 6 years this has been the first article I would look for on FR.

So while a lot of us didn’t post a lot we were here every day.