Trove of photos taken from US aircraft during WWII bombing of SW Japan city released

Mainichi Japan ^ | 7/10/20

[rlmorel]

That torpedo story was astonishing. I had heard of it, but knew none of the detail until I read the book “The Admirals” about Lahey, Halsey, Nimitz, and King.

It is actually pretty funny, but...I guess it wouldn’t have been so funny had the torpedo hit!

Hard to imagine.

I did not hear the “Don’t shoot, we’re all Republicans here.” part before...now THAT is funny!!!!

[rlmorel]

I had never seen them before, either. I didn't really get the surrender ceremony picture right away...I knew it wasn't Tokyo Bay but I was initially puzzled.I didn't have the pictures in context.

The plane on fire image is impressive. What I found astonishing was the number of men who were able to walk away from that.

I had the same impression about the USS JFK-Belknap collision.

I came aboard the Kennedy some months after that happened and had it described to me by the guy who was training me. It was the first night I was aboard a ship after I joined the Navy, and we sat on the edge of the flight deck while the JFK was tied up at Pier 12 the night before we left. ADAN Delgado had been working on the flight deck that night as a plane captain, and he was assigned to "break me in". He told me that he saw a little bouncing red light at just about flight deck level, right from the area we were sitting. He said the red light was bobbing and swaying a bit, and he didn't know what it was. A split second later he felt the ship shudder and saw a huge plume of orange flame shoot into the sky.

The bobbing red light was the mast light of the USS Belknap as she circled in the dark, eventually colliding head on with the overhang of the JFK's flight deck on the port side. He said you could see the superstructure melting, and running in a molten river down the side of the ship into the water.

Now, that was a very vivid description he gave, and it has stuck with me. But I only saw the pictures of the Belknap a few years ago, and it astonishes me that anyone lived through that, but even more so that only 7 men were killed overall (one died on the JFK)

She was a fine looking ship. Not sure how capable she was, but I think her cruiser class has the most beautiful lines of any post WWII cruiser built.

Here is what she looked like the day after:

Anyway, when I saw that image of the Hellcat on fire...you think "How can anyone walk away from that?"

But men do.

[rlmorel]

No...I was a bit puzzled by it too when I first saw it. But it turned out to be a different surrender ceremony further down in the southern parts of Japan.

Glad you liked them. It is one of the things I really like about FR. Just the things people have written on this thread...

I find it both interesting and educational. I have learned a lot on here. We have people who are experts or have knowledge of a boatload of things.

They had a big explosion at a paper plant up here some months back, and I was puzzled because I don’t know much about paper processing. But there was a Freeper who explained it, sent me links (good ones) so that if it comes up in conversation, I know just a little bit about paper processing, enough to follow along and occasionally contribute.

We have military experts. We have energy experts. We have medical experts. We have music experts. We get folks on here from all walks, and I love it. Just love it.

We do get the occasional fraud (There was a famous one a while back I think named “Classy Green Eyed Blonde” or something like that, and it got very strange.)

But most of the time you get a good feel after reading their posts for a while. Always good to examine those things on an ongoing basis.

[sushiman]

These are precious documents communicating the fierceness of the air raids. I want them to deepen people’s thoughts about war,” Takatani said. His network will produce 5,000 leaflets with the photos printed on them, and distribute them to each school in the city of Kumamoto as aids for peace studies.

It’s historical . As it says in the article , up until now there was only 1 photo of the raid .

[sushiman]

Thanks for sharing that photo and your memories .

[dfwgator]

The Japanese often refuse to face up to their role in the war and focus on our efforts to get them to quit.

I used to be bothered by such things. But now I realize, that nothing good comes from it. Why dwell on the past? It only demoralizes people of the modern age who had nothing to do with it. We can see the fruits of this on this country right now.

[Chainmail]

"It’s historical . As it says in the article , up until now there was only 1 photo of the raid ."

Yes. it's historical - but maybe to provide context, the students should also see some of the atrocities committed by Japan during the war too. Those air raids happened for a reason.

[sushiman]

” but maybe to provide context, the students should also see some of the atrocities committed by Japan during the war too. “

Not enough , I know as I agree with you , but :

” Despite the efforts of the nationalist textbook reformers, by the late 1990s the most common Japanese schoolbooks contained references to, for instance, the Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731, and the comfort women of World War II, all historical issues which have faced challenges from ultranationalists in the past. The most recent of the controversial textbooks, the New History Textbook, published in 2000, which significantly downplays Japanese aggression, was shunned by nearly all of Japan’s school districts . “

[Chainmail]

I think that we have to be honest about the things that we did right and the things we did wrong if we are to avoid the sins of the past.

The Japanese people are a wonderful, talented bunch but for a period not long ago, capable of horrific acts. Those horrific acts caused Japan and the US and allies to lose a very large portion of their most capable, courageous, useful men and their genes for future generations.

It was all needless - Japan's Bushido code caused the brutality and viciousness and waste that characterized that war. Unless this generation and those that follow reject that culture, that will ruin any future for Japan.

That article showed to me that some of that sentimentality and skewed perspective for that time is creeping back.

[sushiman]

“That article showed to me that some of that sentimentality and skewed perspective for that time is creeping back. “

Only amongst a few far right Emperor loving wingers ...They are dying out ...Soon to be extinct .

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Some years back, wife and I visited Pearl Harbor to tour the Missouri. A Navy boat took us out to the Arizona after the Big MO.

The boat was filled with Japanese girls. I asked why they wanted to see the wreck and was surprised at the answer, “We wanted to see what our fathers and grandfathers had done. It’s not taught in Japanese schools...”

[Oatka]

“Why did you drop only two?”
Because that is all we had???

Because no one knew that but us. Right after the war, one of our diplomats was talking with his Japanese counterpart and he said they surrendered because they didn't want any more atom bombs dropped on them. Our guy tells him the truth. The Japanese guy says, "If we had known you had only two . . ." and then trailed off. That tells you a lot about their attitude even when down for the count.

Another anecdote I read said that a Japanese General was haranguing his troops with something like this: 'Yes, things look pretty bad now, but if we double our efforts, we can still win." This was AFTER the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

In one of the clip on the surrender ceremony, the tall guy with the top hat and limping, was interviewed about that event. He said that when he looked around at all the different nations represented there, the thought "How in the world did we ever think we would win?"