[misharu]

My Dad was stationed on Okinawa and would most likely have been in the first wave in an invasion. Need I say more?

[adam_az]

"My Dad was stationed on Okinawa and would most likely have been in the first wave in an invasion. Need I say more?"

My fiancees grandfather was a Marine stationed at Pearl Harbor during the attack, and fought through the Pacific campaign... He died before I could meet him, but I doubt he'd be wringing his hands. The Japanese fought very, very brutally and showed no quarter to military OR civillian.

If you want to hear about brutalized civillains, look into what the Japanese did in Korea and China... and how they cannibalized captured Americans, flaying, cooking, and eating their thighs.

It was a disgusting war, and it had to be won at all costs.

[sneakers]

My dad was stationed in the Philippines and he would have gone too. I've talked to several veterans who told me how high of a percentage of casualties were expected. They both said how relieved they were when they heard about the bomb being dropped.

The bomb saved many, many lives.

[A Jovial Cad]

First, allow me to thank your Dad for his service to our country.

My Dad was stationed on Okinawa and would most likely have been in the first wave in an invasion. Need I say more?

Exactly right. My grandfather was in a P-38 squadron in the Pacific during WWII (1943-45). There's been some idle talk in this thread about what the "generals" thought about the "necessity" of using the Atomic bomb on Japan. Men like your Dad and my grandfather--men who were actually going to have to do the fighting and the dying in an invasion of the Japanese mainland--knew better.

Those (very few) of you trying to cast doubt on the "necessity" of dropping the Atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be ashamed of yourselves.