Posted on 08/15/2005 4:07:12 PM PDT by 4.1O dana super trac pak
THE Japanese were a "cruel enemy" in World War II, Prime Minister John Howard said today at a ceremony marking Tokyo's surrender 60 years ago.
Without naming Japan, Howard said 20,000 Australians were captured in the space of a few weeks in 1942 – a reference to the sweep through South-East Asia by Japanese forces and the fall of Singapore in February. The Australians "passed into captivity only to endure years of forced labour, starvation and brutality at the hands of a cruel enemy," Mr Howard said at a ceremony at the war memorial in Canberra.
"Our prisoners of war came face to face with barbarity of a kind that younger generations can scarcely imagine," he said.
Japanese ambassador Hideaki Ueda was present at the ceremony and later laid a wreath at the memorial, along with representatives of 20 allied nations that fought the Japanese in the Pacific.
Describing the conflict as "a good and just war fought not for conquest but for liberty", Mr Howard also said Australian troops were the first to defeat the Japanese army in a land battle.
"It was Australian soldiers on Papua (New Guinea) who checked and turned back a Japanese army that till then had known only victory," he said.
Australia, which had a population of just seven million in 1939, "put a million men and women in uniform", Mr Howard said.
"Freedom's torch was preserved not just here in Australia, but in the Pacific and in Europe this was a war of liberation which in a real sense liberated the people of our once bitter enemies."
The "generation of heroes became architects of stable and prosperous modern Australia which included reconciliation with former enemies"," he said.
Earlier, the Prime Minister told national radio that he was pleased with the strength of relations between Australia and Japan, which is one of its biggest trading partners.
"It is possible to be both positive about the relationship but also to be frank about what happened," he said.
Guts and pride. . .gotta like Howard for his comments and lack of PC.
Saw the Great Raid over the weekend. Mostly seniors in the audience, several with tears in their eyes. The movie was based on fact and was a good docudrama. Recommended. We (USA) caught many, but not all of the Japanese POW camp commanders. After a trial they were hung. 37% of the prisoners held by the Japanese Imperial Army died in captivity compared to 4% held by the Germans.
I always felt that Autralians and Americans were kindred spirits, must be that frontier spirit in both nations. I read once that the French and British had a complaint against both the yanks and the Aussies during WWI that we were too eager to get at the Germans with cold steel.
God bless the Aussies.
I've heard the same from my dad, who was there.
He trusted Aussies.
Good advice. That was then and this is now. I admire the Japanese culture and wish that America was more like them regarding respect for tradition and civility.
Three Americans crash landed in this rural Kumamoto town I live in , and were sent to Fukuoka where hideous medical experiments were conducted on them . I had a long talk with a local man who was in the Japanese army at that time , and he was captured by the U.S. while on a life raft at sea . His life was spared by the intervention of a kindhearted navy man who stopped a fellow from shooting this Japanese guy when he was still in the raft . The man and the Japanese guy eventually became lifelong friends , and visited each others' countries several times to meet .
Sometimes it is good to put it into perspective.
In my readings over the years, I came across the reason that the Aussies and the Americans became close friends. In WWII the Aussies were in a dreadfully precarious position. They expected to be helped and protected by the British. Alas, the British were either sunk or captured themselves. The Aussies looked in wonder and gratefulness at a nation, The United States, that had its young men going toe to toe with Japan. Australia was in danger of being invaded and then came "The Battle of Coral Sea." The United States prevented the Japanese invasion of Australia, and the friendship between Australia and the Unites States has been solid even since.
Japan * ping * (kono risuto ni hairitai ka detai wo shirasete kudasai : let me know if you want on or off this list)
"That was then and this is now."
Not quite. The Japanese, unlike the Germans, have a huge problem apologizing. In addition, their cruelty in WW II, unlike the Germans', isn't well enough known.
Kudos to John Howard for daring to speak honestly about the Japanese record.
"really haven't faced up to that part of their past."
Is that such a small thing? To me it's a big thing.
Just about every country in Asia has a problem facing up to their own darker historical chapters; "saving face" is still a big thing over there. Not to mention that the Nazis were much more methodical and documented their "activities" very well.
I worked with a nurse, when she was a child her parents were Christian missionaries in the Phillipines.
She endured the hospitality of the Japanese for several years.
The current generation of Japanese do not have to apologize for the actions of the previous generation.
You do not have to apologize for the U.S. assault & slaughter of Indian nations and the occupation and seizure of their land.
Generational, collective guilt does not exist.
Heck, I don't even have to apologize for what my neighbor is doing now.
Who said the current generation of Japanese have to apologize for anything? I didn't. I don't believe in collective guilt any more than you do. I merely said that they haven't faced up to that part of their history. They don't learn about it in school. I don't have to apologize for anything the U.S. did to the Indians, but at least I know about it, and learned at least some of it in school.
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