Posted on 08/06/2005 4:18:39 AM PDT by Columbus Dawg
God bless him and his family!
And old stateside Army Air Corp Mechanics like my extremely deaf Dad who, even though he enlisted when almost thirty, said he was being warned to prepare for overseas duty if conditions with the Japanese had not changed drastically.
Mike Harden is a Lib. Most of his pieces are really class warfare crapola.
Heck, I didn't read it that way. I read it quite the opposite, actually -- Even in his frail health, he continues to have no regrets.
Oh, but the lefties say that Japan was done for in August of 1945, and we should have just sailed back home and left them alone. We should never have insisted on unconditional surrender.
I guess someone should have told the Japanese they were done for. They didn't seem to realize it until after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And even then, a significant and powerful clique within the Japanese military tried to overthrow the peace camp, continue the war, and commit national suicide.
Seems to me Japan could have ended the killing well before August, 1945. They were beaten well before that but they continued to fight and die and kill Americans anyway.
It's amazing anyone even listens to the lefty revisionist "historians" anymore.
I believe you just restated my post...
Thank you.
I might have read your post carelessly, or maybe it's just a difference of emphasis -- my point is that we owe Tibbets respect not because we believe the bombing was right, but regardless of whether we believe the bombing was right.
I don't know what political affiliation Mike Harden is. He is one of those "features" reporters. A reporter that goes out into the field and talks to common every day people or gets out into a small town 50 miles outside of Columbus to see what's going on. He writes articles on historical stuff too.
Yes, Mike Harden did write an article AGAINST THE COLUMBUS ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN while the rest of the paper was trumpeting it.
I hate the Dispatch, but unfortunately it's the only daily paper in town. I have to say I like Mike Harden and John Switzer. You have to agree they don't reak the liberal bias like a Joe Hallett or a Ben Marrison. If you want to be disgusted, read some of the archives of Hallett and Marrison columns. Both are former reporters at two very extremely liberal papers in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Republican-hating Toledo Blade.
I will agree with you buccaneer that the Dispatch was once a great newspaper under J.W. Wolfe. Unfortunately, since J.F. Wolfe has taken over, the liberal bias and quality of writing has dropped.
We should never have insisted on unconditional surrender. .
I guess I missed your point first time around.
Have any of the DIM-wit revisionist "historians" "suggested" what might have been "acceptable conditions"? I've read a lot but the only thing I've been able to come up with is the "you can keep your emperor (=God)" condition. I guess the (multicultural) argument is we should have proposed this in July, 1945. Idiots.
And why should he? I don't think he should have any regrets...but the Libs are always looking for people who do their job to express their regret.
Actually, the first invasion of the Japanese Home Islands would have been Kyushu, in Operation Majestic, in November 1945.
The invasion of the Kanto Plain around Tokyo was Operation Coronet scheduled for March, 1946.
I had the priveledge of meeting and talking with the General at the Tamiami Airport. He autographed my copy of LIFE’s Picture History of WW2 which I have had since childhood. When I heard he had passed away, I mourned as if he were a relative.
I encountered this site while searching a bit of info on Brig.Gen.Paul Tibbets and have joined your group especially to post a comment on this great hero of the US armed forces of WW2.
It was very pleasing to read that there are many still who can appreciate the heroism and dedication of their fighting men from over 66 years ago and who take great pride in their achievements.
I’m an Australian 73 years young who has made an amateur but highly detailed study of some aspects of WW2 in the western Pacific. The deployment of nuclear weapons against Japan is one of those aspects as part of the events that led up to and followed Japan’s surrender.
It is most regrettable that the average person of today has no appreciation of how the people of the world felt in those days, especially those nations inevitably and unavoidably involved.
It is a vital aspect of integrity in history that we put ourselves in their shoes and learn what they felt. Failure to do so denigrates heroism, dedication to duty, love of family and country and the bravery of those who fought and died that we may reflect at our leisure on the momentous events that they dealt with.
I congratulate you all on your sincerity and honest appreciation of ordinary men and women who managed to navigate through extraordinary times and triumphed.
They deserve our undying thanks and respect.
I might add as an afterthought that I hold your president Harry Truman also in the highest respect. A more worthy, hard-working, honest, no-nonsense man never graced the White House.
Biggles Prime
Last night I watched Above and Beyond, a movie I remember my father watching when I was little. Although I've seen it once or twice in my adult life, for whatever reason, I wanted to see it again. Woke up this morning and still wanted to read/learn more about Paul Tibbets.
I came across your post from July and wanted to thank you for your thoughts and felt they deserved a BTTT. God bless you.
If I were an investigator, that would be a good mark on his record. If he had no interest in girls at the age of 19, I would consider it disturbing.
bttt
I still can’t believe that the media has pretty successfully made the Japanese out to be victims here. Google “1937 Nanking” and you’ll never think that again (if you ever did before). If the axis had won WWII, what they would’ve done to American citizens would make the German Holocaust look like an 8 year old girl’s birthday party.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.