Essay Contest for College Students -- topic: American POWs of the Japanese during WWII

US-JAPAN DIALOGUE ON POWS, INC., a California based non-profit organization ^

[investigateworld]

Free Trade bump

[bill1952]

FYI, they did the same thing to American POWs on Chichi Jimi, among others, and if I'm not mistaken, the general commanding was that same general, who also had the livers removed, after which they were eaten at a Saki party.

I have pictures of him standing at his trial, where he was sentenced to hang.

That was the very same island where a certain pilot crashed in the bay, but was, in an incredible action, saved by a submarine just before the Japanese were able to reach him with the patrol boats.

That aviator was George Bush, Sr.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

[exit82]

Thanks for that information, Geopyg!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

If nothing else, this will help educate some younger people about the horrors that these men suffered and endured.

It is an unfortunate part of our history but it should not be forgotten.

[Doc91678]

I had a cousin who enlisted in the Marine Corps on Dec 8, 1941. Fought from Guadalcanal in the 1st Mar Div throughout the war. Till the day he died he wouldn't buy anything Japanese. His hatred for the Japanese lived with him until his death. Yet he would never talk about what he did during his battles. All he ever said was that he was an armorer. Yea.
Good men don't speak of their feats of heroism during wartime. They just did what they had to do to live. I think that is what the liberals forget about when it comes to the war. It is not politics. It is Duty, Honor, Country

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I thought you all might like to see this website:

http://www.hellshipsmemorial.org/

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Yet he would never talk about what he did during his battles.

So sad. Surely, he is at peace now in the arms of our Lord.
God bless him. God bless them all.
No one should have to endure such horrors for the short time they walk this earth.

[exit82]

Doc, thanks for sharing the story about your cousin.

So many of his fellow soldiers in WW2 were reluctant to talk about their experiences. Perhaps they felt that there was no way to communicate the horrors they had survived, except to someone who had been there, and then if they were there, there would be no need to verbalize what they had experienced in common--it was just an unspoken bond.

His generation is passing into history. He, and millions like him, turned the tides of battle, carrying out the directives of officers and generals who would become famous.

But we see that great battles turn on small details and individual efforts, that together with many other such small incidents, make the decisive effort.

Your cousin is one who had seen and endured much, probably too much. His was a daily battle for survival against an often ruthless enemy, in the face of unbelievable fear, hardship, and suffering.He probably saw many friends succumb in the effort to dislodge an intractable enemy on various island battles, many times in hand to hand combat. No wonder he could not bear any reminder of his former enemy. So much had been lost.

Our freedoms were preserved by countless good men like your cousin, and their sacrifice of youth and idealism in the face of battle can never be forgotten.

Yet, their generation is never one to brag about their exploits. Growing up in the fifties and sixties, I remember my veteran uncles saying that those who had "been there" didn't brag about their exploits. Only the ones who had seen little or no action freely bragged about their exploits.

They thought the real heroes were those they left behind on the fields of battle. They never saw themselves as among the real heroes of WW2.

[Doc91678]

My cousin and the rest of those who fought in WWII knew the meaning of Duty, Country and Honor. There are those among us today that do not know or care to know the meaning of those three words.
They would rather sell their country out by placing any impediment before there brethren than fight for their own freedom.
What was it that Thomas Jefferson said? The tree of liberty must be watered with blood from time to time.
I have done my time and now it is passed. My children and grandchildren have taken up the cause.
War is not colorful nor is it like TV. It is horrible in what it does to those in battle and those innocents that are caught up in the fight.
What this new generation has forgotten is that freedom cannot just be given. It must be fought for and held dearly.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It is its natural manure." - - Thomas Jefferson