LeMay was a real legitimate American stalwart. But for him thousands of Americans in the euro and pacific would have died.
It is possible, had we had to take Japan that my Dad would have had a greatly shortened life. As would many other Americans. Lemay mused that he could have faced trial as a war criminal. Maybe, but he never would have been convicted.
Same war in this era—who knows?
LeMay and one of his targeting analysis officers, Robert McNamara, systematically flattened 59 Japanese civilian population centers in order to break the will of the Japanese.
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About 500,000 Japanese died outright and likely that many died of starvation and disease. That was the basis for LeMay’s concern for war crimes.
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Incredibly, the communication system was so controlled, the Japanese people didn’t largely know of the widespread destruction. Most were unaware of the atomic bombings. They would have fought to the death.