[Travis McGee]

Here is my Father In Law, R.I.P.

I'm looking for the photos I took of his signed captured Jap "meathball" flag (signed by his platoon), and photos of the 2 Arisaka Rifles, 2 samurai swords, and the Nambu pistol he was authorized to bring home to CONUS following the 5th MarDiv occupation of Japan in 1946.

He was a big fan of Truman, for sparing them the invasion of Japan. And he was a big fan of flamethrowers, from his time on Iwo.

You might choose to believe the fantasy that every Japanese soldier fought to the death, and hence almost zero prisoners.

My FIL, who was there, told me different. They didn't take prisoners.

But there were no battlefield video cameras up-linking to 24/7 world news.

Naturally, the few official USMC film cameras were censored for war propaganda benefit.

[CodeToad]

Coincidentally, my FIL was also at Iwo Jima. He was on the Saratoga. He said the same thing of taking prisoners: The ship wasn’t planning on taking any prisoners because there wasn’t going to be any.