“You did the right thing. You know the Japanese attitude at that time, how fanatic they were, they’d die for the Emperor...Every man, woman, and child would have resisted that invasion with sticks and stones if necessary...Can you imagine what a slaughter it would be to invade Japan? It would have been terrible. The Japanese people know more about it than the American public will ever know.”
Japanese pilot Mitsuo Fuchida (Led the raid on Pearl Harbor) in a conversation with Paul Tibbets.
Taken from Flyboys by James Bradley
Truman saved far more Japanese lives than Hirohito ever did.
““You did the right thing. You know the Japanese attitude at that time, how fanatic they were, they’d die for the Emperor...Every man, woman, and child would have resisted that invasion with sticks and stones if necessary...Can you imagine what a slaughter it would be to invade Japan? It would have been terrible. The Japanese people know more about it than the American public will ever know.”
Japanese pilot Mitsuo Fuchida (Led the raid on Pearl Harbor) in a conversation with Paul Tibbets.
One of my uncles was in the First Cav in the Pacific part of WWII and was on leave to say goodbye to his parents and sisters (4 and 1 was my mother), when we nuked Japan and the war ended.
He was glad that it was over. However, he said that he and thousands of other soldiers, marines and sailors were disappointed that we only used two bombs.
One time after a few beers, he told his Dad and 4 BIL’s that he wished, “We had used two dozen atomic bombs and then let he and his fellow warriors clean up the trash. Those, who had started the war and killed hundreds of thousands with total brutality.”
Not very PC in today’s world, but an honest reaction from a surviving warrior against the barbarians.