Posted on 12/06/2016 6:12:30 AM PST by mandaladon
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said during a press conference Monday it was natural for World War II veterans to be “embittered” about Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Pearl Harbor, but they should get over it for the sake of America.
It was announced Monday that Abe will be the first Japanese leader to visit Pearl Harbor since it was hit by a surprise attack that killed 2,403 Americans and brought the U.S. into World War II. The visit reciprocates President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima earlier this year for the anniversary of the atomic bomb attack on the city.
Abe said in a short statement he would pray for those who died in the war, but gave no indication he would express regret for Japan’s surprise attack.
During a White House press briefing Monday, Earnest was asked whether veterans may be offended by Abe’s visit if he expressed no regret over the attack.
Earnest responded by saying veterans may very well feel “embittered,” especially if they personally fought in World War II.
“If I were a World War II veteran who was drafted by the United States military to go and fight for our country overseas in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack, I might feel quite embittered, and I think it would be a perfectly natural and understandable human reaction to not be particularly satisfied with the words of the Japanese Prime Minister,” Earnest said.
(Excerpt) Read more at bizpacreview.com ...
If I remember correctly the U.S. Army stopped taking enlistments in 1943. They relied solely on the draft for their man power requirements. That way they could control the numbers men taken into the army at any one time. This prevented big back logs of enlistees waiting for training.
These are children who have no concept of life and death.
” ... Hawaii wasn’t even a U.S. state at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor.”
True, but Congress conferred citizenship on Hawaiians in 1900 when it became a U.S. territory. At the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, about 90% of all residents of Hawaii were U. S. Citizens.
Oh man..... coffee all over my desk. I’m still laughing!
Now he’s a married man, a college grad with a maters in arospace/aviation engineering and two young sons (age 2 ad 5) of his own.
IIRC that soldier was an Aussie.
The Japs are lucky we didn’t drop the bomb on Tokyo.
As soon as I posted it, I thought...wait that uniform doesn’t look US issue...but it was too late :(
I remember one of the interviews for "Band of Brothers", where he mentioned somebody from his town committed suicide because they wouldn't allow him to enlist. It was a different time.
My parents are the WWII generation. Father died at just 69 in 1996, mother about to turn 92.
I will remain bitter for them. I KNOW my dad never got over it. He was seriously wounded on Okinawa after 45 days of combat.
My dad was stationed in Japan after the war and was visiting Hiroshima when a Japanese man walked up behind him. Dad says he spoke better English than he did. My dad asked him why Japan did not follow through to the west coast and invade the US. The reply was two fold. First they were concerned about getting over the Rockies but figured that out. The second reason and the one that stopped them was that Americans are allowed to own firearms and they did not feel they could fight the US army and the armed citizen.
I entered the Cub Scout and Boy Scout program in 1954. When I went into Scouts we had a Scoutmaster, who I knew into my adulthood, and other leaders including my father who were overseas vets from WWII or Korea.
They were very serious about the knowledge they imparted, the importance of preparation and discipline.
As I grew older I heard one share his experience surviving a ship sinking in shark infested waters and then I learned about our Scoutmaster. He had been shot down, put in a bamboo cage, paraded through the streets of Japan and survived as a prisoner of war. He self-published an account in the late 70s but I can’t find it now.
They understood the importance of the organization as founded by Baden-Powell. I was privileged thirty five years later to see that old scout troop at the area summer camp, H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation. They still wore the Ross plaid neckerchiefs, but the history of that Ross name (the Scoutmaster) was lost. So I got to sit down around the camp fire with 25 boys and 6 adults and tell them the history and about the bravery of the men that founded that Scout Troop, Troop 282.
” ... somebody from his town committed suicide because they wouldn’t allow him to enlist. It was a different time.”
In 1940, the Selective Service system was created to keep *out* of the military persons in occupations and industries that were critical to the defense build up. It wasn’t until late 1943/early 1944 that the supply of new volunteers was insufficient to meet manpower requirements.
My father was a tool & die maker. There was no way he was going to be allowed to volunteer in the early days of the war mobilization. He begged and pleaded his draft board to let him enlist. In 1944 he was finally allowed to join the Navy Reserves. There was a stigma during and after the war attached to those who didn’t serve. The recurring question asked of every adult male in the late 40s was “what did you do during the war?”
And the Jews should get over the Holocaust?
How ‘bout BO’Bs getting over his hatred of America, first; Then we’ll talk
My brother in law, God rest him, survived the Bataan Death March, never uttered one word of it to me. I knew he served, but knew nothing of his service until after he died.
My father-in-law went to enlist as soon as he heard about Pearl Harbor. He went to the nearest city to enlist and the line was so long down the street he decided to go back the next day; the next day he said it was the same. He finally got to enlist on day three. I heard many stories like this over the years.
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