The death march of Bataan and how Dyess Airforce base got its' name

I am slightly miffed when I hear someone who knows little about history say it was wrong to nuke Japan to end WW2.
I can understand how their modern thinking goes but alas they do not consider the absolute atrocities committed by the Japanese against all the people they tried to subjugate or captured during the conflict .

Like most things you have to put yourself in the minds of the people who were in the conflict. Yes the story goes millions would have been lost on both sides if an invasion had been launched but there is another human story that one might want to consider.

Most everyone has heard something about the Bataan Death march or the rape of Nanjing but it is one thing to hear and another thing to experience or have a family member relay their own first hand account of some of the things that went on...It can get your Ire up real quick when you realize man's inhumanity to man is breath takingly unbelievable.

The Japanese are lucky there was anyone left alive on their islands due to the hatred they has fostered all over Asia and back in the USA. I used to hear stories from the old folks all over Asia about the Japanese and their war of conquest and those stories were, "NOT NICE"!

Amazing how advertising and Japanese cars have just about wiped the slate clean...which is a good thing IMO as hate can kill the hater just as it can kill the hated..

I play golf with a couple of Japanese guys who are friends and fun to be with. The sins of their fathers should not and do not carry over to their relationship with me or hopefully anyone else. This reminds me of another golfing friend who was a German fighter Pilot during WW2 who flew BF-109s for the Luftwaffe.. He did what he was told to do and survived horrible conditions along with the death of many of his friends and family members; just like our guys who lived to tell about it...

Anyway enough of my incoherent rambling B.S. If you get a chance watch the video as I doubt you will regret it.

youtu.be...

To defeat Japan the US ground forces and a few allied countries would have had invade the Island of Japan, the death toll for Japanese as well as Allied soldiers would have been horrific
Couple of strategically placed nukes and bang bang it’s all over
Lesser of the two evils

Japan payed dearly for their aggression and empire, were stopped and the whole world rejoiced
Who cares what a few immature “someone’s” say in ignorance
Pretty grateful that WW2 was ended by you yanks, good job, sadly

Also, many Japanese people wanted peace for their country. I think that is why for the most part, Americans coming and living in Japan are not given the "finger" to go fly a kite.

a reply to: 727Sky

A family friend survived the Death March and wrote a book about it. Look for "The Ghost of Bataan Speaks".

My grandfather was a PoW at Fukuoka camp 17, he also spoke with George Weller in First Into Nagasaki: The Censored Eyewitness Dispatches on Post-Atomic Japan and Its Prisoners of War, page 98 is the little blurb. I never really got to meet him, but my dad has told me some stories and I've seen the telegrams they would have the prisoners send to family members. Dad was stationed at Subic Bay when I was a kid, so I did get to see a lot of the old sites of the march.

Heck I'm shocked that Unit 731 didn't get more attention on the world stage, been reading a bit about that lately.

a reply to: 727Sky

My grandfather was in the navy and had to take many POWs home at the end of the war , The hatred he and all his age had for the Japanese until the end of his life was very real , he would not have anything made in Japan in the house and openly despised and was very verbal to anyone who bought their goods , they tied men to trees with barbed wire and made them eat rice to they swelled up and left them yet i never remember him saying much about the Germans and they sunk him a few times during the war and killed many of his friends but he had a special hatred for the Japanese and having to stay on till 1947

originally posted by: stonerwilliam
a reply to: 727Sky

My grandfather was in the navy and had to take many POWs home at the end of the war , The hatred he and all his age had for the Japanese until the end of his life was very real , he would not have anything made in Japan in the house and openly despised and was very verbal to anyone who bought their goods , they tied men to trees with barbed wire and made them eat rice to they swelled up and left them

yet i never remember him saying much about the Germans and they sunk him a few times during the war and killed many of his friends but he had a special hatred for the Japanese and having to stay on till 1947

I have not known to many old guys like that but there were a few when I was growing up. One friend was a P-51 pilot who made it rich in the oil field. He would not have anything Japanese purchased for his company.

It does seem the Germans never generated the hate like the Japanese did even though some of the stuff they did in Europe was right up there on the super big scale of cruelty. It seems most of the hate was directed at the SS and for good reasons.

Anyway for those who took the time to view the video thanks for you replies.... Dyess was killed in a P-38 accident which happened to be my favorite aircraft from that time frame, even more of a favorite than the P-51 or Spitfire.