mwoods222 Loc: Newburg N.Y,

I don't usually coment here but as a soldier for 33 years I an compelled to acknolage this jurnalism thank you for sharing

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Retired CPO, several years ago I spent some time in the Pacific islands talking to locals and learning history as it happened during World War II. The Japanese committed many atrocities and the Death March was one of them.
In the Philippines they will put prisoners in a cell located under sea level and by the time the tide was full every single person in that cell has drowned. Rape was common during the occupation, similar to what they did during the occupation of China.

More people died during the bombardments of Japan than with the two atomic bombs and let's remember that Japan received several notifications from Harry Truman to surrender precisely warning Japan of a very powerful arm. The military never accepted it. The invasion of Japan, a fanatic country at the time, would have cost many more American lives so the decision of using the bomb was taken. I bet many American parents were glad that such a decision was carried out.

BruceRoscoe Loc: Arizona

Thank you for the acknowledgment and your service

BruceRoscoe Loc: Arizona

Thank you for your story.

Bruce

rwoodvira

[quote=BruceRoscoe]The story of the Bataan Death March

Thank you for sharing. A friend once told me that the Japanese atrocities are not taught in Japan. Bill O'Reilly wrote an excellent book on the Japanese phase of World War II: "Killing the Rising Sun." In the afterward he advised that his father was a junior Navy officer off the coast of Japan preparing for the invasion and if the war had been allowed to continue without the atomic bombs it would have be likely that his father would have been killed by a kamikaze hitting his ship, and he would have never been born. It was a very rude awakening for me as like Bill, my father was off the coast of Japan in the US Merchant Marine(the US Navy rejected him for poor eyesight) on a hospital ship. Medics during the war stopped wearing red crosses on their helmets as they were targeted by the Japanese as were ships with the same emblem. In a political science class at Rutgers 50+ years ago, someone said the US disgraced themselves by using the A-bombs. I asked him if he knew anything about the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March or that it was estimated that the US could have as many as 1,000,000 casualties in the planned invasion of Japan. He shut up.

BruceRoscoe Loc: Arizona

We have been looking for a Merchant Marine to photograph an argument that's one branch of the service we can't find anybody. Thank you for writing.

rwoodvira

If you want a laugh - like my Dad I am really near-sighted. Dad volunteered for the Navy, but was taken out of the line and put in a room with an eye-chart. The doctor said take off your glasses and walk until you see the chart - he walked into the wall. He told the doc, but I can see fine with my glasses on - the doc said if you lose your glasses and you are on watch, the enemy could sneak up on us. He joined the Merchant Marine and the first thing he did at sea was stand watch. He died in 1992 - he and his truly were the Greatest Generation.