On the subject of our 'dropping the bomb' on Japan to end WWII,
some apologists feel we shouldn't have done so. The men of the
generation who actually had to fight the war don't agree.
One of my father’s best friends,
“Red” Thayne, served as a Marine In
WWII. Here are a few stories on the
lighter side that bear repeating:
1) While digging a network of foxholes
on one island, his Sergeant (who was
notorious for his sense of humor & practical jokes) hollered at his troop, “All those who smoke, take a 15 minute break!”. Normally there was no time differentiation between smokers and nonsmokers and since this was five minutes longer than the usual break, “Red” decided that this was a good time to take up smoking. 15 minutes later, Sarge hollered with a grin,” Now, everybody else take twenty”.
2) One day, as Red's platoon was advancing on their bellies through a huge expanse of high grass, “Red” thought he heard a strange noise in the direction that they were advancing. Quickly, he popped up, saw a Japanese soldier, fired his rifle, and ducked back down. Bizarrely, the enemy had done exactly the same thing in the same instant. What makes this story worth repeating is the fact that their bullets met in midair and ricocheted off one another. If that hadn’t occurred, then both soldiers could’ve been casualties.
3) On another occasion, “Red” was working his way up a hill towards a Japanese strong point. Suddenly, he felt the impact of a bullet hit him in the back. He was perplexed when he didn’t feel any pain or blood seepage.
After they took the hilltop, he pulled off his pack to grab his shovel and start ‘digging in’ --- that is when he found a ‘ding’ in his shovel made by the bullet that had impacted him in the back. The shovel had saved his life.
4) The most miserable day he ever spent was advancing through a former plantation that was overgrown with what looked to him like Johnson
grass. The weather was hot and extremely humid. As they moved along, the pollination of the grass stuck to every portion of their skin and worked its way under their uniforms. Intense itching doesn’t even begin to describe their tormented suffering. And when they came to the abandoned greenhouse where the former land occupants had grown a
garden, the only thing still growing were radishes. When they tried assuaging their hunger by trying to eat them, they were worse off than ever. Suffice it to say, radishes are only worth eating when they’re very young and tender.
[p.s., "Red" knew that dropping the bomb was a 'no-brainer'. There's really nothing else we could have done. Apologists who think we really had any other choice live in 'ivory towers'. If they want to apologize for something, then they should reference the 'forced opening of Japan' by Commodore Perry.]
