Seventy years is a long time ago. Especially when trying to re-invent history and pass ill-advised judgments based upon pop culture mentality of the present. Yet, we have a president whose meager accomplishments compared to GOP nominee, Donald Trump, feels free to pontificate about things he seems to know little about. Perhaps President Obama simply does not care to acknowledge the incredible sacrifice and loss of life that was paid by the greatest generation of Americans who endured The Great Depression and then won World War II showing the kind of patriotic allegiance we are seeing less and less of in the present day.
Beyond arrogance
When our leader goes to visit a nation that would have wiped out America without a second thought had they obtained the atomic bomb first in accordance with the savage atrocities they committed through the entire saga of World War II, an apologetic president is entirely too annoying to tolerate! Exhibiting his typical cool and indifferent attitude toward the very land he is to protect and defend, President Obama was characterized by Ben Stein as being incredibly narcissistic! Tell us something we don’t already know. This is why.
Empty words
Let’s talk about the atrocities committed by Japan that demonstrated the kind of inhumanity under the code of Bushido that few would bother to match even though the Nazi’s were doing their best to compete with savagery in Europe prior to their defeat. For a president of the United States not to have a better grasp of history than to simply make cool platitudes and hollow philosophical observations to a crowd of Japanese who simply wanted the reassurance that America would have their back in the future is emblematic of our Supreme Egotist or should I say commander.
Atrocities
Japan began its reign of terror in 1932 mercilessly invading Manchuria, a province under the government of the Chinese emperor. Japanese soldiers taught to look upon their Chinese counterparts as animals, commonly beheaded their opponents on the battlefield without compunction. The tragedy in Manchuria went largely ignored by the League of Nations.
Impending disaster
Under General Tojo Japan drew up plans to attack the US Pacific Fleet in order to expand their access to oil in order to fuel their war machine. Pearl Harbor was perhaps the greatest military success in modern times as the Japanese massive aircraft carrier launch of bombing and strafing crippled the US Navy and almost destroyed the docks that would have been needed to repair the damaged ships. More than 2,500 Army, Navy, and Marine personnel were killed in a cowardly sneak attack designed to knock the US out of the war in the Pacific.
One of many
Wake Island saw a small garrison of Marines who repulsed 2 attempts by a superior Japanese invasion task force being forced to surrender were continually persecuted and tortured each time the US Naval fleet struck another blow as the war continued and the Imperial Japanese Forces began losing their grip on their conquests in years to come. Their merciless retribution against the American POW’s is well documented by historians.
Initial defeats
The Bataan Death March demonstrated just how ruthless the Japanese were as more than 300 American servicemen were shot, bayonetted, or beheaded along the way as General Mac Arthur’s defeated malnourished and exhausted troops were moved in blistering heat to prison facilities from Corregidor.
Overseas
Although the British suffered humiliating losses in the Philippines, Burma, and Singapore as their prized fleet was decimated by Japanese airpower, the Chinese were severely punished by Japanese occupational forces once the British and foreign citizens were driven out or captured. The sheer brutality of the Japanese would soon be brought fully to bear upon the hapless Chinese who to the present day still do not trust them.
Doolittle Raid
After Jimmy Doolittle’s surprise raid upon the Japanese mainland just weeks after the Pearl Harbor tragedy when aviators were forced to fly after completing their mission until they had to ditch their aircraft for lack of fuel, a pogrom developed. As the Japanese angrily searched for the American pilots forced to crash land in occupied Chinese rice paddies or jungle severe retribution came to the Chinese for aiding and abetting Doolittle’s men. Thousands of Chinese men, women, and children were executed by live burial, beheadings, gunshots, and more. In cities such as Shanghai and Nanjing a hundred thousand poorly equipped Chinese soldiers could be lost in less than 3 months fighting the well-oiled and modern Japanese war machine.
New horrors
During the course of the war the Japanese may have been the first ever hostile nation to unleash germ warfare upon their opponents especially China. The rape of Nanking occurred without any response by the west. Even German officials stationed in China were horrified at the level of savagery demonstrated by a Japanese army that was not restrained by their generals. Women were raped and murdered by the thousands. Some Chinese mothers were beheaded while trying to nurse their babies. The German and foreign doctors present tried to form a safe zone, a haven where innocent civilians could seek asylum from Japanese brutality, but it provided little shelter for the women who became the “Comfort Corps” for Japanese soldiers until they died.
Historical truth
In view of these horrid facts backed up by witness accounts is it any wonder that the US and its Allied partners were anxious to end the war as soon as possible? Was it any wonder that America and her allies were weary of a costly war that had visited so much death and destruction by the inhumane acts of the Japanese military? For our president to second guess the sacrifices made by our fighting men and the civilians that suffered at the hands of the Japanese war juggernaut and interpret it in his typical anti-American fashion is despicable.
Honoring our veterans
With Memorial Day upon us we have the luxury of hot dogs, burgers, and beer by the barbecue or at the lake while the cost of victory les buried in the ground. While we fret over our personal problems or frustrations with internet connections or complaints about the weather, our fighting men and women continue to spill their blood on foreign soils all over the world for the cause of freedom because there are those who have little respect for human life and even less for personal freedom. On Memorial Day we briefly pause to reflect on the kind of suffering that we cannot even imagine but vaguely contemplate whenever we see our veterans who have been maimed and wounded in service of our country. It is to them that we owe so much and have given little in return.
