doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com New movie from Mel Gibson

So can atomic fission.

You're right about the invasion of Japan.

My dad was shipboard en route Okinawa as a staging point for a likely one way trip to the charming island of Honshu when Truman had the balls to save him and a million other Americans.

I'm rather grateful.

Grateful your father made in back Stateside safe and sound. I have always wondered, as FDR was frail at Yalta, and was steamrollered by Churchill and Stalin, if he hadn't died at Warm Springs in April 1945. Germany surrendered in early May 1945, then his appearance at Potsdam when he "gave away the farm to Stalin, as far as post-war Germany's future was concerned, and then had to make the decision that Truman had to make- would a sickly and dying President and Commander-In-Chief have decided to use the atom bomb(s) to bring Japan to her knees and surrender?

I think I know one possible reason why Truman had no apparent problem in deciding to bomb Japan--He was a Captain in an Artillery Company and saw the carnage of war in 1918-first hand. So he could visualize only too clearly the great cost in American and Allied lives were we to set aside the usage of the Atom bomb, and invade Japan from the sea..

Truman was one of the last Presidents with a full set of cojones, he said what was on his mind, clearly and without obfuscation or deceit, and let the devil take the hindmost.

I was told the the Army had half a million body bags on hand for the invasion of the home island. Don't know that for a fact but I did see about 100,000 in storage 30 plus years later and that was after Korea and Vietnam used up too large a number. Any invasion of the home islands would have ended with the loss of not only our own men but perhaps five million or more civilian and military personnel. Fortunately we did not have to find out.

On a personal note my father had been island hopping across the Pacific and would have been going into Japan if his last wound healed enough to return him to duty and they would have by September at the latest he figured. If they figured we'd loose half a million troops what would have been the Japanese losses between military and civilian? Five to ten million. The complete loss of every male from age 12 to 60? In my mind the two bombs, which killed 200,000 plus, saved millions. Thank God for men with the courage to do what must be done to see that we did not waste more good men in a war which was won. Damn the bleeding hearts who weren't there and never would have been at risk in an war.

Here is an interesting perspective of a British Seaman POW who the A-Bomb at Nagasaki saved but eventually killed. I corresponded with former POW Captain Duffy about one of his other essays praising "those who listened", the US Pacific ham radio operators who monitored radio Tokyo for reports of US captured airmen and soldiers. My grandparents received a post card from a "listener" detailing the capture of their oldest son who was murdered by the Japanese shortly after capture.
http://www.usmm.org/duffygavehimlife.html

There were so many Purple Hearts ordered for the invasion that they didn't have to order more until well into the Vietnam War.

I believe the first order for manufacture of Purple Hearts was after Vie Nam and there were still WWII stockage during Desert Storm. The stock from WWII lasted through Korea, Viet Nam, and Desert Storm.

It is an award I am glad I never got in my five deployments

Yeah, I'm glad I missed out on the "Forgot to Duck" award as well. Due to the distances of our engagements only a handful were wounded, with only one KIA. Can't say the same for the Iraqis..

Me too- about 6 years ago, with my son-in-law, we stopped into a Army-Navy surplus store near Division Ave. in Grand Rapids- owned and run buy chinks-Nov, near Veterans Day, I wore a USMC logo baseball cap- One of the slant-eyed scammers asked me if I had possibly lost my Purple , and if so, he carried replacements for $30.00 plus tax. I told him that I was NOT entitled to wear that Badge of Honor, and that all those who were awarded that had their name, rank, sn and Branch of Service and date of incident of wounding in combat-and that if I had indeed been awarded that Badge of Honor, the VA would get me, or any other combat Veteran a replacement at no charge-

I reported this to the Post Cmdr. of our Legion Post, and from what I heard, "the shit hit the fan for old Charlie Chan". Friggin' scamming gooks- trying to make a buck for selling Purple Hearts to 'Nam or Desert Storm "Wannabees"- I also read in the Legion magazine about some chinks in a New York area getting caught selling counterfeit CMH medals for $500- makes me want to puke.. Ten years in Leavenworth on hard labor details for the "Stolen Valor" azzholes is my suggestion.. RWTF

I think the "Stolen Valor" thing occasionally gets out of hand. For that reason, and because I cannot read minds, I would never challenge someone else's service or awards. There was a recent situation in s Chili's Restaurant on Veteran's Day, I believe, where a real vet was challenged by some know-it-all who got the manager involved and resulting in the real vet being booted from the business. Frankly, I'd rather let all the posers wear their phony medals wherever they liked than to be inadvertently involved in an incident like that. I've seen too much combat with my friends the real heroes to take a chance on dishonoring an authentic vet.

My dad was wounded on Okinawa. Not sure if he would have gone on the mainland invasion.
I will see the movie.