Mike wrote --

It is a shame that people do not learn much about history any more... or maybe it is what they are "learning" about it that is the shame.

There is so much revisionist history out there today. Some people think
its not nice to mention something an enemy at one time did, it might hurt
their feelings. Or its somehow "racist".
I recently slogged my way through A History of the American People, by
some crackpot I have heard about for some year. His name escapes me right
now. He wrote nothing America has done was good, all the bad things we did to this or that group of people, sta
I could only read a few pages at a time before my head started to
explode.
This nutjob's book is used as a text in many schools.
I found it free on the net. I didn't want him to earn a dime off me.

I have heard it said that WWII didn't really start with the German invasion of Poland in 1939, but instead with the Japanese attack on Shanghai in August, 1937, at the start of the second China-Japan war.

Sounds about right.

From everything I have learned about it, Japan did not think they
could win a war with the US. They hoped that, by hitting Pearl Harbour
fast and hard, they could convince us to stay out of it. Boy did they mess up.

Maybe not convince us to stay out, but slow down our entry, for sure.
Thankfully our carriers were at sea at the time.
When Billy Mitchell demonstrated in the early '20s a plane could sink a battleship the American Navy scoffed and said no way. A group of Japanese military (our ally in The Great War) were busy taking notes.
Joe
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I recently slogged my way through A History of the American People, by
some crackpot I have heard about for some year. His name escapes me right now. He wrote nothing America has done was good, all the bad things we did to this or that group of people, sta
I could only read a few pages at a time before my head started to
explode.
This nutjob's book is used as a text in many schools.
I found it free on the net. I didn't want him to earn a dime off me.

With the way that publishing works these days, it is a lot easier for
people who are not really knowledgable about a topic to write a paperback
and get it published. When you order a copy, they print it off and send it
to you.

When Billy Mitchell demonstrated in the early '20s a plane could sink a battleship the American Navy scoffed and said no way. A group of Japanese military (our ally in The Great War) were busy taking notes.

Later, when our manufacturers were ignoring Deming, the Japanese paid
attention again. :)

Mike


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Daryl wrote --

Then, they wanted an apology from the US for dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Have they apologized to China? To Korea? To Vietnam? To Thailand? And
a few other places here and there?
Japan was ready to fight to the last man, woman and child. Can you
imagine the bloodbath (on both sides) if we didn't have the bomb?
If we hadn't used it the same people bemoaning we did would probably
complain we had it and didn't use it.
When they were dropped the Japanese Army didn't see them as anything different from other bombs, other than being bigger ones. The generals wanted the war to continue, thinking we only had two, which is a fact, but a third
was being built.

The late George H.W. Bush said "they aren't
getting an apology from this President". I believe he served in World War II, as did my late father.

Yep, he was a pilot and shot down. He was rescued after a while in the water.
I had a brother (from my fathers first marriage) who died at Guadalcanal
in January, 1945. He was on a supply ship loaded down with ammo that blew
up in the harbour. (We had already taken Guadalcanal and it was being used
as a staging area). There were
Joe
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Daryl wrote --

I shudder to think. That was the consensus, and the war would've
likely dragged on for much longer.

I've read the war would been projected to last until about 1947.

as they felt it was better than the disgrace of surrender.

The Japanese culture (military and civilian) at the time was never
surrender. It was seen as a weakness and a great shame. This is one reason Allied POW's were so poorly treated. (Japan also never signed the post WWI agreement on treatment of POW's, as d
The few Japanese POW's we had said they would tortured and all if they surrendered, not treated with respect.

I tell them that "I never would've passed the physical...due to poor eyesight, buck teeth, and severe trouble with my feet".

Obviously this was in peace time. :)
Back in my day sonny, it was "Are you able to breathe on your own?" If
yes, then you were in.

I don't remember how many ships my late father served on. Some names I do recall were the Nimitz, the Amberjack, and the Barracuda.

The Nimitz is a carrier. The other two sound like subs.

... Floggings will continue until morale improves.

Old Navy saying, I use at work from time to time.

Back to Pearl Harbour a minute.
I recall a line in the old Barney Miller show where Yamoto (Jack Soo,
the Japanese cop) was being kidded about being a pilot there in the Japanese Navy and asked what he thought about that.
He replied, "It seemed like a good idea at the time".
(These lines would never make it on tv today).
Joe
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