TZUTC: -0600   
   MSGID: 486.fidonet-memories@1:19/33 2443818f   
   REPLY: 1:123/140 0309bca1   
   PID: Synchronet 3.18c-Win32  Nov 15 2020 MSC 1927   
   TID: SBBSecho 3.11-Win32 r3.179 Nov 15 2020 MSC 1927   
   CHRS: ASCII 1   
   Joe,   
      
      
    JM>   Have they apologized to China?  To Korea?  To Vietnam?  To Thailand?   
    JM> And a few other places here and there?   
      
     I don't think so. And, that's the same for most (if not all) the   
   tyrannical and despotic countries.   
      
    JM>   Japan was ready to fight to the last man, woman and child.  Can you   
    JM> imagine the bloodbath (on both sides) if we didn't have the bomb?   
      
     I shudder to think. That was the consensus, and the war would've   
   likely dragged on for much longer.    
      
     After the first bomb was dropped, the pilot of the Enola Gay aircraft   
   lamented "My God!! What have we done??!!".   
      
     After the second bomb was dropped, the Japanese realized they were    
   helpless. Many of the soldiers committed suicide by hari-kiri (sp?)   
   (disemboweling themselves), as they felt it was better than the    
   disgrace of surrender.    
      
    JM>   If we hadn't used it the same people bemoaning we did would probably   
    JM> complain we had it and didn't use it.   
      
     Probably so. I think that's why President Truman decided to use it,   
   as it likely would've cost a ton more lives on both sides.   
      
    JM>   When they were dropped the Japanese Army didn't see them as anything   
    JM> different from other bombs, other than being bigger ones.  The generals   
    JM> wanted the war to continue, thinking we only had two, which is a fact,   
    JM> but a third was being built.   
      
     That I did not know.   
      
    JM>    Yep, he was a pilot and shot down.  He was rescued after a while in   
    JM> the water.   
      
     When I'm out, I wear my ham radio cap with my callsign and name on it,   
   plus a COVID-19 mask...both which have "the American Flag look". Folks   
   have thought I was a veteran, but I tell them that "I never would've   
   passed the physical...due to poor eyesight, buck teeth, and severe   
   trouble with my feet".    
      
     It reminds me of the joke where the guy goes to apply for disability,   
   and after hearing the meager amount he'd get (it is that), his wife   
   angrily said "you should've dropped your pants to them, and you would   
   have gotten more money".    
      
    JM>    I had a brother (from my fathers first marriage) who died at   
    JM> Guadalcanal in January, 1945.  He was on a supply ship loaded down with   
    JM> ammo that blew up in the harbour.  (We had already taken Guadalcanal   
    JM> and it was being used as a staging area).  There were   
      
     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.   
      
   Daryl   
      
   ... Floggings will continue until morale improves.   
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