Ww2

[shokhead]

Our Vets from WW2,the youngest would be around 79 or 80? Wow. We wont have many left in 20 years. Really hard to think about that. My dad{died in 2000} was at PH when they were bombed.I bet,all added up he talked to me about it no more then an hour.

[markw]

Our Vets from WW2,the youngest would be around 79 or 80? Wow. We wont have many left in 20 years. Really hard to think about that. My dad{died in 2000} was at PH when they were bombed.I bet,all added up he talked to me about it no more then an hour.My dad was there loading B-17s when they dropped the big ones. too. Odds are that if they didn't drop 'em then, they both would have been part of the land invasion of Japan and we (and many, many more) might not be here now.

He would be 91 were he still alive today.

I was in the PI 25 years later in the AF.

[emaidel]

Along with aging WWII American Vets, there's another group of very important folks who are not going to be with us much longer: Holocaust survivors. I'm very good friends with an elderly Jew (he's 78) who survived Auschwitz/Birkenau and who frequently gives talks on the importance of having hope.

Once there are no longer any living Holocaust survivors, I truly hope that those s**t-for-brains Holocaust-deniers don't succeed in convincing younger people that the Holocaust never occurred.

[Bernd]

Another group are the civilian survivours of Horishima and Nagasaki. I was very priviliged to have met a Lady from Japan giving a talk about the horror of the Bomb.
There are also a dwindling group of german civilian survivours who had to endure horrors inflicted by the Red Army, as there are Russian Survivours who had to endure a similar cruel treatment from german Soldiers.

Peace

Bernd

[Resident Loser]

Along with aging WWII American Vets, there's another group of very important folks who are not going to be with us much longer: Holocaust survivors. I'm very good friends with an elderly Jew (he's 78) who survived Auschwitz/Birkenau and who frequently gives talks on the importance of having hope.

Once there are no longer any living Holocaust survivors, I truly hope that those s**t-for-brains Holocaust-deniers don't succeed in convincing younger people that the Holocaust never occurred.

...about the concept of never again...it doesn't seem to apply to everyone...Take the Palestinians f'rinstance... walled-off, marginalized, ghetto-ized and at one point ordered to wear an identifier armband or patch as I recall, and in their own country to boot!...add to that the fact that countless millions who weren't Jews, were forced into slave labor camps and/or executed during WWll...but we only hear the squeaky wheel it seems...plus we never hear all that much when it comes to the genocide that is happening now...

jimHJJ(...makes me wonder...)

[Resident Loser]

Another group are the civilian survivours of Horishima and Nagasaki. I was very priviliged to have met a Lady from Japan giving a talk about the horror of the Bomb.Peace Bernd

...that in preparation for what they knew would be an attack on their home islands, the Japanese war machine was training a home defense force consisting of women and older men...armed with sharpened, bamboo poles...imagine the carnage and the number of casualties that would have resulted in that scenario. Using the bomb, as hideous a weapon as it is, may have been the more humane (if that word can at all apply) course of action...

jimHJJ(...war is hell...)

[JohnMichael]

Let's not forget the Asian Americans that were put in camps in this country.

[shokhead]

I would rather be in one of ours then Japans

[Bernd]

I would rather be in one of ours then Japans

Have I missed something? I thought this thread was about that the remaining survivours of WW2 are soon leaving us, not where we would rather be incarcerated during wartime.I am sure once the Guantanamo Bay fiasco is put sleep we will have some horror stories to digest.
And Jim you are so right "War is indeed Hell". And I am so glad my country lost two. You will not find a more peace loving place.Lesson learned me thinks. Even though the Soccer hooligans and Neo Nazis are getting ready for the World Cup - Breadheads. I wouldn't put a Uniform on for any Politicians ideal. No Sir.

Peace as always

Bernd

[shokhead]

It was but everubody went off somewhere else. Not much respect for our vets.

[Resident Loser]

Let's not forget the Asian Americans that were put in camps in this country.

...all 120,000 of them who were moved from what were deemed to be, during wartime and from a military POV, sensitive west coast areas as a direct result of FDRs 1942 Executive order #9066 which built on previous standing acts and statutes from 1918, 1940 and 1941.

While we're at it let's not disregard the German-American and Italian-American citizenry who were rounded up and forced to surrender weapons, two-way radios, binoculars and other items that might aid insurrection or espionage...not interned it's true, but I'd chalk that up more to population densities and location, location, location...I don't believe any other continental geographic Japanese populations were affected...and nothing happened in Hawaii...please advise if I am mistaken...

Another example of prudent, non-PC activity: Japanese-Americans who were in the military and hadn't been discharged were sent to the European theater and northern Africa...those of draft age were classified as enemy aliens and weren't subject to conscription.

jimHJJ(...and let's not forget Lincoln suspended habeus corpus during the ACW...)

[JohnMichael]

It was but everubody went off somewhere else. Not much respect for our vets.


I have a lot of respect for our vets. The gentleman with alzheimers that I care for at night is a WWII vet. I look at his scrapbook and wish he could tell me about it. When we look at it I have to remind him that it contains memories from his days serving our country. Serving in the military and at a time of war is a sacrifice I respect even if I do not agree with the war being fought. Serving in the military was not a sacrifice I could have made because back then they did ask. I think what we were also thinking about is war affects more than just the ones fighting. All peoples who make sacrifices during war deserve respect.

[daviethek]

Our Vets from WW2,the youngest would be around 79 or 80? Wow. We wont have many left in 20 years. Really hard to think about that. My dad{died in 2000} was at PH when they were bombed.I bet,all added up he talked to me about it no more then an hour.

My dad was in the crap in the Phillipines. he had very few stories for me as well. He used to say the guys talking the loudest at the VFW probably stacked boxes during the war. I think it completely changed his life. He was against the Vietnam war and had a general mistrust of politicians as well. He told some stories to my brother, but would not share them with me because he thought i was too sensitive. He used to wake up at night with the sweats all the way into his 60-'s. wargdhanged his life. about their service probab

[trollgirl]

...but we only hear the squeaky wheel it seems...plus we never hear all that much when it comes to the genocide that is happening now...

jimHJJ(...makes me wonder...)

...with your post, but wanted to quote only a portion of it. Many years from now, people in Iraq may be making the same sort of statements, that is, the survivors of the American genocide are getting old. Yes, it is a genocide - a recently returned veteran has confessed to having killed 200 himself, including unarmed women and children. I am ashamed to be an Amerikan.

Laz

[shokhead]

Go away.

[trollgirl]

...I am considered a Boomer (just an early one). Boomers are getting older, and in 20-30 years, people will be saying that there aren't many of us left. Some people wish we were already gone. I know I wish I was.

My own father served in WW II, and he is now 83. He has lived a great life, one that my own does not compare to. He told me that 3,000 WW II vets are dying each month, and I think it is our loss.

So - do not wish me to go away (if it is me you are asking), for whether you realize it or not, we all need each other, even those whose opinions are a slap in the face.

Laz