Theodore 'Dutch' Van Kirk, the last surviving Enola Gay crew member, dies at 93

[Memphis1979]

Originally Posted by burdell

Japan invaded China seeking to end western influence in Asia, I guess they didn't like it when they found out that included western oil, eh? Like they say in the real world: Be careful what you ask for




I don't think it makes any sense at all and have extreme difficulty believing such treason could have been covered up for 70+ years.




So, you don't want to sell someone some of your resources and it justifies their attack on you? I'd say they're damn lucky Japan isn't a US territory at this point. I'm no great fan of the places this country has stuck its nose where it didn't belong but in the case of Japan I have no other thought than they got what they asked for.

And did we have a mutual protection agreement with China? No

And yes, embargos and sanctions can be seen as acts of war.

[burdell]

Originally Posted by Memphis1979

And did we have a mutual protection agreement with China? No

And? Doesn't give much credence to Japanese common sense thinking they could end western influence in Asia while at the same time enjoying the benefits of western resources, eh?

Originally Posted by Memphis1979

And yes, embargos and sanctions can be seen as acts of war.

By that logic Cuba would be justified in attacking the US.

[no1brownsfan]

Originally Posted by burdell

We're approaching the time of year when someone will no doubt start a thread saying how wrong we were to use nuclear weapons against Japan.

I say Thank You! to Dutch and every other member of the crews of the Enola Gay and Bockscar as well as to Harry Truman for ordering the missions that brought a swift end to WWII and saved both American and Japanese lives by making an invasion of the Japanese mainland unnecessary.

It was sad that it came to it, and I hope that there is never a scenario where nukes are used again. But I believe it ended up saving more American and Japanese lives than if we would have invaded the mainland, in which who knows how long the war would have dragged on?

[no1brownsfan]

Originally Posted by burdell

Attacking Pearl harbor unprovoked was inexcusable but you ignore that, eh? and just WHY should anything but unconditional surrender have been considered acceptable? Since when do the losers of war set the terms? The Japanese Emperor needlessly prolonged the war, NO ONE else.

Originally Posted by Memphis1979

Unprovoked?

We cut off their oil supply, and that was going to end their war machine.

We did push back, they pushed back harder. There are those who still believe that the Japanese were allowed to sink the older Navy vessels at Pearl Harbor. It makes sense considering the anti war sentiment in America at the time.

No one knows for sure, but we did provoke the Pearl Harbor attack. Not saying it was deserved, but we were provocative.

Yeah, I was gonna say... they weren't exactly unprovoked. Though they should have known better than to try to take a poke at us. In fact the Admiral who led the invasion even stated that he knew that the Japanese couldn't win against the US long term.

[NYRhockeyfan]

Okay, I don't deny that the nuclear bombs prevented millions more deaths in an invasion of Japan. But why are we honoring the flight crews? There's many more people who committed acts of valor in WWII, but they've been forgotten.