Reply #49: my dad was in the army in WWII - mostly in New Guinea but the Philippines too for a bit

[nini]

For the longest time he couldn't get over his hatred of Japan for all the evil things THEY did in those places during the war. I didn't understand it as a kid but as I grew up I could see how he struggled with it.

But, the most telling moment of my life that brought home his war stories was during a hospital visit before he died he had a Filipina nurse. They got talking and he asked her if she was from the Philippines. When she confirmed she was he told her he was in the army there during the war. What she said next made me cry. She took his hand and thanked him for all he did for her and her family. She saw her grandparents and other family members slaughtered right before her eyes as a child. She told of the rapes, the constant violence of the innocent etc... When she thanked my dad so humbly he got tears in his eyes. He said no one had ever thanked him before for that.

It was a memory I will carry for the rest of my life. So, your points are well taken here. The Japanese were hardly innocent in all those though as usual those who have nothing to do with government decisions paid the price. I am in the camp that if this had not been done millions more would have died and we may not have won this war in the end. At the very least the Japanese could have stopped the 2nd attack and surrendered after the 1st.