Some thoughts on VJ Day

[dwco5051]

I was looking at some old pictures with my youngest bunch of grand daughters the other evening and ran across a picture of my father and two uncles together with my uncles in uniform. My one uncle was a naval aviator who flew carrier missions in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. The other was an army PFC captured in the Battle of the Bulge. My dad was, unknown to the family at the time for security reasons, working on the Manhattan Project. My cousin on my mother?s was in the Navy but served as a gunners mate on merchant ships carrying supplies to Europe.

Sadly like most members of the Greatest Generation they too are gone now.

If you were to walk down the street and ask everyone under 50 what VJ Day is I bet half could not answer.

The ones that could might say the heroes were in the Army, Navy or Marines. Most would not know there was not the Air Force then but it was the Army Air Corps.

And I would also venture a guess that not one in a thousand would even think of including those that served in the Merchant Marine in their list of heroes. These men of all ages faced danger and suffered many losses but never got the recognition they deserved.

 

[MTboatguy]

My Uncle, was a prisoner of war in Germany for 19 months and escaped twice, he never asked for recognition, My Grandfather served on the USS Arizona and was on the ship Sunday Morning December 7th 1941, he never asked for recognition My Grandfather on my Mothers side was a "Darby's Ranger" the first of the United State Special Forces and was a cook for that unit. He never asked for recognition. They were great men of the Greatest generation and I would never expect to live up to what they went through. I had many great uncles that were in the Merchant Marines and we rarely heard about their time severed.

But we all knew in our family what they gave us and in return we always respected them and gave them the thanks they deserved. Two of my proudest moments in my life was spreading my Grandfathers ashes on the Arizona in 1991 and helping to fold my Uncles Flag 2 weeks after he finally received his Purple Heart in 1998, it took from 1945 to 1998 for him to actually get the recognition he deserved and if I had not been a Wounded Officer myself, I don't know that I would have ever got that Purple Heart recognition for him.

Rest in Peace Ladies and Gentlemen, you have given us the greatest gift....

Our Freedom.

 

[four winns 214]

My father was a 19 year-old kid from Piedmont, WV carrying a BAR on Okinawa as a replacement in Company I, 382nd Regiment, 96th Infantry Division. He joined the division in early May and fought until the island was secure in late June. The 96th suffered horrible casualties on Okinawa. Had an invasion of Japan been necessary, it is unlikely my father would have survived the war.

 

[RGrew176]

My father was a 19 year-old kid from Piedmont, WV carrying a BAR on Okinawa as a replacement in Company I, 382nd Regiment, 96th Infantry Division. He joined the division in early May and fought until the island was secure in late June. The 96th suffered horrible casualties on Okinawa. Had an invasion of Japan been necessary, it is unlikely my father would have survived the war.

Fortunately for a lot of soldiers President Trumans decision to drop the two atomic bombs made an invasion of the Japanese home islands unnecessary. The Japanese were forming mass suicide squads to defend against the invasion. Women and children were being trained to use spears and just about anything they could to take American lives. The use of the bomb(s) saved probably many, many more Japanese lives than American. An invasion of Japan would have been a bloodbath on both sides.