Pearl Harbor ceremony unites former U.S. and Japanese pilots

I wonder if, 74 years from now, wizened veterans of the US military and Islamic State will embrace in friendship and take part in a similar ceremony. I'm not implying they will or they won't -- who knows what the world will be like by then.

sworn enemies during World War Two,

...although they never met. Humans are silly. They were not sworn enemies, but sworn pawns of their respective governments, particularly the Japanese guy. I hope live to see the day when humans say "No, no more fighting for you. I am my own person, and while I consider you a friend, your enemies are not my enemies. Cause even though you are my friend, I know you have a bad habit of making enemies for no good reason."

Gala: I somehow doubt it. The Islamic fundementalism is entirely different from fighting for a nation state. Indeed, on both sides, soldiers found themselves fighting a war they didn't necessarily want to fight whereas members of IS DO want to fight and kill.

members of IS DO want to fight and kill.

How do you know?

How do you know?

Do you know otherwise?

I want the one who made the claim, and you're asking me to prove non-existence, which is an impossibility.

So back to my original question: how do you know?

No answer to this question is necessary as it is going off topic. All readers, please focus your comments on what is in the story.

@Hydropower

You know, neither one of them was any more a pawn than the other. You simply can't make that claim because both nations were at fault.

...although they never met. Humans are silly. They were not sworn enemies, but sworn pawns of their respective governments, particularly the Japanese guy.

To be fair, the propaganda machine in the U.S. was churning out all sorts of half truths and stereotypes to whip "the boys" into a deadly fervor. So you can include "pawns" for the U.S. side as well.

I spent a couple of months working "Water Transportation" in Pearl Harbor while waiting for my new duty station to return from deployment. Back then (1979) the Navy was still responsible for maintaining the Arizona Memorial. I still remember one late afternoon where me and a seaman were assigned a rowboat and had to go out at low tide to scrape barnacles off the sides of the Memorial support pillars - with the rowboat bumping against the battleship every time we pushed the scrapers. I don't know why, but bumping against the battleship with the sun going down gave me chills.

hydropowerDec. 07, 2015 - 05:53PM JST "sworn enemies during World War Two," ...although they never met. Humans are silly. They were not sworn enemies, but sworn pawns of their respective >governments, particularly the Japanese guy

If you think for a moment that the American public weren't pawns of te US government in the build up to WWII you are very naïve.

It's nice to see the Japanese government taking some responsibility for the attacks on Pearl Harbor.

It's nice to see the Japanese government taking some responsibility for the attacks on Pearl Harbor

Dan L

Where did you see that???

salute

If there is a tour to pray silently in Pearl Harbor, I want to go once.

WWII was a very long time ago. Today, Japan and the U.S.A. are good neighbors, good friends, and tough competitors.

Once former enemies, Dr. Hiroya Sugano, Jack DeTour, and Shiro Wakita can get together to remember friends and fallen comrades and celebrate 70 years of peace.

Each year, as we move further and further away from the day President Roosevelt said "shall live in infamy", we see more memories fade as veterans who fought to preserve life as we know it become fewer and fewer. Many of those remaining are hobbled and feeble, but they remain steadfast in their commitment to remember their comrades who have long since passed.

This made me cry. It's not important only for Americans and Japanese people, it's important for the world, because so many people died and suffered because of this war. I hope that the kindness and good will lead us to better future! I really pray for that, especially now with so many terrorist all over the globe. Would you mind if I share this on my blog, it's a small university project and I want to fill it with valuable information. http://wimbledonsw19.soup.io/

Where did you see that???

Sorry. My bad. I guess the Japanese government never actually has taken any responsibility for that, or other war crimes. Whoops!