U.S. veterans land on Iwo Jima to mark anniversary

Many Japanese gave up their lives on Iwoto who knew they were fighting a losing war but preferred death than endure the humiliation of living in American occupied Japan along with the shikataganai collaborating filth who quickly turned their coats with the promise of receiving trim milk powder and whale meat.

I loved the ambiguity in the statement "The Marines flew in trucks".

NationalistRE: And because many Marines gave up their lives, other Asian nations no longer have to endure the humiliation of being occupied by Japan.

NationalistRE: And because many Marines gave up their lives, other Asian >nations no longer have to endure the humiliation of being occupied by >Japan.

Many Marines gave their lives for our country. Let's not kid ourselves about other asian nations.

Ossan: I did not state that Marines gave up their lives for other Asian nations. My statement is a cause/effect: Marines gave up their lives (of course for the US), and in so doing, many Asian nations no longer .... I am a former Marine and know why we fight.

NationalistRE: And because many Marines gave up their lives, other Asian nations no longer have to endure the humiliation of being occupied by Japan.

Of course, no doubt other Asian nations prefer fighting US-Soviet proxy wars in the last 60 years and enjoying a significantly lower standard of living the criminal Japanese race.

NationalistRE: And because many Marines gave up their lives, other Asian nations no longer have to endure the humiliation of being occupied by Japan.

Of course, no doubt other Asian nations prefer fighting US-Soviet proxy wars in the last 60 years and enjoying a significantly lower standard of living than the "criminal" Japanese race in the present.

brotokyo wrote:

NationalistRE: And because many Marines gave up their lives, other Asian nations no longer have to endure the humiliation of being occupied by Japan.

Neojamal responded:

Of course, no doubt other Asian nations prefer fighting US-Soviet proxy wars in the last 60 years and enjoying a significantly lower standard of living than the "criminal" Japanese race in the present.

Great 'kettle calling the pot black' rebuttal Neojamal!

Although any pitched battle action of the US forces in the Pacific Theatre was rightfully conducted out as defenders of Japanese aggression at Pearl Harbor and Chinese allies, I cannot help but point out that these marines in the present who served in Iraq and Afghanistan that are wars that resulted from aggressive US foreign policy longfor a 'moral backbone' for their activities, so they look to Iwojima.

Although any pitched battle action of the US forces in the Pacific Theatre was rightfully conducted out as defenders of Japanese aggression at Pearl Harbor and Chinese allies, I cannot help but point out that these marines in the present who served in Iraq and Afghanistan that are wars that resulted from aggressive US foreign policy longfor a 'moral backbone' for their activities, so they look to Iwojima.

Exactly, The hypocritical Americans want Japan to reflect on their aggressive behaviour during WWII at commemorations such as Iwo-to, and at the same time they want Japan to support aggressive US foreign policy.

Much love and respect to the seniors that are able to make it to the ceremony. Must be tough going back to that place, considering all the horrible things they must have seen there.

It is believed to be covered with too much unexploded ordnance left over from the battle to be developed, and has been largely untouched since the war.

That alone should serve as a reminder of how hellish that battle must have been. Damn messy things wars are.

Exactly, The hypocritical Americans want Japan to reflect on their aggressive behaviour during WWII at commemorations such as Iwo-to, and at the same time they want Japan to support aggressive US foreign policy.

Or, I don't know, maybe they do these WWII commemorations to remember the lives lost, I know it's a little more sappy than the idea that such events represent a two-fold attempt at humiliating/corrupting the Japanese people but hay, that's what it looks like to me.

And honestly now, you're complaining about a war that happened 70 years ago, Japan is the second largest economy in the world, and the U.S and Japan have a security compact that benefits parties on both sides (namely that the U.S gets a presence in Asia and the Japanese people don't have to fork over the cash to maintain a regular standing military).

How much did Washington and Tokyo have to spend on this ceremony by flying trucks here etc? For what?

@TheQuestion: (namely that the U.S gets a presence in Asia and the Japanese people don't have to fork over the cash to maintain a regular standing military).

Its not equal and Japan has to fork over lots of maintenance cash to keep the current largely unwanted US here. There is also a belief that the US are responsible for bringing risk to the region.

Fighting a war to get control of resources that are only useful to you if you can transport them across thousands of miles of open ocean, and against an enemy that your own top military planners think you probably can't beat. I'd say that pretty much guarantees the "humiliation" of occupation.

Conducting a "War of Aggession" is not necessarily always a negative; the US-led NATO operations in Kosovo could be seen as a war of aggression, yet you don't hear too many people complaining about that. What you should be complaining about is the failure to analyze the second and third order effects of conducting such a conflict (as in Iraq or the Japanese Imperial Armed forces in WWII) which creates a mess that takes its toil in blood and treasure. NationalistRE: Would you consider the late Emperor Showa, Hirohito, to be "shikataganai collaborating filth"? I believe it was his (prudent in my opinion) call to accept the terms of the Potsdam Agreement and surrender. If the Japanaese soldiers at Iwo-JIMA didn't surrender, it was probably becuase their education and training led them to believe that it wasn't an option that either side would allow.

I didn't know it was milk powder and whale meat; I thought it was Wrigley's gum, Lucky Strikes, and Hershey bars.

A place where uncommon valor was common. For both the Japanese and the U.S. Marines who gave the last full measure, it is we that survive because of your sacrifice are the grateful ones. Least we forget.

So.....how is this place as a replacement for Futenma?

Um... did the article get edited? Because I couldn't find any reference in the article to trucks being flown in for the ceremony.

These events aren't meant to embarass anyone. They're only to remember the sacrifices made back then. Only the most truly cynical would try to make a rememberance into an aggressive act.

But some of the Japanese on the island Wednesday said they felt their country was forgetting its own history.

“We must not allow this tragedy to be forgotten,” said Hiroya Sugano, a 76-year-old doctor who was still a student during the war but came to the anniversary in memory of an old friend who was a kamikaze pilot.

“It’s a very emotional moment,” he said. “We must not forget that this is where peace was born.”

I truly wonder how many Japanese feel that lessons from history are about the reasons for peace? Not to be forgotten. I hope I'm wrong.

I always wondered why I learned about WWII back in grade 9, which was a young age to learn about hardship and the horror of war. Yet I thank that moment of learning as a foundation that never again do we use hatred as justification, and perhaps that lesson, earned by many nations sadly, need to be reminded of why we are at peace. This is always important to notice as it is during the down times especially that those in our society fan the flames of hate in various ways.

This is a bittersweet notion, to accept the price of peace at such a high cost of human lives, that which cannot be ignored, and all the more reason that it be remembered, kept, and never forgotten. We are the better for it in remembering any conflict. And the world as well can see beyond hate and be a family instead.

We still need that hope in the world today, and really, everyday.

Would you consider the late Emperor Showa, Hirohito, to be "shikataganai collaborating filth"? I believe it was his (prudent in my opinion) call to accept the terms of the Potsdam Agreement and surrender

The greatest filth of them all. He should've taken the honourable path and perished, ordering his closest attendants to "Not let MacArthur take have my head, same goes for my children." Instead, he let himself be caught by GHQ along with all soon would be condemned Class A war criminals. The cowardice of these Japanese leadership at time of surrender is a stark contrast to the brave common men who were conscripted and sent to Iwoto to die in a hopeless battle along with their upstanding leaders such as Lord Nishi and General Kuribayashi. Each of these groups ought to have faced the other's fate.

Would you consider the late Emperor Showa, Hirohito, to be "shikataganai collaborating filth"? I believe it was his (prudent in my opinion) call to accept the terms of the Potsdam Agreement and surrender

The greatest filth of them all. He should've taken the honourable path and perished, ordering his closest attendants to "Not let MacArthur take have my head, same goes for my children." Instead, he let himself be caught by GHQ along with all soon would be condemned Class A war criminals. The cowardice of these Japanese leadership at time of surrender is a stark contrast to the brave common men who were conscripted and sent to Iwoto to die in a hopeless battle along with their upstanding leaders such as Lord Nishi and General Kuribayashi. Each of these groups ought to have made opposite choices.

NationalistRE: "Not let MacArthur take have my head, same goes for my children." I assume your quote here is you putting words in someone else's mouth, and not his actual words. I also assume I need not use an UPPER CASE "H" when I write the word "his" since you have demoted Showa from a God-like figure to "the greatest filth of them all." Sadly, thousands died on both sides in that bloody event. I do wonder how many of the 21,500 Japanese soldiers were killed in action and how many took their own lives, especially since I just read that over 30,000 Japanese took their own lives, for that seems to be engrained in this culture, too.

Fadamor: Yes the article has apparently been edited because I copied and pasted the quoted statement in my first post: "The Marines flew in trucks" but apparently the editor has missed your question or isn't interested in commenting on it. I remember chuckling when I read that, picturing a squad of Marines in the back of an airborne duece and a half.

you have demoted Showa from a God-like figure to "the greatest filth of them all."

Gods do not capitulate to mortals and neither the Japanese would be prepared to accept the Americans as greator gods either.

I wonder how many Japanese who died in action or took their own lives with contempt for surrender could've imagined that their sovereign would spinelessly capitulate along with most of the useless Imperial Chiefs-of-Staff? This is the greatest betrayal in the history of this nation. I am ashamed that the patriotic dead must share Yasukuni shrine along with these traitors who aptly earned their conviction as war criminals.

Of course, no doubt other Asian nations prefer fighting US-Soviet proxy wars in the last 60 years and enjoying a significantly lower standard of living the criminal Japanese race.

Well of course they did, they were treated better by the americans and the soviet then by the Japanese, I mean the japanese were just brutal!

Its not equal and Japan has to fork over lots of maintenance cash to keep the current largely unwanted US here. There is also a belief that the US are responsible for bringing risk to the region.

Right now japan's military expenditure is less than 1% of its GDP, by contrast the U.S's is a little under 5% and china is about 2%. Compared to other armed countries Japan pays pennies on the dollar for the ammount of protection they have.

As for risk, that's there whether the U.S has presense or not. China and the U.S are always a little miffed with each other and Japan happens to be between the two geographically. Plus China has a tendency to hold grudges and the one incurred during WWII still inspires the occasional anti-japanese like the big one in 2005, nanking still makes chinese angry.