GHW Bush escaped being a meal for Japanese captors
Everyone knows the story of President George Herbert Walker Bush’s narrow escape from capture when he was forced to ditch his aircraft into the Pacific when it was shot down during an air raid on Japanese forces at an island named Chichi Jima. American pilots drove off the Japanese boats that were steaming out to capture the 20-year-old future president and he was ultimately rescued by the submarine USS Finback.
The UK’s Telegraph reveals newly uncovered, unclassified, and grisly details of some of the other pilots’ fates in his flight who weren’t so fortunate.
The former President George Bush narrowly escaped being beheaded and eaten by Japanese soldiers when he was shot down over the Pacific in the Second World War, a shocking new history published in America has revealed.
The book, Flyboys, is the result of historical detective work by James Bradley, whose father was among the marines later photographed raising the flag over the island of Iwo Jima.
[…]
The horrific fate of the other eight “flyboys” was established in subsequent war crimes trials on the island of Guam, but details were sealed in top secret files in Washington to spare their families distress.
The details of the rest of the article are pretty gruesome, so you shouldn’t read the story at the link after a meal. I had two great-uncles who fought in the Pacific. I still won’t buy a Japanese car or television because of the stories they told me when I was younger. Yeah, I hold a grudge.
Category: Historical
What evil incarnate… to think, many thought we would never see such evil rise again.
Historically, war waged in Asia has been very different than that in Europe.
We would do well to remember than when dealing with those Islamic extremists at war with us today.
“Historically, war waged in Asia has been very different than that in Europe.”
Yep, and ditto the rest, too.
It would also be good to remember that, historically, existential level wars tend to come at us shortly after we consciously make ourselves unready for them.
Gruesome stuff, never forget.
However, I don’t see any sense in boycotting products made from a country we formerly fought with decades ago. It’s impractical, I’m not going to boycott Japanese goods, German goods, etc.
I agree, I don’t hold the descendants of the Axis Powers accountable for the actions of their predecessors. My grandfather served in World War II, in the Asia Theater, I own a Japanese model car. My Great Great Great Great Grandfather fought against the rebels during the Civil War, I live in one of the states that rebelled.
What about blurred porn? Can we boycott the Japanese because of blurred porn?
Yes!!
Having to watch the blurred, censored Japanese pron is more frustrating than from back when HBO and Cinemax first started with the squiggly lines/one second of clarity routine.
Boycott them all I say!!
They sure do produce some beautiful ladies, almost as much as the Koreans! I’ve met ONE ugly Japanese girl. Ugly Korean chicks are rarer than Sasquatch. Though in my experience, the most gorgeous Asian females (my wife, for example) are Cambodian.
Seriously, though, doesn’t blurred porn defeat the whole purpose? Them japs sure are a bunch o’ wierd motherfuckers…
One of the combinations I found striking were the daughters of French planters and ethnic Vietnamese moms. More than a few of those ladies could pretty much stop traffic.
That lays to rest all of my paternal fears about what my German-Irish-Cambodian daughter’s teenage years will be like. Thanks, Perry!
[Loads 1911 and starts sharpening bayonet, grumbling incoherently…]
You can blame Douglas MacArthur for that. I remember reading back in the day (maybe Playboy or Penthouse) that during the occupation immediately after WWII, they wanted to restrict of pornographic material being brought back to the States by returning GIs. Allegedly, someone asked General MacArthur what qualified as pornography, and he decided that anything showing pubic hair would be pornographic.
Yea that’s definitely boycottable. Agree with you besig.
“Rebels”?
In 1776, thirteen colonies (calling themselves “states”) seceded from Great Britain, and created their own government and army, having no desire to overthrow the government of Great Britain, but rather, seeking nothing more than independence, while Great Britain regarded them as ,”traitors”, and, “rebels”.
In 1861, when eleven states seceded from the Union and created their own government and army, having no desire to overthrow the government of the United States, but rather, seeking nothing more than independence, while the Union regarded them as, “traitors”, and, “rebels”.
Interestingly, according to Article III, Section 3, of our divinely inspired Constitution of the United States of America, it was Abraham Lincoln who was guilty of treason for instigating that unnecessary war and ordering the invasion of the Southern states.
I’m really botching my grammatical formatting.
I reckon it must be a side effect of all these prescription drugs that I’m taking.
Originally posted by John Robert Mallernee: Rebels? Yes, rebels. I see the Confederate flag as “the rebel” flag. Heck, I heard a British Naval officer refer to George Washington on the dollar bill as a “Rhebehl Oohhfhisah”. I just laughed. Originally posted by John Robert Mallernee: In 1776, thirteen colonies (calling themselves “states”) seceded from Great Britain, and created their own government and army, having no desire to overthrow the government of Great Britain, but rather, seeking nothing more than independence, while Great Britain regarded them as ,”traitors”, and, “rebels”. In April 19, 1775, the shot “heard around the world” was fired. The war raged for over a year before the signing of the Declaration of Independence… which was null and voided by the signing of the treaty that ended the Revolutionary War. Our forefathers were defending their rights as British Citizens/Subjects of the King. The hope was that Parliament would back down, realize their error, and recognize the agreement that the King’s forefather’s had with our forefather’s forefathers. When our founding fathers felt that all efforts were exhausted, and when they saw that moral and will to fight among the militia was fading, they decided to create a common cause. Breaking with the mother country was a hard decision, and was one that our founders didn’t want to resort to. Our founding fathers were fighting to maintain an agreement. Not exactly the case with the southerners. Also, “states” as used by the founders meant something different from what we use today. Back then, they were using them in a “nation state” sense. This is part of the reason to why we use “state” where other countries use “province.” During parts of the colonial period, what would later be called “states” had “provincial regulars” among their militia. Originally posted by John Robert Mallernee: In 1861, when eleven states seceded from the Union and created their own government and army, having no desire to overthrow the government of the United States, but rather, seeking nothing more than independence, while the Union regarded them as, “traitors”, and, “rebels”. The election of the… Read more »
insurrection isn’t restricted to trying to overthrow the government. It also includes removing the “power” from that government without overthrowing that government.
Because of the milling equipment Toshiba sold to the Russians back in the 80’s, I haven’t bought so much as a toaster from them since.
I’ve only recently learned of the cannibalism. Seems it was pretty widespread, too, because non-Japanese were nothing more than animals in their eyes.
To this day, my dad hates anything and everything Japanese. And I don’t mean some light-weight kind of hate, either.
Just my opinion, but if he had to fight the Japanese in WWII, he has every right to hate them.
I have had the opportunity to work with Japanese soldiers on 2 occasions and they were very polite and professional. I have no problem working with them now and tried to get an assignment in Japan a couple of years ago, but I’m sure I would have a vastly different opinion had I met them the 1940’s.
That’s because, back in the day, we did war correctly.
By that I mean we killed the belligerence out of them completely.
Yes, he’s a Pacific theater vet (’44-’45) and a Korea vet.
Same with my father. He was a Navy Corpsman who served in WWII. Part of his time was spent with Marines, and part aboard ship. He saw stuff that he’d only allude to and not really describe.
After the Japanese Surrender, he was aboard a Hospital Ship bringing back American POW’s to the states. The condition of those former prisoners, and their accounts of their treatment at the hands of the Japanese put him over the top.
He’s 96 and still around, but to this day he won’t have anything to do with anything or anyone Japanese. Wouldn’t let it in his house.
God Bless all those who fought, and especially those who had to endure the unendurable.
“God Bless all those who fought, and especially those who had to endure the unendurable.”
Amen.
WORD.
More proof that we were fighting the biggest war between good and evil in the history of civilization.
Thank God for men and women that lived then and fought with all that they could fight with.
Americans knew that we were the last bastion of freedom and that given the history of other societies, America would have to be the one to stand against the evil that men do…
Last week, I caught a portion of The Daily Show. Obama loving Jon Stewart was discussing the nuclear talks we were having Iran, then had to bring it to everyone’s attention that America is the only country that has used nuclear weapons against an enemy. Yeah, we did. Japan said that they would fight to the last person. Those bombs saved a lot of Japanese lives, and more importantly, it saved American lives. I wish that all of these American bashers would pick up and read a copy of The Rape Of Nanking, then get back to me and let me know if we were wrong to drop those bombs. Those two bombs were the wake up call that Japan needed.
” Those two bombs were the wake up call that Japan needed.”
I agree.
The Chinese and Japanese have mostly thought with their stomachs, not their brains. Japanese whaling boats still go after whales, despite the ban on whaling. Some shark species are becoming endangered because shark fin soup comes from sharks that are butchered alive and then thrown back into the ocean. When I say butchered, I mean the fishers cut off the dorsal, pectoral and tail fins and throw the rest of the shark back. But they (J&C) don’t care because they think with their stomachs, not their brains.
Cannibalism? That does not surprise me. There are tribes of chimpanzees that make war on their neigbors and cannibalize them.
I guess the Japs were no better. But it does tell me how stupid they were.
Tastes like Chicken.
😀
Bushi sushi…
Actually, Chip, it tastes like pork. Or, at least that’s what I was told by those who knew.
There are places where humans that are outsiders are still referred to as “long pig”.
It has nothing to do with stupidity, and everything to do with cruelty. The Chinese perfected the torture called The Death of a Thousand Cuts. I’ve seen one picture of a victim of that particular torture, and even grainy and black-and-white, it is a haunting view to what people will do to each other under ‘official sanction.’
Interesting that this information comes out just after the announcement of the ‘pivot’ of our military concentration into the Pacific rim. It’s certain to stir a pot, but the fact is, we can’t afford to forget who the enemy is NOW. Until the Japanese do something currently to earn our ire, I think we better continue to concentrate on jihadists.
The byline on that article is October 2003. I read the book “Flyboys” about 4 years ago maybe. The information has been out there for awhile… all the same, it is heinous and should be routinely re-discovered IMHO.
GHW Bush was lucky. Others were not.
Ah. I can discard my conspiracy theory, then, as far as timing is concerned.
And you are correct on it being heinous and on it being remembered, too.
Agreed, I read the book back in 2004.
Interesting timing on this article…
http://nypost.com/2015/04/07/new-exhibit-in-japan-sheds-light-on-live-dissection-of-american-wwii-soldiers/
“Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the military governor of Japan, commuted the death sentences two years later and reduced most of the prison terms. By 1958, every person convicted in the case had been released.”
Another reason to despise that wannabee emperor.
Agreed.
The father of a guy I work with told me that his Dad served under MacArthur during WWII in the Pacific Theater and HATED him. He said any time Mac Arthur’s name ever came up, he cussed, and a LOT who served under his command hated him.
One of the books I own is “The Knights of Bushido”, it chronicles some of the Japanese War Crimes (It’s half of a two-book set, its companion book “The Scourge of the Swastika” chronicles German War Crimes.), and after reading it the first time, I had to remind myself they surrendered 60+ years ago, it put me in a “Nuke Japan Again!” frame of mind!
I read “Flyboys” when it was first published a few years back. I’ve also read a lot and studied a lot about how the japs conducted themselves from the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 through MacArthur signing the dotted line aboard the Missouri in ’45 (I’m a history nerd).
As disgusting as it is, what they did on Chichi Jima barely scratches the surface of the depravity their military and government embraced. They did shit that would have made Heinrich fucking Himmler puke. There’s a lot to like about Japan (especially their females), but every time I hear somebody criticize us for firebombing and nuking them, I offer a quick history lesson and conclude it with, “Those fuckers got off WAY too easy!”
It pisses me off to no end to know how they conveniently ignore little details like that (or that other minor little detail about how THEY STARTED THE GODDAMNED WAR). And honestly, seeing some of the wierd shit they come up with these days, I wonder just how far removed they are today from the inhumanity of their grandfathers.
Of course, it also has to be said that they weren’t all like that, even then. But still, the responsibility for the war, and what happened in it, rests on Japan, whether they want to admit it or not. They’re doing pretty good these days, after having been razed, conquered, and rebuilt by the USA. Does anybody want to imagine what it would look like here if they had won (as they almost did) in 1942?
The Japanese still have the problem they had back in WWII, and they will always have it — a ton of people on a very small chain of islands, with barely enough land to live on much less grow their own food on. Until that is fixed…it would be good to keep an eye on Japan, despite our current cordial relationship with them.
The Rape of Nanking DID cause the Nazis to pretty much puke.
Yeah, when you have Nazi diplomats calling back to Berlin saying these guys are bat-shit crazy, that sure says something.
My wife bought me the book last summer from a second had book store up in Montana where she was having a trip with her sister who taught history in middle school and told my wife that I would love this book. That was an understatement. I couldn’t put the book down until 3 days later when I finished it. What I liked about the book was (1) the first third he covered Japanese history to give an indication of why they were the way they were, (2) goes into the details of their brutality in China, (3) covers in detail each of these 8 plus one who got away and what happened to them, but then goes on to reveal other things that I didn’t know about like the fire bombing of all the major cities in Japan of INNOCENT old men, women and children with fire bombs that were tested against houses constructed of the same materials found in these cities at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah and where they killed more of these innocents by firebombing these cities when compared to the two atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I agree with Jim Bradley, the dropping of the atomic bombs simply gave the Emperor an excuse to stop the war. But he also covers how the Brits fire bombed Hamburh and Dresden and essentially leveling those two cities of a bunch of INNOCENTS. I learned that the Japanese killed over 100,000 Chinese in 3 months after the Doolittle Raid for them helping our bomber crews. I also learned how Teddy Roosevelt said that the indigenous people of the Phillipines were nothing but savages and hence justified Americans killing 250,000 Phillipinos. Finally, he touches upon the acts of the civilized white christian immigrants who came to America and how they treated the Native Americans. Did someone say biological warfare? Did someone what treaties or words did the white civilized christian immigrants keep with the Native Americans? So I ask you, what do the civilized white christian Americans have so much to be proud about? P.S. I am a… Read more »
Well Darth Tater, if you want to be an American apologist and shed tears for all horrors against anyone and everyone, even in ending WWII, by all means go ahead. But the line forms on the “left” and it’s already, interstate miles long with like minded liberals. It has been since WWII but has only gotten longer. Yes we fire bombed cities and civilians were killed in doing so. What’s your point? It ended the war. Because in that time in America, we had the fortitude as a nation, from average citizens to the President, to deal with evil the way we need to now. To deal with it as harshly as the evil comes against us and then worse to stop them. Perhaps you believe Obama has a great handle on all of this with the current terror threats. He can’t even call them what they are. His non-action has been to talk them to death. He knows this and he knows his plans will not work and more “innocent” people, including American troops will die because of it. He just has no stomach to take a stand to do what it takes to bring this evil to a halt. Even with our current “precision” weapons, innocent civilians will die. Especially when they hide and harbor the terrorists in their midst with a welcome mind and heart. I have NO sympathy for any who aid and abet the terrorists. I thank your father sincerely for serving our country Sir. To close your point though with, “P.S. I am a white civilized christian native American since I was born here…” only means to me you are at the least, quite naive or at the worst, grossly, knowingly and blindly uniformed of history. You seem all too happy to remain the that state as well.
What you ARE, is way out of your depth here. Sparks was nice to you; I won’t be. Until you figure out what a real INNOCENT looks like and how the real world works and how wars are really supposed to be fought, I for one will not waste my time on you.
And you can take your ‘white civilized christian native American’ and shove it up your ass, you pompous dick.
A little self-righteous are we?
Just a little tip for you: Do you think God is good?
I do, but that didn’t stop Him from drowning the entire earth, except for Noah and the seven others with him, did it? Or do you think there were no children, or old people, etc, etc, etc, then?
Try to become better, and more accurately, informed before trying to lecture us with your infantile, pseudo-Christianity, because all you’re doing is embarrassing the Church.
Moral relativity is the malaise upon which evil flourishes. Yes, America has done bad things. We are ashamed of them, and don’t like talking about them, but we admit them. And most importantly, we STOPPED doing them a long time ago. According to you, that makes it okay for anybody to do anything uncivilized whenever the hell they want. The Japanese refuse to even acknowledge the fact that they were aggressors, much less admit that the post-Meiji empire was the most prolific organization of mass-murder, mass-rape, slavery, and imperialism the world has ever seen. Even Genghis Khan looks like a pussy in comparison. We did bad things. They did WORSE things. You talk of biowarfare. Yes, it was (shamefully) done on a limited scale against American Indians in the 1800s (the British were much better at it in India). Special Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army murdered over 1.5 million Chinese civilians in just ONE of their tests with weaponized anthrax. They conducted dozens of these tests each year. We NEVER did THAT. You talk of firebombing. Do you know who came up with it? An Italian dude named Giulio Douhet proposed it in 1919. The US Military said, “Fuck, no!” It was employed by Mussolini against the Ethiopians in the mid-1930s, but it was really demonstrated to the world by Hitler’s Kondor Legion in Spain in 1937, when the Luftwaffe, ostensibly under Francisco Franco, massacred the Basque city of Guernica. You may have heard of it, Picasso made his most famous painting about it. Just a few months later, Japan one-upped Hitler by giving Nanking, China the same treatment on an even larger scale. Being the fine human beings they were, they followed it up with a fun little event remembered today as The Rape of Nanking. If you don’t know about it, here’s a tip: the vaguest descriptions of what happened will give you nightmares. And the worst part is, it wasn’t even an isolated incident. We NEVER did THAT. The firebombing of German cities was predominantly a British effort spearheaded by Air Marshall Sir Arthur Harris.… Read more »
And another thing that sums up the US war effort in a single sentence.
“Ni’ baol ach don olcas mise.”
My ancestors used to say that. Since I’m guessing you don’t speak Gaelic, I’ll translate:
“Only evil need fear me.”
Karma exist. The Nazi Bastards firebombed London, Coventry, ect, and got Dresden, Hamburg, ect back. The Nazi Bastards raped, murdered and looted their way through Russia, and Russia happily returned the favor in 1945. The Japanese Empire invested in “being nasty to others”, and received it back with interest.
As another saying goes, “Beware the wrath of a patient man”.
Bravo, Whitey. Well said.
Correction:
You are a civilized white christian native American moron!
To me there is a distinct difference between
a.) bombing a country into submission that you do not occupy in order to break their will to continue fighting
AND
b.) torturing/raping/eating local citizens and POWs on ground that you currently hold and occupy.
But maybe that’s just me.
Then there was the whole “fight to the last man, no surrender” thing. If the stated intent of national policy is to fight and die to the last man, with no policy of surrender, well, who are we to not make that wish possible, while respecting the wishes of those who would rather not die?
I think you’re absolutely right, Mr. Blue. Prior to the A-Bomb attacks, the Japanese Military Junta issued edicts calling for ALL Japanese civilians to fight to their deaths defending their homeland and Emperor. Training schools and camps were the norm, and there were estimates of up to one million US Casualties in the event of a conventional invasion of the Japanese Islands. I have NO doubt that the usage of the A-Bombs saved far more Japanese lives than American lives, it brought the War right up to their doorstep and made them say “THAT’S ENOUGH!”. As for those in the Japanese Military that chose to commit Seppuchu (Japanese ritual suicide via blade)versus surrender, meh, less paperwork for US Military personnel!
Hey Darth Tater-head, UP YOURS sideways with 10,000 dead frozen porcupines and 30 tons of broken glass! The Japanese were sworn to “The Code of Bushido”, which basically meant regarding the Emperor as a godlike figure and obeying his commands accordingly. Surrender was a fate worse than death to them, they regarded POWs as the lowest scum of the Earth, and treated them like that, just read the accounts of any US POW held by the Japanese during that conflict. Even better, read up on how the Japanese treated anyone in any territory they seized, one example being in the Dutch West Indies where they walked through hospitals bayoneting bedridden patients or in places where they randomly rounded up local civilians who were then blindfolded and left sitting to be used as live bayonet practice targets for Japanese Soldiers. The Germans weren’t saints either, their brutality matched that of the Japanese, and the Russians had NO MERCY on any and all German territory they took. YOU’RE FULL OF SHIT Darth Tater, neither side gave up until we (The Allies) delivered the War right up on their doorstep, and today, snotsucking, booger-eating, bedwetting glittery gargoyle gonad-sniffing liberal snotweasels like you ARE THE PROBLEM in dealing with our enemies, you’re SO endeared with THEIR rights and all that shit when they’ll slit your throat after they defile and kill your family right in front of you and your neighbors without a second thought, you’re only concerned about how good you make yourself look to you and your fellow snot-brained libs, and if the S ever really HTF on US soil again, GOD have mercy on you, you’ll need it!!
The tiny number of Japanese personnel who became POWs before the end of the war were well-treated by their American, British, and Australian captors. This despite the fact that Aussies in particular hated their fucking guts. Allied personnel in Japanese hands suffered unimaginably, often in shitholes that would give Auschwitz a run for its money. In Singapore, the japs coerced the last British garrison to surrender by raping dozens of captured Royal Navy nurses TO DEATH in plain view of British lines, only slightly beyond rifle range, until the Brits had had enough and gave up. Then they kept right on doing it until each of those ladies had suffered the most horrific death possible. Any POW in the Japanese empire who could walk was used for slave labor until he died. Some were used as live test subjects in Mengele-esque “experiments” straight out of an Eli Roth movie. At Singapore, they established a “special prison” in a former British fort where POWs were tortured regularly, then left in solitary confinement. When the Brits returned in 1945, they found men in there who were so broken psychologically that they couldn’t remember how to speak English, or even who they were, just kept sputtering, “Please don’t hurt me anymore!” In Japanese, even as British medics cleaned them up and fed them. Iva Toguri AKA Tokyo Rose, already under threat for being an American nisei stuck in Japan during the war, risked a fate truly worse than death by smuggling food (which she couldn’t afford in the first place) and medical supplies to American POWs in camps around Tokyo (God bless her). As bad as the japs were, Korean slave-soldiers (and regular slaves) treated POWs even worse (this became an issue for former POWs fighting in Korea 5 years later). They were harshly abused by the japs, and took it out on the POWs they guarded or supervised. SGT Frank Fujita, a full-blooded Japanese Texan of the 131st Field Artillery (Texas National Guard), was captured with his unit in Java in 1942. Fearing for his safety, his soldiers tried to pass him… Read more »
I just realized … how can you be a “white … Native American?” I grew up with and have known many Indians (Dineh, Lakota, Paiute, Apache…). They would never call themselves white. Not ever. So are you a 128th Cherokee? 🙂
They got around …
I really don’t give a rats butt about PC, but I can see you’ve almost got everything covered. Maybe a sixty-fourth Black or Hispanic, to round things out, eh?
Perhaps he has a nice certificate from some legit-sounding organization making him an “honorary member” of a Native American tribe, OldSoldier.
As I recall we’ve seen similar claims before about other things. (smile)