"Our children will fight your children for hundreds of years..."

[SteyrAUG]

Message to survivors of Bataan Death March on their arrival to Camp O'Donnell delivered by Captain Tsuneyoshi - April 21, 1942.

You are mine. You are my enemy. You should be grateful to the great Imperial Japanese Army for sparing your lives. Our children will fight your children for hundreds of years and we will banish the white man from the Orient. You will die from old age under our command. We have laws here that you must obey. Anyone involved in attempting to escape will be given the death sentence. We have drinking water, but it is a death penalty to use water to bathe.

Excerpt from "Manila Bay Sunset - The Long March to Hell" by Billy Templeton. (2006)

Just finished reading this one and it is one of the first books in a long time about the second world war that has impressed me. It's a survivors account of the fall of the Philippines, the Bataan Death March, Japanese prison ships and final internment in Japanese POW camps in Manchuria.

It is a stark overview of some of the worst atrocities committed by the Japanese against prisoners of war in the Pacific. Came across the book because I am distantly related to the author (a relative of my grandfathers sister) who happened to also be from central Iowa.

The transition from young farm kid in Iowa to a B-17 crew in the pacific to patchwork resistance in the Philippines and all the horrors that followed were even more relevant having a strong understanding of where he began.

The culture shock of being a westerner with western values and then trying to navigate the murderous polices of the Japanese is almost impossible to relate. But this account vividly recalls his experiences from the surreal to those so horrific he wrestled with them to the end of his days and only this late in life was he able to recount them for the record.

Also gives an unforgiving and accurate depiction of the mindset, racism and propensity for barbarity of your average Imperial Japanese soldier and their war of domination in the Pacific and how they viewed all other "subject races."

Definitely worth the read. Amazon has it.

https://www.amazon.com/Manila-Bay-Su.../dp/0978515803

[El Vaquero]

I’ve heard pretty horrible accounts about the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers. It’s in stark contrast to how the Japanese people are considered these days.

But it should also serve as a reminder of just bad humanity can be and how bad people can treat other human beings. Obviously the Germans and later Stalin killed more people number wise, but I think the Japanese take the cake for level of brutality they dished out on prisoners and the natives of whatever lands they were occupying.

[utahjeepr]

I’ve heard pretty horrible accounts about the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers. It’s in stark contrast to how the Japanese people are considered these days.

But it should also serve as a reminder of just bad humanity can be and how bad people can treat other human beings. Obviously the Germans and later Stalin killed more people number wise, but I think the Japanese take the cake for level of brutality they dished out on prisoners and the natives of whatever lands they were occupying.

Don't underestimate the horrors inflicted by the Japanese. They were every bit the match for Hitler and Stalin.

The Japanese invasions and occupations throughout Asia were brutal. They murdered millions of civilians outright. Forced labor under brutal, miserable conditions killed millions more. It is estimated that over 20 million died during the Japanese invasions and occupations in Asia. They played second fiddle to no one in terms of murder and brutality. They west payed (and largely still does) more attention to the horrors of the war in Europe due to the inherent eurocentric bias of the west.

Only the terror of Chairman Rat Shit (mouse dung?, whatever ) and the CCP can overshadow the horror of the Japanese occupation of China.

[chuckman]

It's important to separate the people from the policies. The Japanese people weren't a whole lot different than Americans, Germans, or anyone else. But a percentage did swallow the pill.

[WillBrink]

Message to survivors of Bataan Death March on their arrival to Camp O'Donnell delivered by Captain Tsuneyoshi - April 21, 1942.
.

And how'd that work out for ya Captain Tsuneyoshi ? Oh wait...

[utahjeepr]

Roger that Doc. The plague of Inhumanity is a scourge that all humans are suceptable to. None of us are immune.

I have found it's tendrils growing in myself a time or two.

[El Vaquero]

Don't underestimate the horrors inflicted by the Japanese. They were every bit the match for Hitler and Stalin.

The Japanese invasions and occupations throughout Asia were brutal. They murdered millions of civilians outright. Forced labor under brutal, miserable conditions killed millions more. It is estimated that over 20 million died during the Japanese invasions and occupations in Asia. They played second fiddle to no one in terms of murder and brutality. They west payed (and largely still does) more attention to the horrors of the war in Europe due to the inherent eurocentric bias of the west.

Only the terror of Chairman Rat Shit (mouse dung?, whatever ) and the CCP can overshadow the horror of the Japanese occupation of China.

Not underestimating the horrors. I guess I took a very wordy way of saying the Germans and Stalin killed more people but the Japanese were more brutal and torturous about it.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

It's important to separate the people from the policies. The Japanese people weren't a whole lot different than Americans, Germans, or anyone else. But a percentage did swallow the pill.

The idea that a wide swath of people won’t or can’t turn into monsters is what allows these things to happen. German and Japanese hatred of ‘others’ is based on the idea of the basic ‘unclean’ nature of them. Long a hallmark of ‘right’ movements, the left/collectivists in the US have taken it over and applied it to vaxinations. Not only are unvaxed people ‘dirty’ they are a health danger to the pure people. Being kept out of public spaces is one step away from being put on trains.

[Hank6046]

The idea that a wide swath of people won’t or can’t turn into monsters is what allows these things to happen. German and Japanese hatred of ‘others’ is based on the idea of the basic ‘unclean’ nature of them. Long a hallmark of ‘right’ movements, the left/collectivists in the US have taken it over and applied it to vaxinations. Not only are unvaxed people ‘dirty’ they are a health danger to the pure people. Being kept out of public spaces is one step away from being put on trains.

It's all in the idea of a hierarchy, you inevitably make second class citizens and then they become tool or something less than you. Think of the Stanford Prison experiment, it took a matter of days for them to become cruel and uncivilized. The Un-vaccinated or Trump Hillbilly right-wingers, etc. It is a way for them to marginalize and degrade someone for being human.

[chuckman]

The idea that a wide swath of people won’t or can’t turn into monsters is what allows these things to happen. German and Japanese hatred of ‘others’ is based on the idea of the basic ‘unclean’ nature of them. Long a hallmark of ‘right’ movements, the left/collectivists in the US have taken it over and applied it to vaxinations. Not only are unvaxed people ‘dirty’ they are a health danger to the pure people. Being kept out of public spaces is one step away from being put on trains.

No population is immune, but neither is it inherent in the cultural DNA. They have to be conditioned. People are people, and most people are the same: wanna be left alone to live their lives.