Comments on: August 6, 1945

By: Cigar Mike Pancier

Cigar Mike Pancier — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 22:08:41 +0000

also interesting that Leo Szilard was a famous Hungarian Jew who had escaped. On the trip where the final letter was drafted, the driver was Edward Teller; another Hungarian who later built the H-Bomb. Europe lost it's best minds and genius due to anti=semitism and naziism and communism subsequently. Fortunately, these brains came to the US. I suggest the Great Escape ..a book which features many of these great Hungarians and how they changed the world....

By: jsb

jsb — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:17:19 +0000

Democrats today are just not my father's Democrats. It's a whole new breed of men and women who spend more time with their finger in the wind trying to please all of their special interests.

By: Cigar Mike Pancier

Cigar Mike Pancier — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:34:51 +0000

Truman was a Dem and had cojones and a backbone and was principled. He was courageous in that he did what was right for the USA even if it was not popular. He cared more about the country than he did his reelection. Not many like him around.

By: daniel_in_garanhuns

daniel_in_garanhuns — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:47:49 +0000

Man, I almost posted about the History Channel in my original comment. The History Channel here is the "international" version, which means nowhere near as much WWII stuff. Right after Sarrussi sandwiches, I rank the History Channel at the top of stuff I miss.

By: George L. Moneo

George L. Moneo — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:00:30 +0000

The little volume I read years ago and still have in my library is Thunder Gods: The Kamikaze Pilots Tell Their Story by Hatsuho Naito. I think it's out of print. I may reread it since it's been so long. You should watch the two-hour Dogfights show on the History Channel titled "Kamikaze." All I can say is WOW! Fantastic graphics and personal testimonies from both sides.

By: daniel_in_garanhuns

daniel_in_garanhuns — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:56:38 +0000

I read much of the Richard Frank book, but one of those things, it was in my truck when it got stolen. They found the pickup, it had gotten stripped for parts. The book was still there but it was all waterlogged. Still pisses me off.
George, can you recommend a good book about the Japanese Pilots, especially the Kamikazes?

By: George L. Moneo

George L. Moneo — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:44:32 +0000

The best (and most accurate) TV movie is called Hiroshima. It was a Showtime production, superb in every respect, impeccably done in English and Japanese. If you want to read the three definitive books on the subject, they are: Day One: Before Hiroshima and After by by Peter Wyden; Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire by Richard B. Frank; and my favorite, Code-Name Downfall: The Secret Plan to Invade Japan-And Why Truman Dropped the Bomb by Thomas B. Allen and Norman Polmar. The latter of these is superb; that is where I got the "voice of the crane" reference. The chapters dealing with the Emperor's decision to surrender are great reading.

By: daniel_in_garanhuns

daniel_in_garanhuns — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:07:47 +0000

By the way, I remember when I was a kid there was a "mini-series", may have been a 2 or 3 part TV movie about the Elona Gay, really interesting movie!! I think Robert Crane was in it.

By: daniel_in_garanhuns

daniel_in_garanhuns — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:03:53 +0000

Are you SURE you have the historical facts straight? A DEMOCRAT was behind the bomb? A DEMOCRAT gave the approval? Now I have heard everything!! More "revisionism" by the loony ultra right fringe!!! Next you will say that ultra-Islamists do not belong to a religion of peace.