Quote Originally Posted by wacojoe View Post
How many times do you get to shake the hand of a Philippine Death March survivor?
I got to do business with one for a while...Four guys who were friends came to the store on an irregular basis to shoot...All obviously retired, they stayed a while, shot their guns, shopped and left...I noticed one who never said much although the others always included him in the jokes and such...I mentioned this to one of them once who said that Sam didn't like to talk much since his liberation from Cabanatuan in January, 1945...They always took turns picking up their range and ammo tab, but after that day I made sure the total did not include Sam's expenses...

The experiences of those times may have been equally horrible even for those who were not captured...An unknown author once wrote in one of his unread books of a US Army Private who became part of the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment (serving in particular with that unit's demolition platoon)...Among other actions he was engaged in the month-long, house-to-house combat which liberated Manila...Prior to that his unit spent another 31 days after an airborne insertion into the Leyte jungle...Their mission was to eliminate the threat of the tough Japanese 16th Infantry Division which was embedded in the jungle...With nearly no replacement supplies of rations or ammunition, they reduced the Japanese force from 8800 men to less than 500, while losing 128 of their own...Much of the fighting became face to face with bare hands and knives...The experience caused permanent nightmares for one survivor, Private Rodman Serling, who began to write fictional horror stories as therapy, taking many from his own experience...His success can still be seen in re-runs on YouTube and television...

That same writer wrote in another book of a different kind of war horror...It is well known that Adm. Husband Kimmel bore the brunt of the blame for the unpreparedness of US forces at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack...He was left to take a reduction in rank, and forced retirement in early 1942 after investigation...He lived in disgrace the next 26 years...His remaining life was made more miserable knowing that his son, Lt. Cmdr. Manning Kimmel, did his best to recoup the family honor in command of the USS Robalo (SS-273)...He was known for his aggressiveness in going after the enemy, although some critics say his actions bordered on recklessness...The Robalo went to the bottom of the sea after having struck a Japanese mine in pursuit of an enemy target...It was his decision to stay on patrol after the damage, and may have resulted in the loss...

What happened to him afterward is still a matter of speculation...Official reports say he went to the bottom with his ship, but unconfirmed reports also state he was captured by the Japanese and later burned alive in a ditch in a fit of rage by his captors over a US bombing raid...Either way, Adm. Husband Kimmel lived until 1968 with the blame for the deaths of thousands at Pearl Harbor...He never knew the true circumstances of his eldest son's sacrifice...Even the testimony before his death by Adm. Chester Nimitz that the deployment of the US fleet to open waters would not have prevented the sneak attack, did not exonerate him...

I am of the mind that any military service to our nation, whether voluntary or by conscription, should be remembered for its honorable intentions, and not necessarily for its unintended results...The opposite is often the case, and I am as guilty as anyone of placing more emphasis on the less than honorable ends which often get the headlines......Ben