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Walter Straka, Minnesota's last remaining survivor of the Bataan Death March, died July 4th at age 101
Horrors of the Bataan Death March behind him, he lived a full life.
By Janet Moore Star Tribune JULY 21, 2021 — 4:20PM
Walt Straka, 101, is shown in 2019.
It seems fitting that Walter Straka died on July 4th.
Straka, a member of the Greatest Generation, was Minnesota's last remaining survivor of the Bataan Death March, a horrific chapter of World War II. The Congressional Gold Medal recipient, 101, died on Independence Day at the St. Cloud VA Medical Center.
Born Oct. 23, 1919, in Brainerd, Straka was one of 64 Minnesota National Guard troops from his hometown who belonged to Company A of the U.S. Army's 194th Tank Battalion. They were sent to the Philippines in September 1941 near Clark Field on the island of Luzon, just months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
After months of fighting under desperate conditions, Bataan fell on April 9, 1942. Some 75,000 Filipino and American soldiers, including Straka, were forced by the Japanese to walk 65 miles in six days to prison camps.
The grueling trek through the jungle, marked by physical abuse and torture, was later memorialized as the Bataan Death March. Thousands of the prisoners died.
In a 2020 interview with the Star Tribune, Straka recalled a Japanese soldier ramming his spine with a rifle butt, temporarily paralyzing him. His comrades from Brainerd picked him up and they marched on.
From Brainerd to Bataan: At 101, veteran recalls the horrors
https://www.startribune.com/from-brainerd-to-bataan-at-101-veteran-recalls-the-horrors/573003751/?refresh=true
If he hadn't continued, he said, "They would have bayoneted me for sure. Men were going insane, starving, dropping like flies. Hell couldn't be worse."
Between the American surrender at Bataan and the war's end in 1945, Straka survived starvation, abusive guards and cerebral malaria at a forced-labor steel mill.
"I could have died so many times, so I'm not worried about dying," Straka told the Star Tribune. "I'm a pretty lucky guy in many ways."
Paul Straka of Baxter, Minn., said his father recalled working a burial detail in Nagasaki, Japan, just days after the atomic bomb was dropped.
"How many people alive can say that?" his son said. "It's amazing he survived."
Only half of the 64 men from Brainerd serving with the 194th in the Philippines survived the march and subsequent captivity. The once-strapping 6-foot-2, 200-pound Straka weighed just 89 pounds at war's end.
When he returned home to Brainerd, he married Cleta Sylvester and raised a family. He and Cleta marked 64 years of marriage before she died in 2009.
Straka opened a used-car business, East Side Auto, in Brainerd. After he retired at 56, the couple bought a motor home and traveled all over the country, settling in Pharr, Texas, in winter while spending summers in Minnesota.
"He loved playing cards, sitting in a hot tub and going out to eat," Paul Straka said. "He enjoyed life."
Straka was spry well into his 90s, shoveling his walks and meeting friends for breakfast every day in the McDonald's at the local Walmart.
Though Straka rarely spoke of his wartime experiences, he started to open up about them in his 80s, his son said. He faithfully attended veterans' events and reunions, and was awarded the Minnesota World War II Memorial Medallion for "his intrepidity and indomitable courage against a brutal enemy."
In addition to his son Paul, Straka is survived by daughters Marsha Kate Haaf, of Webster, Wis.; Elizabeth Miles, of Hackensack, Minn.; and Sarah Porter, of Princeton, Minn.; sons Greg, of Brainerd, and Peter, of St. Joseph, Minn.; brother, Jim, of South Carolina; sister, Helen Hansen, of California; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Along with his wife, Straka was preceded in death by another daughter, Jane. Services have been held.
Transportation reporter Janet Moore covers trains, planes, automobiles, buses, bikes and pedestrians. Moore has been with the Star Tribune for 21 years, previously covering business news, including the retail, medical device and commercial real estate industries.
janet.moore@startribune.com
https://www.startribune.com/walter-straka-minnesota-s-last-remaining-survivor-of-the-bataan-death-march-died-july-4th-at-age-101/600080138/
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History.com: Bataan Death March
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march
.............
Bataan Death March - Wikipedia
https://www.bing.com/search?q=bataan+death+march&cvid=f14e940c46124b5a91fe309ca77defc5&aqs=edge.1.69i57j0l4j69i60l2.9999j0j9&FORM=ANAB01&PC=LCTS
Military.com -- Memorial Day
"See link for more details":
https://www.military.com/topics/memorial-day
George W. Bush Honors Veterans, Parents, on Memorial Day
Thousands of Troops from Past Wars Are Still Missing. We'll Never Stop Trying to Find Them
How You Can Honor a Fallen Service Member This Memorial Day
Vets Return to Memorial Day Traditions as Pandemic Eases
They Gave the 'Last Full Measure of Devotion.' Here's What We Need to Do to Honor Them
MUCH MORE
[...]
" Who keeps the $$$'s & who doesn't >
Proclamation on National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, 2020
Issued on: December 4, 2020
All News
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Imperial Japanese forces ambushed the Naval Station Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Tragically, 2,403 Americans perished during the attack, including 68 civilians. On this National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we solemnly honor and uphold the memory of the patriots who lost their lives that day — “a date which will live in infamy” — and we reflect on the courage of all those who served our Nation with honor in the Second World War.
Seventy nine years ago, Imperial Japan launched an unprovoked and devastating attack on our Nation. As torpedo bombers unleashed their deadly cargo on our ships and attack aircraft rained bombs from above, brave members of the United States Navy, Marines, Army, and Army Air Forces mounted a heroic defense, manning their battle stations and returning fire through the smoke and chaos. The profound bravery in the American resistance surprised Japanese aircrews and inspired selfless sacrifice among our service members. In one instance, Machinist’s Mate First Class Robert R. Scott, among 15 Sailors awarded the Medal of Honor for acts of valor on that day, refused to leave his flooding battle station within the depths of the USS CALIFORNIA, declaring to the world: “This is my station and I will stay and give them air as long as the guns are going.”
Forever enshrined in our history, the attack on Pearl Harbor shocked all Americans and galvanized our Nation to fight and defeat the Axis powers of Japan, Germany, and Italy. As Americans, we promise never to forget our fallen compatriots who fought so valiantly during World War II. As a testament to their memory, more than a million people visit the site of the USS ARIZONA Memorial each year to pay their respects to the Sailors entombed within its wreckage and to all who perished that day. Despite facing tremendous adversity, the Pacific Fleet, whose homeport remains at Pearl Harbor to this day, is stronger than ever before, upholding the legacy of all those who gave their lives nearly 80 years ago.
On this National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we recall the phrase “Remember Pearl Harbor,” which stirred the fighting spirit within the hearts of the more than 16 million Americans who courageously served in World War II. Over 400,000 gave their lives in the global conflict that began, for our Nation, on that fateful Sunday morning. Today, we memorialize all those lost on December 7, 1941, declare once again that our Nation will never forget these valiant heroes, and resolve as firmly as ever that their memory and spirit will survive for as long as our Nation endures.
The Congress, by Public Law 103-308, as amended, has designated December 7 of each year as “National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.”
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim December 7, 2020, as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. I encourage all Americans to observe this solemn day of remembrance and to honor our military, past and present, with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
I urge all Federal agencies and interested organizations, groups, and individuals to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff in honor of those American patriots who died as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fifth.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-national-pearl-harbor-remembrance-day-2020/
There's that politician who referred to American war casualtiesas as Losers and Suckers
Thank you for the reminder our military is not just a prop for a politican's photo op.
Veterans Day across America
18 Pictures | Wed Nov 11, 2020 | 5:35pm EST
https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/veterans-day-across-america-idUSRTX88VZT
Remembering the sacrifices of war
46 Pictures | Wed Nov 11, 2020 | 6:16pm EST
https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/remembering-the-sacrifices-of-war-idUSRTX88T8I
Yes, thanks to all vets
THANKS VETS !!!
Yes, HB to you guys
Saluted my flag to you guys this morning while picking up my newspaper
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARINE(s) !!!
The post of the day!
I could get on my soap box for about 3 pages but I'll let you post speak for itself
Damn shame!
Normandy beaches largely empty on D-Day due to coronavirus:
‘It’s a June 6 unlike any other’
RAF CASERT
NY Daily NewsJune 6, 2020, 9:09 AM CDT
At daybreak on Saturday, Charles Shay stood lonesome without any fellow veteran on the very same beach where he waded ashore 76 years ago, part of one of the most epic battles in military historic that came to be known as D-Day and turned the tide of World War II.
Compared to last year, when many tens of thousands came to the northern French beaches of Normandy to cheer the dwindling number of veterans and celebrate three-quarters of a century of liberation from Nazi oppression, the coronavirus lockdown turned this year's remembrance into one of the eeriest ever.
“I am very sad now,” said Shay, who was a 19-year-old U.S. Army medic when he landed on Omaha Beach under horrific machine-gun fire and shells. “Because of the virus, nobody can be here. I would like to see more of us here,” he told The Associated Press.
Normally, 95-year-old Shay would be meeting other survivors of the 1944 battle and celebrating with locals and dignitaries alike, all not far from his home close to the beaches that defined his life.
“This year, I am one of the very few that is probably here,” he said, adding that other U.S. veterans could not fly in because of the pandemic.
When a full moon disappeared over land and the sun rose the other side over the English Channel, there was no customary rumble of columns of vintage jeep and trucks to be heard, roads still so deserted hare sat alongside them.
Still the French would not let this day slip by unnoticed, such is their attachment to some 160,000 soldiers from the United States, Britain, Canada and other countries who spilled their blood to free foreign beaches and fight on to finally defeat Nazism almost one year later.
“It’s a June 6 unlike any other,” said Philippe Laillier, the mayor of Saint-Laurent-Sur-Mer, who staged a small remembrance around the Omaha Beach monument. “But still we had to do something. We had to mark it.”
The moment the sun broke over the ocean, the Omaha Beach theme from Saving Private Ryan blared across the sand for a few dozen locals and visitors dressed in vintage clothing.
The lack of a big international crowd was palpable, though.
The pandemic has wreaked havoc across the world, infecting 6.6 million people, killing over 391,000 and devastating economies. It poses a particular threat to the elderly — like the surviving D-Day veterans who are in their late nineties or older.
It has also affected the younger generations who turn out every year to mark the occasion. Most have been barred from traveling to the wind-swept coasts of Normandy.
MORE ---
OVER 50 IMAGES...
[...]
https://www.aol.com/normandy-beaches-largely-empty-d-140951051.html
Row upon row as far as the eye can see of white headstones - always a sad sight.
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
10,399 Photos
About... Protostream... Almums
https://www.flickr.com/photos/arlingtonnatl/with/49884159477/
U.S. Flag Etiquette, Rules, and Guidelines
How to Properly Display the American Flag
By The Editors
June 12, 2019
Many of our readers ask about American flag etiquette and the U.S. Flag Code. Here is a list of rules and guidelines for displaying the American flag and treating it with proper respect.
https://www.almanac.com/content/us-flag-etiquette-rules-and-guidelines#
NAZIS surrender, ending World War II in Europe:
AP Was There
Associated Press
May 6, 2020
REIMS, France (AP) — Nazi commanders signed their surrender to Allied forces in a French schoolhouse 75 years ago this week, ending World War II in Europe and the Holocaust. Unlike the mass street celebrations that greeted this momentous news in 1945, surviving veterans are marking V-E Day this year in coronavirus confinement, sharing memories with loved ones in private, instead of in the company of comrades on public parade.
Gen. Alfred Jodl, center, signs the unconditional surrender of all armed German forces on May 7, 1945. (AP Photo/File)
Associated Press reporters and photographers covered the war around the world, at great risk. Five AP journalists were killed, including correspondent Joe Morton, who was executed by the Nazis. On May 7, 1945, AP witnessed the Nazi surrender, and was the first to announce it to the Allied public, defying authorities who wanted to delay the momentous announcement.
Here are excerpts of AP news reports that day:
___
FLASH: ALLIES OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED GERMANS SURRENDERED UNCONDITIONALLY
___
BULLETIN: Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Western Allies and Russia at 2:41 a.m. French time today.
The AP news bulletin sent by Paris bureau chief Edward Kennedy.
__
REIMS, France: Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Western Allies and the Soviet Union at 2:41 a.m. French time today.
(This was at 8:41 p.m. Eastern War Time, Sunday May 6, 1945).
The surrender took place at a little red schoolhouse that is the headquarters of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The surrender was signed for Germany by Col. Gen. Alfred Jodl. Gen. Jodl is the new chief of staff of the German Army.
The surrender was signed for the Supreme Allied Command by Lt. Gen. Walter Beddel Smith, chief of staff for Gen. Eisenhower. It was also signed by Gen. Ivan Susloparov of the Soviet Union and by Gen. Francois Sevez for France.
Joy at the news was tempered only by the realization that the war against Japan remains to be resolved.
The end of the European warfare, the greatest, bloodiest and costliest war in human history — it has claimed at least 40 million casualties on both sides in killed, wounded and captured — came after five years, eight months and six days of strife that overspread the globe.
Hitler’s army invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, beginning the agony that convulsed the world for 2,319 days.
Gen. Eisenhower was not present at the signing, but immediately afterward Gen. Jodl and his fellow delegate Gen. Adm. Hans Georg Friedeburg were received by the supreme commander.
They were asked sternly if they understood the surrender terms imposed upon Germany, and if they would be carried out by Germany.
Representatives of German and Allied nations are present at the Supreme Allied Headquarters. (AP Photo/File)
They answered yes.
Germany, which began the war with a ruthless attack upon Poland, followed by successive aggressions and brutality in concentration camps, surrendered with an appeal to the victors for mercy toward the German people and armed forces.
After having signed the full surrender, Gen. Jodl said he wanted to speak, and received leave to do so.
“With this signature,” he said in soft-spoken German, “The German people and armed forces are for better or worse delivered into the victors’ hands.
“In this war, which has lasted more than five years, both have achieved and suffered more than perhaps any other people in the world.”
___
The great bells of St. Peter’s Basilica rang out over Rome soon after the Associated Press report that peace had come to Europe, while several Allied capitals proclaimed V-E holidays for today, and Tokyo announced continuation of “The Sacred War.”
Many of the world’s cities went wild at the news, and even neutral capitals were bedecked and filled with celebrating crowds. Masses of people gathered in front of loudspeakers and newspaper offices, which were frantically answering inquiries and rolling out extras.
Only in the unnatural calm of the European fronts was the news reported to have been taken soberly, by soldiers who had seen the fighting taper off in one sector after another for the past two weeks.
___
War-scarred London burst into jubilant celebration of the end of the war in Europe today, its millions of citizens unable to wait for the government’s official V-E Day proclamation tomorrow.
British civilians and Allied servicemen and servicewomen gather outside the American Red Cross club near Piccadilly Circus in London. (AP Photo/File)
Millions surged into the streets, from Buckingham Palace to the sedate East End.
The Picadilly Circus, Whitehall and Westminster areas filled with a laughing, shouting throng. Some old-timers said the scene eclipsed those of the 1918 armistice.
Pubs were jammed, Champagne was brought up from deep cellars and long-hoarded whisky and gin came out from hiding.
The great bells of Big Ben tolled the hours of the historic day.
___
In Paris, which lived through four years of German occupation to become a base for Supreme Allied Headquarters, the French government announced a two-day holiday.
France had special cause for satisfaction in having staged a comeback and won the right to share in accepting Germany’s surrender.
The Arc de Triomphe in Paris is swarmed by crowds celebrating Germany's unconditional surrender. (AP Photo/File)
In Washington, crowds gathered in Lafayette Square across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House in anticipation of an announcement by President Truman to proclaim Allied V-E Day.
A dispatch from the United States 9th Army front said withdrawal of American troops toward a previously established line of demarcation between them and the Russians had begun, with the first-move evacuation of the Yanks from their bridgehead of the banks of the Elbe River. The Elbe became the temporary line between the Allied armies.
Pfc. Clarence K. Ayers of Evansville, Indiana, reads the news of VE-Day as newly arrived German prisoners stand on a New York City pier. (AP Photo/John Rooney, File)
___
EDITORS NOTE: Edward Kennedy, then AP’s chief of bureau in Paris, was present at the surrender and was the first to report the end of the war in Europe to the United States and the world, bypassing the Allied political embargo.
The news was broadcast unofficially over German radio, but U.S. President Harry Truman and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had agreed to suppress news of the capitulation for a day, in order to allow Russian dictator Josef Stalin to stage a second surrender ceremony in Berlin.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, center, joins the royal family, from left, Princess Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth, King George VI, and Princess Margaret, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. (AP Photo, File)
Kennedy published anyway, angering U.S. authorities. The military suspended AP’s ability temporarily to dispatch any news from the European theater, and Kennedy was called home by AP and later fired.
AP issued a public apology in 2012, saying Kennedy “did everything just right,” because the embargo was for political reasons, not to protect the troops.
“The world needed to know,” AP’s then-President and CEO Tom Curley said. Kennedy ”stood up to power.”
___
Follow AP’s coverage marking the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe at https://apnews.com/WorldWarII
https://apnews.com/5fc2302405321db6d76d80eb39c5967b
_________
_________
'We just did our bit:' WWII vets recall war 75 years later
By DANICA KIRKAyesterday
LONDON (AP) — Seventy-five years after World War II ended in Europe, The Associated Press spoke to veterans who endured mortal danger, oppression and fear. As they mark Victory in Europe Day on...
today
https://apnews.com/9eff0dc8b3076f8aaeb8f3bd25c64224
How the US military compares to the rest of the world
With almost 3 million personnel, 4,800 defense sites on seven continents and an annual budget of more than $700 billion, the US military is considered the world's premier fighting force.
Source: CNN
2:00
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/01/10/us-military-world-comparison-orig-mg.cnn
Wow that's amazing Larry, good find
I heard about that Larry, thanks for the video.
Good News for a Viet Nam Vet >
75 years ago, Audie Murphy earned his Medal of Honor with nothing but a burning tank destroyer's .50 cal and insane bravery
Jared Keller
January 25, 2020 at 10:22 PM
On January 26, 1945, the most decorated U.S. service member of World War II earned his legacy in a fiery fashion.
Audie Murphy — then a second lieutenant commanding Company B of the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division — found himself surrounded by six German tanks and wave after wave of enemy infantry while fighting in Holtzwihr, France. Rather than retreat with his men, Murphy made a gutsy decision: He ordered his soldiers withdraw to the cover of nearby forest and set up their artillery while he remained at his forward command post to direct their fire.
Things quickly took a turn for the worse. A nearby Allied tank destroyer burst into flames following a direct hit from an enemy tank, its crew fleeing to the woods and leaving Murphy alone. But Murphy didn't shrink from the oncoming onslaught of German armor; instead, he mounted the burning tank destroyer and took on wave after wave of German infantry with nothing more than the vehicle's .50 caliber machine gun and superhuman determination.
From his Medal of Honor citation:
Yes. Time really does seem to pass faster as we get older.
Y/W. I enjoyed reading all those details too.
Thanks. It's hard to believe it's been 75 years!
WWII allies, Germany mark 75 yrs since Battle of the Bulge
AP
By RAF CASERT and MARK CARLSON
yesterday (December 16, 2019)
SLIDE SHOW
1 of 12
https://apnews.com/754480954e9587acd887dde548edf2b8
U.S. Battle of the Bulge veterans, front row, listen to the U.S. national anthem during a ceremony to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge at the Mardasson Memorial in Bastogne, Belgium on Monday, Dec. 16, 2019.
The Battle of the Bulge, also called Battle of the Ardennes, took place between Dec. 1944 and Jan. 1945 and was the last major German offensive on the Western Front during World War II. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
BASTOGNE, Belgium (AP) — Side by side, the Allies and former enemy Germany togethermarked the 75th anniversary of one of the most important battles in World War II — the Battle of the Bulge, which stopped Adolf Hitler’s last-ditch offensive to turn the tide of the war.
At dawn on Dec. 16, 1944, over 200,000 German soldiers started the most unexpected breakthrough through the dense woods of Belgium and Luxembourg’s hilly Ardennes. Making the most of the surprise move, the cold, freezing weather and wearied U.S. troops, the Germans pierced the front line so deeply it came to be known as the Battle of the Bulge.
Initially outnumbered, U.S. troops delayed the attack enough in fierce fighting to allow reinforcements to stream in and turn the tide of the battle by Christmas. After a month of fighting, the move into Germany was unstoppable.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper paid tribute to over 19,000 U.S. troops who died in one of the bloodiest battles in the nation’s history.
“Their efforts not only defended America but also ensured that the peoples of Europe would be free again,” Esper said, calling the Battle of the Bulge “one of the greatest in American history.”
U.S. Army veteran Malcolm “Buck” Marsh took the tributes in stride Monday as he addressed royalty, military leaders and top government officials.
“It is great to be here but I’m glad I’m not digging a foxhole,” Marsh said.
Bent, slow, yet sturdy, the veterans returning to the battlefield continued to amaze the crowds. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi marveled at the composure they must have had during the battle when many were still teenagers.
She said European leaders also lauded the grit and courage of soldiers who were so young - and yet so willing to fight for the freedom of others.
“I said, ‘Well, they didn’t come here because you were Americans. They came here because they were Americans. And that’s what we do,’ ” Pelosi told The Associated Press.
Even though German deaths also exceeded well over 10,000 in the battle that stretched deep into January, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier took special time to thank the U.S. troops.
“On this day, we Germans would like to thank the United States of America. The American armed forces, together with their allies, liberated Europe and they also liberated Germany. We thank you,” Steinmeier said.
“Those who died were victims of hatred, delusion, and a destructive fury that originated from my country,” he said.
Germany is now an ally of the United States and its wartime partners in NATO. During the poignant ceremonies at the star-shaped Mardasson memorial in Bastogne, the current discord between the United States and several European allies over trade and security were never mentioned.
Even if it was a relatively warm 6 degrees Celsius (43 F) as opposed to the shivering conditions 75 years ago, the commemoration took place under leaden skies and rain with fog hanging low.
Hitler had hoped the advance would change the course of World War II by forcing U.S. and British troops to sue for peace, thus freeing Germany to focus on the rapidly advancing Soviet armies in the east.
Out of the blue at dawn, over 200,000 German troops counter-attacked across the front line in Belgium and Luxembourg, smashing into battle-weary U.S. soldiers positioned in terrain as foreign to them as it was familiar to the Germans.
Yet somehow, the Americans blunted the advance and started turning back the enemy for good, setting Allied troops on a roll that would end the war in Europe less than five months later.
This battle gained fame not so much for the commanders’ tactics but for the resilience of small units hampered by poor communications that stood shoulder to shoulder to deny Hitler the quick breakthrough he so desperately needed. Even though the Americans were often pushed back, they were able to delay the German advance in its crucial initial stages.
“It was ultimately the intrepid, indomitable spirit of the American solider that brought victory,” Esper said.
When the fortunes of war turned, it was most visible in the southern Ardennes town of Bastogne, where surrounded U.S. troops were cut off for days with little ammunition or food.
When Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne received a Dec. 22 ultimatum to surrender or face total destruction, he offered one of the most famous — and brief — replies in military history: “”Nuts.” Four days later, U.S. troops broke the Nazi encirclement.
“News of their fierce defense quickly spread, boosting the morale of allied forces all along the Western Front,” Esper said.
After the fighting in the Battle of the Bulge ended on Jan. 28, 1945, Allied forces invaded Germany, eventually leading to the Nazi surrender and the end of the war in Europe.
___
Casert reported from Brussels. Photojournalist Virginia Mayo contributed from Hamm, Luxembourg.
https://apnews.com/754480954e9587acd887dde548edf2b8
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
75 years on, Battle of the Bulge memories bond people
AP NEWS
By RAF CASERT December 15, 2019
SLIDE SHOW
1 of 10
In this photo taken on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, U.S. Battle of the Bulge veteran Arthur Jacobson, left, and his family have a lunch in the dining room of Remember Museum 39-45 directors Marcel and Mathilde Schmetz in Thimister-Clermont, Belgium.
In the bucolic, verdant hills which were once among the worst killing grounds of WWII Marcel and Mathilde Schmetz have shared coffee and cake with countless veterans, telling stories that span generations. Veterans of the WWII Battle of the Bulge are heading back to mark, perhaps the greatest battle in U.S. military history, when 75-years ago Hitler launched a desperate attack deep through the front lines in Belgium and Luxembourg to be thwarted by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
THIMISTER-CLERMONT, Belgium (AP) — As a schoolboy three quarters of a century ago, Marcel Schmetz would regularly see open trucks rumble past to a makeshift American cemetery — filled with bodies, some headless, some limbless, blood seeping from the vehicles onto the roads that the U.S. soldiers had given their lives to liberate.
[...]
https://apnews.com/e9630f1003d650c02b287fac752bb733
very true
2 of my favorite days every year back-to-back !
MARINE CORPS BIRTHDAY
followed by
VETERANS DAY
https://www.newsweek.com/veterans-thank-you-service-veterans-day-support-1470776
It should be duly noted, as I type, that I'm watching
the MEDAL OF HONOR ceremony for Master Sgt. Matthew Williams
@ the White House …. on FOX !
It should also be duly noted, and spread far and wide....that
neither CNN nor MSNBC are covering the ceremony !
That's all you really need to know ---- make sure others do too !
Force funds risks national security, report says
The report, compiled by the U.S. Air Force and obtained by NBC News, details the importance of each of the 51 military projects chosen by the Trump administration to lose their funding.
Sept. 13, 2019, 9:40 AM CDT
By Courtney Kube
President Donald Trump's plan to pay for his proposed border wall by taking funds from more than four dozen Air Force military construction projects poses various national security risks for the U.S. armed forces, according to a report compiled by the U.S. Air Force.
The report, obtained by NBC News, details the importance of each of the 51 military projects chosen by the Trump administration to lose their funding, including construction of a new gate to address a growing security concern at an overseas U.S. base, projects to build facilities to safely store more than $1 billion in munitions overseas, and even replacing a boiler whose failure is "imminent" and could cause the evacuation of an entire base in Alaska.
President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in February .... https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-declare-national-emergency-obtain-billions-border-wall-n972021 ... in an effort to circumvent Congress and fund the wall he had promised to build along the U.S. border with Mexico, citing "an invasion of our country with drugs, with human traffickers, will all types of criminals and gangs."
At Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, the entry-control point at the main gate is "degrading and not properly configured to provide proper protection for pedestrian and vehicle passage," the Air Force report says, adding there has been a "higher threat environment" there since the U.S. began operating in Syria.
"Security breaches have increased since the base began Operation Inherent Resolve Support," the report says. "If not funded, the main gate remains vulnerable to hostile penetration in the midst of contingency operations and an increased terrorist threat."
The base has been at a heightened level of force protection since July 2015.
In the Pacific region, money for a project to build facilities to store more than $1 billion in munitions at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam was diverted to the wall, endangering the largest munitions stockpile in the region, according to the report.
Pacific Air Forces rely on the munitions stored at Andersen Air Force Base for both exercises and during combat operations in wartime. If the munitions are not properly stored, they may not be functional, affecting operations of fighter aircraft and bombers, the report says.
At Eielsen Air Force Base in Alaska, a boiler failure at a facility that provides all electrical power and steam heat for the base is "imminent," the report says. With temperatures as low as 65 degrees below zero, a failure would be devastating to facilities and the missions housed by them within hours." The base would be forced to evacuate within hours and once closed "would freeze and require millions of dollars of repair to return to usable conditions."
There is no guarantee the funds will automatically be backfilled, according to a congressional official and a U.S. defense official. The congressional official said the projects may be set back a year or more.
One of the major areas affected were military construction projects supporting the European Defense Initiative, a program intended to increase U.S. military presence in Europe to deter Russian aggression. In some cases, without the construction projects, the bases identified as part of the initiative cannot support the deployment of U.S. airmen or assets.
Projects to upgrade airfields in Germany, Luxembourg, Great Britain, Hungary and Slovakia have been shelved, leaving the bases unable to support U.S. and NATO airplanes. Construction of storage facilities and fuel supply has also been postponed, "directly limiting theater presence and impairing mission capability and readiness" and support to Operation Atlantic Resolve within Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, the report says.
The safety of one dozen F/A-22 aircraft and the supporting personnel at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, are at risk, because of aircraft firing engines inside shelters that are not adequately vented. The project would have upgraded hardened aircraft shelters for the attack aircraft, and without it they "will have no shelter facilities in case of enemy attack, making the assets vulnerable to destruction."
The Air Force submitted a list of all unobligated funds to the Office of the Secretary of Defense months ago, but only found out what projects would be affected when the list was released to Congress and the public last week, according to a congressional official and an Air Force official.
"We had no advanced notice of what projects they chose," the Air Force official said.
"These projects are still very important, and we continue to be committed to our allies and partners," Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek said.
Roughly $1.8 billion will be taken from projects in the continental United States and $1.8 billion from projects overseas. The $3.6 billion is expected to construct 175 miles of wall along the southern border.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/trump-s-plan-pay-border-wall-air-force-funds-risks-n1054091
World War II Fast Facts
CNN Library
Updated 9:39 AM ET, Sun September 2, 2018
Photos: World War II in 38 pictures
https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/09/world/world-war-ii-fast-facts/index.html
(omitted embedded links)
(CNN) - Here's a look at World War II, which lasted from 1939 to 1945.
Causes of World War II:
The Peace of Paris - The treaties worked out in Paris at the end of World War I satisfied few. Germany, Austria, and the other countries on the losing side of the war were especially unhappy with the Paris Agreement, which required them to give up arms and make reparations. Germany agreed to sign the Treaty of Versailles only after the victorious countries threatened to invade if Germany did not sign it. Germany made the last payment on reparations in 2010.
Economic Issues - World War I was devastating to countries' economies. Although the European economy had stabilized by the 1920s, the Great Depression in the United States led to economic downfall in Europe. Communism and fascism gained strength in the wake of economic problems.
See link for videos...
Related video: 75 years since outbreak of WWII 01:21
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Related video: Vets who fought on D-Day share memories 02:49
Nationalism - An extreme form of patriotism that grew in Europe became even stronger after World War I, especially for countries that were defeated.
Dictatorships - Political unrest and unfavorable economic conditions lead to the rise of dictatorships in countries such as Germany, Italy, Japan and the Soviet Union.
Failure of Appeasement - Czechoslovakia had become an independent nation after World War I, but by 1938, was surrounded by German territory. Hitler wanted to annex the Sudetenland, an area in western Czechoslovakia where many Germans lived. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain wanted to appease Hitler and agreed to his demands for the Sudetenland after Hitler promised he would not demand more territory. Hitler seized the rest of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939.
Axis Powers:
Germany, Japan, and Italy formed a coalition called the Axis Powers. Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and two German-created states--Croatia and Slovakia--eventually joined.
Major Players:
Germany - Adolf Hitler, Der Furher
Japan - Admiral Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister
Italy - Benito Mussolini, Prime Minister
Allied Powers:
The United States, Great Britain, China and the Soviet Union made up the Allies, the group fighting the Axis. Between 1939 and 1944 at least 50 nations would eventually fight together. Thirteen more nations would join by 1945 including: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, British Commonwealth of Nations, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Philippines and Yugoslavia.
Major Players:
United States - Franklin D. Roosevelt, President
Great Britain - Winston Churchill, Prime Minister
China - Chiang Kai-Shek, General
Soviet Union - Joseph Stalin, General
US Troop Statistics:
16,112,566 - Number of US troops that served in the conflict.
670,846 - Number of US wounded.
US Deaths:
Battle: 291,557
Non-Battle: 113,842
Total In-Theatre: 405,399
Other Military Casualties by Country 1939-1945 (selected):
Australia: 23,365 dead; 39,803 wounded
Austria: 380,000 dead; 350,117 wounded
Belgium: 7,760 dead; 14,500 wounded
Bulgaria: 10,000 dead; 21,878 wounded
Canada: 37,476 dead; 53,174 wounded
China: 2,200,000 dead; 1,762,000 wounded
France: 210,671 dead; 390,000 wounded
Germany: 3,500,000 dead; 7,250,000 wounded
Great Britain: 329,208 dead; 348,403 wounded
Hungary: 140,000 dead; 89,313 wounded
Italy: 77,494 dead; 120,000 wounded
Japan: 1,219,000 dead; 295,247 wounded
Poland: 320,000 dead; 530,000 wounded
Romania: 300,000 dead; wounded unknown
Soviet Union: 7,500,000 dead; 5,000,000 wounded
United States: 405,399 dead; 670,846 wounded
Other Facts:
About 70 million people fought in the armed forces of the Allied and Axis nations.
Finland never officially joined either the Allies or the Axis and was at war with the Soviet Union at the outbreak of World War II. Needing help in 1940, the Finnish joined forces with Nazi Germany to repel the Soviets. When peace between Finland the Soviet Union was declared in 1944, Finland joined with the Soviets to oust the Germans.
Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Sweden declared neutrality during the war.
The Soviet Union lost the most soldiers, in excess of seven million.
The number of civilian casualties in World War II may never be known. Many deaths were caused by bombing raids, massacres, starvation and other war-related causes.
It is believed that approximately six million Jewish people died in Nazi concentration camps during the war. Also killed were hundreds of thousands of Roma people and people with mental or physical disabilities.
The Lend-Lease Act was created to allow the United States to lend or lease weapons, equipment or raw materials to any nation fighting the Axis. Eventually, 38 nations received about $50 billion in aid. Most went to Great Britain and the Soviet Union.
In 1948, the United States created the Marshall Plan to help rebuild war torn Europe. Eventually, 18 nations received $13 billion in food, machinery and other goods.
In March of 1974, Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier still fighting the war, was found by a search party on the island of Lubang in the Philippines. After he is convinced the war is over by his former commanding officer, he is then flown to Manila and formally surrenders to President Ferdinand Marcos. Onoda died January 16, 2014, at the age of 91.
Timeline:
September 1, 1939 - Germany invades Poland. Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium and France soon fall into German control, until only the United Kingdom is left to face Germany.
June 10, 1940 - Italy joins the war on the side of Germany by declaring war against Britain (UK) and France. Fighting spreads to Greece and Northern Africa.
June 14, 1940 - German troops march into Paris.
July 1940-September 1940 - Germany and Great Britain fight an air war, the Battle of Britain, along the English coastline.
September 7, 1940-May 1941 - German bombing campaign of nightly air raids over London, known as the Blitz.
January 22, 1941 - British and Commonwealth troops take over the port city of Tobruk, Libya.
June 22, 1941 - Germany invades the Soviet Union.
September 1941 - Japanese troops invade Indochina.
December 7, 1941 - Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, destroying more than half of the fleet of aircraft, and damaging all eight battleships. Japan also attacks Clark and Iba airfields in the Philippines destroying over half of the US Army's aircraft there.
December 8, 1941 - Roosevelt delivers the "a date which will live in infamy" speech to Congress, and the US declares war on Japan. Japan invades Hong Kong, Guam, the Wake Islands, Singapore and British Malaya.
December 11, 1941 - Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.
By Christmas 1941 - Japan had taken Thailand, Guam, Hong Kong and Wake Island.
1942 - The Allies stop the Axis Powers' advance in Northern Africa and the Soviet Union.
February 1942 - Japan invades the Malay Peninsula. Singapore surrenders within a week.
June 4-6, 1942 - Japan's plans to invade the Hawaiian Islands, starting at Midway Island, but the United States cracks the code of the mission. Japan attacks Midway and loses four aircraft carriers and over 200 planes and pilots in the first clear victory for the United States.
August 19, 1942 - The battle for Stalingrad begins as Germany pushes further into Russia.
August 1942-February 1943 - US Marines fight for and hold the Pacific island of Guadalcanal.
October 23, 1942 - British troops push Axis troops into retreating to Tunisia in the Second Battle of El Alamein.
February 1, 1943 - The German troops in Stalingrad surrender, defeated in large part by the Soviet winter. The defeat marks the halt of Germany's eastbound advance.
July 10, 1943 - Allied forces land in Italy.
July 25, 1943 - The King of Italy is restored to full power, and Mussolini is deposed and arrested.
Related video: Stephen Colbert's emotional D-Day story 06:44
Related video: A timeline of World War II 03:29
Related video: Viewing WWII through a soldier's lens 03:01
November 1943-March 1944 - US Marines invade the Solomon Islands at Bougainville to recapture it from the Japanese.
June 6, 1944 - D-Day, in which Allied forces land on five beaches at Normandy: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. The landing includes over 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes and over 150,000 service men.
August 25, 1944 - American and Free French forces liberate Paris.
January 27, 1945 - Soviet troops liberate the Auschwitz camp complex, located near Krakow, Poland.
February 19-March 26, 1945 - US Marines battle the Japanese for the island of Iwo Jima.
April 12, 1945 - Roosevelt dies in Warm Springs, Georgia. Vice President Harry Truman takes the oath of office as president.
April 25, 1945 - Soviet troops surround Berlin.
April 28, 1945 - Mussolini is killed attempting to escape to Switzerland.
April 29, 1945 - US soldiers liberate the Dachau concentration camp outside of Munich, Germany.
April 30, 1945 - Hitler and wife Eva Braun commit suicide.
May 7, 1945 - Germany surrenders in a red school house in Reims, Germany, Eisenhower's headquarters. V-E Day is celebrated on May 8 because that was the day the armistice went into effect.
May 8, 1945 - V-E Day, Victory in Europe. The war in Europe is officially over.
July 16, 1945 - First successful test of the atomic bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
July 29, 1945 - Truman warns Japan that the country will be destroyed if it does not surrender unconditionally. Japan continues fighting.
August 6, 1945 - The first atomic bomb used in warfare, nicknamed Little Boy, is dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing up to 140,000 people.
August 9, 1945 - After getting no response from the Japanese government after the Hiroshima bombing, a second atomic bomb, nicknamed Fat Man, is dropped on Nagasaki, killing up to 80,000 people.
August 14, 1945 - Japan unconditionally agrees to accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and end the war. V-J Day, Victory over Japan, is declared.
September 2, 1945 - Japan signs the formal surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/09/world/world-war-ii-fast-facts/index.html
- - - - - - - - -
U P D A T E :
German President asks for forgiveness 80 years after start of World War II
By Laura Perez Maestro, Amy Woodyatt, Duarte Mendonca and Jamie Crawford, CNN
Updated 2:36 PM ET, Sun September 1, 2019
(CNN)Germany's President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has asked for Poland's forgiveness 80 years after the start of World War II.
"I stand before you, those who have survived, before the descendants of the victims, the old and the young residents of Wielun, I am humbled and grateful," Steinmeier said during a ceremony in the Polish city of Wielun, the site of one of the first Nazi bombings in the country on September 1, 1939.
"I bow to the victims of the attack in Wielun, I pay tribute to the Polish victims of German tyranny and I ask for forgiveness," he said.
Nearly 6 million Poles died during World War II, which remains the bloodiest conflict in history.
More than 50 million people were killed in the conflict overall, including some 6 million Jews, half of whom were Polish.
At a ceremony in Warsaw, Polish President Andrzej Duda spoke of the atrocious history suffered by Polish people during WWII and the "trauma" that they still carry today.
Related article: By the Numbers: World War II
https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/02/world/btn-end-of-wwii/index.html
The Polish President remembered the fallen and thanked the soldiers "who fought and sacrificed their lives for freedom."
In an address on Sunday morning in Westerplatte, Gdansk, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke of the huge material, spiritual, economic and financial losses Poland suffered in the war.
"We have to talk, we have to remember about the loses we suffered, we have to demand the truth, we have to demand compensation," Morawiecki said.
War reparations remain a contentious issue in Poland -- since coming to power in 2015, the Law and Justice (PiS) party has revived calls for compensation, Reuters reported. Germany made the last payment on reparations in 2010.
US Vice President Mike Pence spoke in Warsaw on Sunday at the commemoration ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of Germany's invasion of Poland. Two days later, on September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
"During the five decades of untold suffering and death that followed the outbreak of World War II, the Polish people never lost hope, they never gave in to despair, and they never let go of their thousand-year history," Pence said.
"In the years that followed this day 80 years ago, their light shone in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it," he added.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/01/europe/germany-poland-ww2-forgiveness-grm-intl/index.html
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By the Numbers: End of World War II
By Michelle Hall, CNN Library
Updaed 4:05 PM ET, Mon September 2, 2013
U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur, bottom right, prepares to accept Japan's unconditional surrender on September 2, 1945.
When Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, it was the second time the world went to war. With the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945, World War II was over.
Here is some background information about the end of World War II, by the numbers.
3 -- Nations leading the Axis Powers at the start of World War II: Germany, Italy and Japan.
4 -- Nations leading the Allied Powers: Great Britain, the United States, the USSR (Soviet Union) and China.
September 1, 1939 -- Germany invades Poland
December 7, 1941 -- Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and Manila, Philippines.
September 3, 1943 -- Day Italy signs an unconditional surrender with the Allied Powers in Sicily.
June 6, 1944 -- D-Day, the Allied invasion of Europe
50 feet -- Depth underground of the bunker in which Adolf Hitler and partner Eva Braun committed suicide below the Chancellery in Berlin on April 30, 1945.
May 8, 1945 -- V-E Day (Victory in Europe), after Gen. Alfred Jodl of the German High Command signs the unconditional surrender of all German forces.
2 -- Atomic bombs dropped on Japan in August 1945.
August 14, 1945 -- V-J Day (Victory in Japan), when the Japanese accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and unconditionally surrendered.
September 2, 1945 - Day the Japanese delegation formally signs the instrument of surrender on board the USS Missouri, marking the official ending of World War II.
2,194 -- Days between the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, through September 2, 1945, when Japan signs the unconditional surrender.
4 -- Flags flown on the USS Missouri -- those of United States, Great Britain, USSR and China -- when the surrender papers are signed.
255 -- Allied ships in Tokyo Bay for the surrender ceremony.
18 minutes -- Time it took for representatives of Japan, the United States, China, Great Britain, the USSR, Australia, Canada, France, The Netherlands and New Zealand to each sign two copies of the Instrument of Surrender, from 9:04 a.m. to 9:22 a.m.
16 million -- Americans who serve during World War II.
73,661 -- The number, as of May 2013, Americans classified as missing in action in World War II.
26.6 million -- Estimated number of casualties, military and civilian, suffered by the USSR.
10 million-20 million -- Estimated number of casualties, military and civilian, suffered by China from the fall of Manchuria in 1931 through the end of World War II.
6 million -- Approximate number of people killed in Nazi concentration camps.
https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/02/world/btn-end-of-wwii/index.html
75 Years Ago Today; The Liberation of Paris
The Liberation of Paris (also known as the Battle for Paris and Belgium; French: Libération de Paris) was a military battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been ruled by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Second Compiègne Armistice on 22 June 1940, after which the Wehrmacht occupied northern and western France.
The liberation began when the French Forces of the Interior—the military structure of the French Resistance—staged an uprising against the German garrison upon the approach of the US Third Army, led by General George Patton. On the night of 24 August, elements of General Philippe Leclerc's 2nd French Armored Division made their way into Paris and arrived at the Hôtel de Ville shortly before midnight. The next morning, 25 August, the bulk of the 2nd Armored Division and US 4th Infantry Division entered the city. Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison and the military governor of Paris, surrendered to the French at the Hôtel Meurice, the newly established French headquarters. General Charles de Gaulle of the French Army arrived to assume control of the city as head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic.
[...]
German soldiers at the Hôtel Majestic, headquarters for the Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, the German High Military Command in France. They requested that they be made prisoner only by the military and surrendered to Battalion Chief Jacques Massu of the 2e DB
Victory parades (26 and 29 August)
The day after de Gaulle's speech, Leclerc's French 2nd Armored Division paraded down the Champs-Élysées. A few German snipers were still active, and ones from rooftops in the Hôtel de Crillon area shot at the crowd while de Gaulle marched down the Champs Élysées and entered the Place de la Concorde.
General de Gaulle and his entourage proudly stroll down the Champs Élysées to Notre Dame Cathedral for a Te Deum ceremony following the city's liberation on 25 August 1944.
A British AFPU photographer kisses a child before cheering crowds in Paris, 26 August 1944
The U.S. 28th Infantry Division on the Champs Élysées in the "Victory Day" parade on 29 August 1944.
On 29 August, the U.S. Army's 28th Infantry Division, which had assembled in the Bois de Boulogne the previous night, paraded 24-abreast up the Avenue Hoche to the Arc de Triomphe, then down the Champs Élysées. Joyous crowds greeted the Americans as the entire division, men and vehicles, marched through Paris "on its way to assigned attack positions northeast of the French capital."
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212407898
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_of_Paris
History not forgotten
Japan's Emperor And Prime Minister Mark WWII Surrender In Contrasting Annual Rituals
August 15, 20193:34 AM ET
Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako bow during a memorial service marking the 74th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II at the Nippon Budokan Hall on Thursday in Tokyo.
Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
Japan's new emperor followed in his father's footsteps, expressing "deep remorse" for his country's role in World War II as part of an annual ceremony marking its surrender, while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe followed another recent tradition on Thursday – sending an offering to the Yasukuni shrine that honors, among others, some of Japan's most notorious war criminals.
In a speech marking the 74th anniversary of Japan announcing its surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, Emperor Naruhito, who acceded to the throne in May, continued an annual ritual begun by his father, Emperor Akihito, in 2015, by expressing contrition for Japan's central role in the bloodshed.
"Looking back on the long period of postwar peace, reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse, I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never be repeated," Naruhito said in a speech at Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo against a backdrop of yellow chrysanthemums.
Beginning in the 1930s, Japan embarked on a brutal war of expansion that eventually engulfed much of Asia and led to the deaths of millions. Between three and 10 million Chinese civilians were killed by Japanese forces in a more than decade-long occupation of Chinese Manchuria alone. Korea, which had become a Japanese colony by 1910, was exploited as a pool for conscripted labor, including Korean "comfort women," who were forced to work as prostitutes for Japanese soldiers.
An activist holds a Japanese national flag as he visits the Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday in Tokyo.
Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
Yasukuni, founded in 1869, honors Japan's war dead including a chief architect of Japan's World War II expansion, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, and more than 1,000 other convicted war criminals.
Although Japan's emperors, including Akihito's father, Emperor Hirohito — who reigned during World War II and until his death in 1989 — have long refused to visit the controversial Yasukuni shrine, Japan's politicians have shown less reluctance. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited several times and Abe went there in 2013.
Thousands of ordinary Japanese also visit the shrine each year.
In recent years, however, Abe has chosen instead to send ritual offerings to the shrine without actually visiting, in deference to the sensitivities of China and South Korea.
In recent weeks, relations between Japan and South Korea have hit a low point, with a tit-for-tat trade dispute that saw Tokyo earlier this week impose export controls on South Korea and Seoul retaliate with removing Japan's most-favored nation trade status.
In South Korea, where the surrender also marks the end of Japanese occupation of the peninsula and is celebrated as a national holiday, President Moon Jae-in on Thursday struck a note of conciliation over the dispute with Japan.
"Only when we work together will we be able to achieve joint growth that is sustainable," Moon said in a nationally televised speech.
"If Japan chooses the path of dialogue and cooperation, we will gladly join hands," Moon added.
Last year, a South Korean court ordered Japanese firms to compensate Koreans who were forced to work for them during World War II, raising tensions between the two U.S. allies.
Tokyo maintains that the issue of compensation was settled in a 1965 agreement to settle property claims after the war, in which Japan offered financial aid to Seoul.
Japanese government sources, quoted by Kyodo, said on Wednesday that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had expressed support for Japan's position.
https://www.npr.org/2019/08/15/751354135/japans-emperor-and-prime-minister-mark-wwii-surrender-in-contrasting-annual-ritu
Here ya' go buddy --- register and JOIN to
tell your story !
https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/62034/president-secretary-host-mission-act-conference-call-tuesday-6-25/
Supreme Court: WWI memorial cross doesn't violate church-state clause
UPI 12:13 PM ET 6/20/2019
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Thursday that a large concrete cross in suburban Washington, D.C., that honors veterans of World War I does not violate the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and state.
The vote overturns a 2017 decision by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that said the 40-foot cross must be reshaped or removed from the public land. The cross, privately funded by the American Legion and other groups, has stood on the land in Bladensburg, Md., since 1925. The Maryland National-Capital Park and Planning Commission took over maintenance of the memorial in 1961.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the court opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Stephen Breyer, Neil Gorsuch, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor joined in dissent.
Alito acknowledged the cross is a "pre-eminent Christian symbol," but said its use in the context of honoring war dead has long had a secular meaning and does not violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
"For nearly a century, the Bladensburg Cross has expressed the community's grief at the loss of the young men who perished, its thanks for their sacrifice, and its dedication to the ideals for which they fought," Alito wrote.
"Its removal or radical alteration at this date would be seen by many not as a neutral act but as the manifestation of a hostility toward religion that has no place in our Establishment Clause traditions."
Kavanaugh said while the decision allows the cross to stay on public land, it doesn't require its placement there.
"The Maryland legislature could enact new laws requiring removal of the cross or transfer of the land," he wrote. "The Maryland governor or other state or local executive officers may have the authority to do so under current Maryland law. ... Those alternative avenues of relief illustrate a fundamental feature of our constitutional structure: This court is not the only guardian of individual rights in America."
Ginsburg argued in her dissent the cross can't be separated from its religious meaning.
"As I see it, when a cross is displayed on public property, the government may be presumed to endorse its religious content," she wrote. "The venue is surely associated with the state; the symbol and its meaning are just as surely associated exclusively with Christianity."
Copyright 2019 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.
Photos: Rare color footage brings D-Day memories alive, 75 years later
Associated Press
In 1944, Hollywood director George Stevens recorded the D-Day invasion with color film for his own personal journal.
Here's a look at that footage, 75 years later.
Jun 5, 2019 Updated Jun 6, 2019
D-Day in color
https://qctimes.com/news/archives/photos-rare-color-footage-brings-d-day-memories-alive-years/collection_aded4104-a4a3-54d5-ae03-1164f8ad7e4b.html#1
CORRECTS TO SAY PATTON, LEFT, AND MONTGOMERY, CENTER RIGHT WITH A BERET HAT - U.S. Army Gen. George Patton, left, with a pearl-handled pistol, talks to British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, center right with the beret hat, and other British officers in France during World War II. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories.
They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
U.S. military vehicles and soldiers march down the Champs-Elysees after the liberation of Paris.
Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
D-Day 75th Anniversary
The Associated Press is documenting stories of the surviving D-Day soldiers, their fallen comrades and those working to keep the memories alive today
https://apnews.com/WorldWarII
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Foe, now friend: Germans find place at D-Day sites in France
https://apnews.com/ca6a751915ea4e1486ff630d1a99691e
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Photo gallery: D-Day, 75 years ago
https://www.politico.com/gallery/2019/06/04/photos-d-day-75-years-later-003182?slide=21
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World News -- 'Bravery and sacrifice': Queen Elizabeth and world leaders applaud D-Day veterans
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dday-anniversary-britain/thank-you-queen-elizabeth-and-world-leaders-applaud-d-day-veterans-idUSKCN1T5328
God bless our D-Day warriors and all those brave patriots
who gave their all on this day!
Y/W. I enjoyed posting the info.
Thanks for posting that.
D-Day 75th Anniversary - 6th June 2019.
Compiled by DDAY.CENTER, the most comprehensive list of events to remember D-Day and the Battle of Normandy
http://www.dday-anniversary.com/
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THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY
https://www.dday.org/
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D-Day at 75: The faces of the men who fought at Normandy
The Associated Press May 24, 2019
https://www.journalnow.com/news/trending/d-day-at-the-faces-of-the-men-who-fought/article_a087d988-e744-55e5-831d-c2f2a6317d70.html#4
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Normandy prepares for 75th anniversary of D-day landings
More than 2 million remembrance tourists expected to join veterans and world leaders for commemorations
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/22/normandy-prepares-for-75th-anniversary-of-d-day-landings
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D-Day -- History.com Editors
Updated on May 23, 2019
Contents
1. Preparing for D-Day https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day#section_1
2. A Weather Delay: June 5, 1944 https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day#section_3
3. D-Day Landings: June 6, 1944 https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day#section_4
4. Victory in Normandy https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day#section_5
During World War II (1939-1945), the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control.
Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region.
The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. Prior to D-Day, the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target. By late August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring the Allies had defeated the Germans.
The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe.
READ MORE: D-Day Facts About the Epic Invasion
https://www.history.com/news/d-day-normandy-wwii-facts
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day
Well done, Larry !
Today, we honor the fallen.
" Happy-Memorial-Day, ALL No-Libbers " ..!!
WE will hit 90degs & all clear here in Louisville .. Am staying IN ...
((( " Sooo Well-Done ))) >
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This board is for all things Military
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