Thank you for Friday”s insightful article on Paul Roe. As a nation we need those reminders of the quiet, humble giants who walk in our midst. I also think we are well served to put the atom bomb attacks and the 200,000 casualties in their proper historical context.
In 1945, American planners for Operations Olympic and Coronet, the invasion of the Japanese home islands, expected 120,000 American casualties every month for at least a year, including between 300,000 to 800,000 dead. Estimates of Japanese casualties range from 5 million to 10 million, mostly dead because the Japanese seldom surrendered. With a task of this magnitude facing this nation is it any wonder the cover of the July 23, 1945 Time Magazine quotes Admiral “Bull” Halsey”s admonition to every soldier and sailor, “Kill Japs, kill Japs, and then kill more Japs.” Men like Roe lived in the middle of a season of destruction and killing with the worst just ahead, quietly waiting behind every wall and door in the land of the rising sun.
Of the 70 millions of souls lost in World War II, not discounting the additional millions disabled physically and mentally, estimates of civilians killed by Imperial Japan range from 5 million to 25 million, mainly in China, Korea, Indochina and Indonesia. Likewise, civilian victims of Nazi Germany number at least 20 million. Military dead numbered around 25 million with millions more wounded. For the six years of war, the butcher”s bill averaged about 32,000 per day and 420,000 Americans gave their last full measure of devotion to our country ? and to us.
In the calculus of ?World War II, Aug. 6 and 9, turn out to be a little higher than average. But in the end, our fathers and grandfathers didn”t have to wade through the bodies of 10 million Japanese. Maybe that”s why Roe proudly smiles when he shares experiences.
Chris Nowak
Kelseyville
