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R.IP. Capt. Theodore VanKirk
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Tedlark
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Re: R.IP. Capt. Theodore VanKirk
He flew with one of my uncles Double L.
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Minn. Fatz
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A Department of State assessment? Are these the same folks that were in charge of securing American personnel in Benghazi?
It's the Department of State Historian's Office. They put out the Foreign Relations of the United States series as the information is declassified and do special reports like the one cited to answer questions like did Truman want to beat the Japanese or impress the Russians.
The unfortunate fact is that the many U.S. diplomats overseas depend on the host country for security, just as their diplomats here depend on us. 'Course in many cases we're more dependable. And a history of insufficient funding for the State Department's budget -- there are probably more musicians in the uniformed services than there are diplomats at State -- courtesy of the U.S. Congress didn't help the situation.
There's certainly plenty of blame to go around for the latest deaths of U.S. diplomats overseas. But as long as the U.S. has interests in every nation of the world and sends diplomats to help guarantee those interests, they will be attacked and sometimes killed. Having known several who were attacked in different circumstances, and one, an ex-Marine, who gave his life saving a woman from drowning and whose name is on the memorial wall at Foggy Bottom, I honor them all.
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BillyJoe
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[QUOTE=billyjoe]
A Department of State assessment? Are these the same folks that were in charge of securing American personnel in Benghazi?
It's the Department of State Historian's Office. They put out the Foreign Relations of the United States series as the information is declassified and do special reports like the one cited to answer questions like did Truman want to beat the Japanese or impress the Russians.
[/QUOTE]
But that is an interpretation by someone today, not a statement made by anyone then, like on a "Nixon Tape".
Sorry, but I have a bit of mistrust for government agencies that may have a current political agenda.
A Department of State assessment? Are these the same folks that were in charge of securing American personnel in Benghazi?
It's the Department of State Historian's Office. They put out the Foreign Relations of the United States series as the information is declassified and do special reports like the one cited to answer questions like did Truman want to beat the Japanese or impress the Russians.
[/QUOTE]
But that is an interpretation by someone today, not a statement made by anyone then, like on a "Nixon Tape".
Sorry, but I have a bit of mistrust for government agencies that may have a current political agenda.
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olds442jetaway
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- Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:08 pm
[QUOTE=Tedlark] R.I.P. Capt. Theodore VanKirk, navigator, Enola Gay. You performed your duty and rest easy knowing that you saved more lives by doing your duty.
Thanks for honoring Capt. VanKirk. He along with thousands of other veterans deserve our appreciation and thanks. I really enjoyed talking to an old WWII Navy vet last week at Coushatta. He and my dad had both served in the Pacific. I'm glad to see how many vets are now wearing caps so I can thank them for their service.[/QUOTE]
Agreed and he certainly needs to be honored and remembered. I am fortunate in that for now, I get to see and talk to my own WW2 hero, my dad. 90 years young and he still has his own yankee sense of humor too. Sometime in another format if anyone is interested, I can retell some of the more humorous stories from that time as he tells them to me. Sometimes a good sense of humor is the only thing that kept them going in those times. I also can tell one story about my mom who I also have thank God who processed German prisoners some still in uniform on an old Underwood typewriter. That was my first one too. But for now RIP our hero who helped save so many lives though some will never realize it.
Thanks for honoring Capt. VanKirk. He along with thousands of other veterans deserve our appreciation and thanks. I really enjoyed talking to an old WWII Navy vet last week at Coushatta. He and my dad had both served in the Pacific. I'm glad to see how many vets are now wearing caps so I can thank them for their service.[/QUOTE]
Agreed and he certainly needs to be honored and remembered. I am fortunate in that for now, I get to see and talk to my own WW2 hero, my dad. 90 years young and he still has his own yankee sense of humor too. Sometime in another format if anyone is interested, I can retell some of the more humorous stories from that time as he tells them to me. Sometimes a good sense of humor is the only thing that kept them going in those times. I also can tell one story about my mom who I also have thank God who processed German prisoners some still in uniform on an old Underwood typewriter. That was my first one too. But for now RIP our hero who helped save so many lives though some will never realize it.
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Minn. Fatz
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No doubt about it, a highly trained and professional member of a top-notch crew chosen for a unique and dangerous mission.
There's also little doubt that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki cost fewer lives overall, and much fewer U.S. lives, than the other alternatives available for forcing Japan to surrender unconditionally. The one incendiary raid on Tokyo took some 100,000 Japanese lives, compared to a top estimate of 249,000 for the two A-bombings. There's no telling how many Japanese might have died from the effects of a lengthy and costly blockade of the home islands; an invasion would surely have been orders of magnitude more costly.
But there's also little doubt that the bombings, which brought the war to a swift conclusion, limited any gains Russia -- which had agreed to enter the Pacific theater in August 1945 -- could have made in the region, and that that was also a consideration in the decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan. Whatever qualms anyone had about opening a nuclear era did not register in Truman's, or his top aide's, minds. And in the event, the short-lived U.S. atomic monopoly had little influence on Russian behavior on either side of the Iron Curtain.
Possibly a less than unconditional surrender might have saved those 249,000 lives, but such a step was unthinkable after years of bloody war, not to mention multiple public declarations from the Allies that nothing less would do.
There's also little doubt that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki cost fewer lives overall, and much fewer U.S. lives, than the other alternatives available for forcing Japan to surrender unconditionally. The one incendiary raid on Tokyo took some 100,000 Japanese lives, compared to a top estimate of 249,000 for the two A-bombings. There's no telling how many Japanese might have died from the effects of a lengthy and costly blockade of the home islands; an invasion would surely have been orders of magnitude more costly.
But there's also little doubt that the bombings, which brought the war to a swift conclusion, limited any gains Russia -- which had agreed to enter the Pacific theater in August 1945 -- could have made in the region, and that that was also a consideration in the decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan. Whatever qualms anyone had about opening a nuclear era did not register in Truman's, or his top aide's, minds. And in the event, the short-lived U.S. atomic monopoly had little influence on Russian behavior on either side of the Iron Curtain.
Possibly a less than unconditional surrender might have saved those 249,000 lives, but such a step was unthinkable after years of bloody war, not to mention multiple public declarations from the Allies that nothing less would do.
