WWII, Truman, and the bomb

mjmaherjr said:
Was down at my relatives deep in the farmland of Maryland last weekend ( the 4 closest towns populations 400-2000 ) and my uncle and I went to the vfw to hang out because basically between those 4 towns there are only 2 bars to go to and the vfw has one of them. Anyway we walk in and my Uncle basically is friends with everyone there so he's introducing me to all of them and we are hanging out and what struck me is like my grandpop all their dads or grandads were in WW2 and all of them obviously served at various times. Some of them had stories from their dads or grandads about WW2. It was really interesting hearing some stories that they knew about WW2. Truly as has been said the greatest generation
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I am deeply appreciative of what Paul has done but threads like this energize the board and I miss them. Beast and I have spent time talking politics and society from very different points of view and it was profoundly educational for me.

My dad went to enlist and when they asked him what he did for a living he said he designed and manufactured heavy machinery. Got pulled out of line at Whitehall Street and spent the war troubleshooting manufacture of the Norden bomb site and anti-submarine depth charge fuses all around the US which is how I wound up living in Arkansas in the early 50's.
 
MainMan said:
Nowhere is this seen better than in the 2019 film "A Hidden Life," which tells the true story of Catholic Franz Jaegerstaetter who publicly resisted the Nazi occupation of his Austrian town and was executed for resisting conscription into the German Army.

He was later beatified by the church.

It's a Terrence Mallick film and either you love his work or you don't. I'm among the latter. It's long and slow but it packs a punch.

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Oph, I meant former. I'm a huge Mallick fan even if his films are 90% beautiful landscape shots and 10% dialogue.
 
MainMan said:
Oph, I meant former. I'm a huge Mallick fan even if his films are 90% beautiful landscape shots and 10% dialogue.
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I barely remember anything about The Thin Red Line other than the sound of wind through the grass. Or maybe that was The New World. I did leave the theater really liking both a lot though.
 
bucketshardy said:
bucketshardy said:
I have hopped around a bit to diff chapters in the New Testament- but does anyone know if Jesus ever speaks to war?
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Yes, he was against it. And he would have twice been against dropping nukes on the Japanese. Similarly, I believe that my other heroes Dr. King, Ghandi, Mandela and Penn would have also been against it as I like to believe I would too if alive in the 40's. Only one nation in the history of the world has ever executed the atrocity of dropping nukes on civilians...and it us. We own that. Nobody wants to see their nation, or more accurately, their government, as evil. I fully understand the need/desire to rationalize/spin it in a positive manner through conjecture about what might have happened and/or the "good" it might have brought about. I just have difficulty seeing it that way.
 
carmineabbatiello said:
Yes, he was against it. And he would have twice been against dropping nukes on the Japanese. Similarly, I believe that my other heroes Dr. King, Ghandi, Mandela and Penn would have also been against it as I like to believe I would too if alive in the 40's. Only one nation in the history of the world has ever executed the atrocity of dropping nukes on civilians...and it us. We own that. Nobody wants to see their nation, or more accurately, their government, as evil. I fully understand the need/desire to rationalize/spin it in a positive manner through conjecture about what might have happened and/or the "good" it might have brought about. I just have difficulty seeing it that way.
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The key phrase is “if alive in the 40’s”, I respect your “I like to believe I would” because the idea of judging the past by applying current values is idiotic IMO.
 
American POWs in WWII

POWs in American History: A Synopsis - Andersonville National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)

Prisoners of War in American History
www.nps.gov www.nps.gov

A reasoned perspective on Christianity and War:

www.gotquestions.org

What does the Bible say about war? | GotQuestions.org

What does the Bible say about war? Does the Bible condemn or condone war? Under what circumstances is it right for one nation to go to war against another nation?
www.gotquestions.org

The Catholic Catechism and War:

classicalliberalarts.com

What does the Catechism of the Catholic Church teach about War?

With children and friends in the US military, we hear news of possible conflicts deployments. These reports lead to discussions about politics and war, which c
classicalliberalarts.com

classicalliberalarts.com

What does the Catechism of the Catholic Church teach about War?

With children and friends in the US military, we hear news of possible conflicts deployments. These reports lead to discussions about politics and war, which c
classicalliberalarts.com

I'd think it best maybe not to discuss religion here. I'm not sure how the mods view religion discussions and for certain political discussions are banned.

If the thread continues, let's avoid references to political figures. Just my interpretation.
 
odds and sods
I have given lectures on civil war prisons. many protestant pastors and their flock went to the pow prisons and helped their "enemy".
in the first 2 weeks of sept 1939, the nazis murdered in cold blood, dozens of Catholic priests.
I have traveled in areas of the south pacific that were controlled by the japs in WW 2.
many, many ultra horror stories were told to me by those islanders about jap atrocities.
so if you witnessed in the 40s, of what was told to me - you would have seen ghandi throw up.
 
Keeping the WW2 topic anyone have any top 5 favorite WW2 movies not including Patton Midway Saving Private Ryan ? Heard some foreign movie called Sisu recently was excellent
 
mjmaherjr said:
Keeping the WW2 topic anyone have any top 5 favorite WW2 movies not including Patton Midway Saving Private Ryan ? Heard some foreign movie called Sisu recently was excellent
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Did you watch Greyhound when that came out? It was pretty freaking nerve-racking.
 
Dirty Dozen, Best Years of Our Lives, The Purple Heart, Twelve o'clock High, Longest Day.

Best thing on film: Band of Brothers.
 
Knight said:
Dirty Dozen, Best Years of Our Lives, The Purple Heart, Twelve o'clock High, Longest Day.

Best thing on film: Band of Brothers.
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band of brothers is my overall favorite ever. second episode I think called end of days when they land one was my favorite out of all of them. Schwimmer in there first " Curahee " he was fantastic

Purple Heart and twelve o'clock high I don't think I've seen so thanks for that !
 
Always loved The Thin Red Line.
It's long and slow moving, but its battle scenes are incredible and the philosophical banter about the nature of evil, grace and the afterlife hit me in the gut.
 
mjmaherjr said:
band of brothers is my overall favorite ever. second episode I think called end of days when they land one was my favorite out of all of them. Schwimmer in there first " Curahee " he was fantastic

Purple Heart and twelve o'clock high I don't think I've seen so thanks for that !
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My favorite episode of Band of Brothers was about Captain Winters telling Easy Company, at a mission briefing, that the follow night’s raid plan was the same as the previous night, with no changes. He then told the Company to get a good night sleep and report back that they had no success on the mission. He disobeyed his orders, to protect his men.
 
Recently binge watched The Pacific on Max. Like Band of Brothers, except Marines taking the islands in the Pacific. Have to believe the Japanese were far more brutal and barbaric than the Nazis.
 
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