If Diane Feinstein and John McCain had been governing the U.S. during World War II, today we would be speaking German and worshipping the divine Shinto Emperor. Instead Americans look back with heartfelt gratitude at “the Greatest Generation” of men and women who defeated the Nazis and Japanese. Here are a few of the encomiums to Tom Brokaw’s influential book, The Greatest Generation:
“Mr. Brokaw has composed a sweeping tribute to Americans who saved the world: the citizen heroes and heroines who, during World War II, put themselves on the line. . . . We who followed this generation have lived in the midst of greatness.” The Washington Times
“Brokaw’s ‘greatest generation’ produced greatness in its own way and, in doing so, made the ordinary extraordinary.” The Boston Globe
“A generation of remarkable Americans—our better angels” Ken Burns
“A moving, admittedly patriotic, testament to brave men and women who quite literally saved our skins.” Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)
“…a spell is cast upon the reader reminding us, in our cynical and fragmented age, that with enough collective energy and spirit anything can be accomplished.” Doris Kearns Goodwin
So how, exactly, did the Greatest Generation apply its universally-lauded “collective energy and spirit” to defeat the evil enemies of America and the free world—the Nazis who killed 8 million Jews and other innocents, the Japanese who in the course of conquering much of East Asia slaughtered an estimated 200,000 Chinese in the murderous Rape of Nanking?
Answer: by bombing to smithereens hundreds of thousands of Germans and Japanese, many of them civilians. No “water boarding,” no “close confinement,” no sleep depravation, diaper wearing, or snarling dogs—and no second guessing by hypocritical Congressional Committees. Just hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers and civilians slaughtered by courageous heroes of the Greatest Generation, now lauded by the likes of The Boston Globe, Ken Burns and Doris Kearns Goodwin. Here are some of the military activities these liberal stalwarts are implicitly praising:
In February 1945 British and U.S. Air Forces dropped more than 3,900 tons of bombs on Dresden, Germany. Death toll of the Dresden Firebombing: 23,000-25,000.
During the War allied forces conducted 363 air raids on Berlin; by 1945 40% of the population had fled. After the War, the U.S. estimated that “strategic bombing” killed 305,000 Germans (the vast majority civilians) and wounded another 780,000. More than 7,000,000 German civilians were made homeless.
The U.S. Air Force dropped thousands of tons of conventional ordinance (mainly firebombs) on Japanese cities in multiple operations stretching over many months. In Operation Meetinghouse (March 1943), 279 B-29s dropped 1,665 tons of firebombs on Tokyo, causing a huge fire that destroyed 16 square miles or 7% of Tokyo. An estimated 84,000 people were killed during the raid and another 41,000 were injured. Similar attacks were directed against Nagoya (destroyed 2 square miles), Osaka (destroyed 8 square miles) and Kobe (destroyed 7 square miles and killed 8000 people). Later in the spring of 1943 there were additional raids on Nagoya (killed 3,866), Tokyo (destroyed 22 square miles), Yokohama (destroyed 7 square miles, killed 1000) and Osaka (destroyed 3.2 square miles, killed 3,960).
In 1945 the U.S. dropped Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing at least 129,000 people.
Just in case you were not keeping score at home, the civilian casualties enumerated above total well over 500,000. Wikipedia puts the total civilian death toll (not all inflicted by the U.S.) at 1.1 million for Germany and 0.5 million for Japan. That’s in addition to at least 4.3 million German and 2.1 million Japanese military personnel killed in World War II.
How pathetic is it that hypocritical liberals like Tom Brokaw, Doris Goodwin, and The Boston Globe praise “The Greatest Generation” and then attack the CIA heroes who kept America safe after the 9/11 Islamic attack—and did so under close oversight of Congressmen and Senators who are now attacking the CIA? It almost makes you wonder whether a future Republican-controlled Congress could bring charges against President Obama for all those civilians killed as collateral damage of drone attacks on terrorists.
(The above war figures are from Wikipedia; consider giving them a year-end gift if you value the service.)
Copyright Thomas Doerflinger 2014. All Rights Reserved.
