re: #612 rightymouse

I disagree too. If you go way back in colonial times in New England, the restraint shown by our colonists in battle was remarkable in the face of an enemy who showed no quarter, including the slaughter of innocent women and children.

The Japanese had to be taught by the western civilized world to rid themselves of their barbaric ways.

There’s no moral equivalency between the old ingrained Japanese culture and what happened on the battlefields in the 1800’s or earlier here in America.

Final comment—in all fairness, I have a hard time believing that out of garrisons of 20,000 men or more, that sometimes less than 200 Japanese soldiers were taken prisoner because the rest fought to the death. I recall seeing an old Marine training film where the instructor said, “if you have to take any chance to take a Jap prisoner, you don’t take him.” I know that many fought to the death or participated in suicidal charges, but I am convinced that many more wanted to surrender and get “three hots and a cot” than were actually taken prisoner—they were either murdered or never given a chance to surrender.