A World War II letter returned, unopened: Midland woman remembers her soldier uncle
Midland woman remembers her soldier uncle, who perished in Philippines
Dec. 18, 2020
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Midland resident Betty Root poses for a portrait, holding a letter she wrote at age four to her uncle Alvin Gillett, a private in the U.S. Army who served during World War II and died of his wounds on Dec. 14, 1944. Months after she scribbled her name on the back of the envelope, the letter came back unopened, with the word deceased handwritten on front. (Katy Kildee/kkildee@mdn.net) Show MoreShow Less
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Why Did Imperial Japanese Soldiers Carry Swords Into Battle?
In the 1930s as Japan became more nationalist and more imperialist the bushido – the way of the warrior – was revived and Japan s military moved away from European style sabers for ceremony to a sword that resembled the samurai katana.
Here s What You Need To Remember: The decision was more cultural than tactical - but the swords did serve a military purpose, and sometimes a gruesome one.
It is a scene from World War II movies and comic books; seeming fanatical Japanese soldiers charging out of the jungle wielding a samurai sword, swinging widely and yelling banzai. It isn t actually Hollywood or comic book fiction, however.
2020/12/15 13:10 (Weibo image) (Weibo image) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) Over the weekend, Beijing s state-owned telecom giant China Unicom found itself scrambling to apologize to irate Chinese netizens who noticed that it had posted a Kuomingtang (KMT) slogan calling for the defeat of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On Dec. 12, China Unicom s Shandong customer service center posted a message to its subscribers exhorting them not to forget history, to remember the country s martyrs, and commemorate the 84th anniversary of the Xi an Incident. The Xi an Incident refers to a political crisis in which then-Republic of China leader Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was detained by subordinates who tried to convince him to join forces with the CCP as a united front to fight the Imperial Japanese Army as the Second Sino-Japanese War loomed.
Study this picture: Atomic weapons were scary, but so was the full-on might of the Red Army.
Key point: Historians will debate exactly what caused Tokyo to surrender. However, some of the credit must go to the surprise Soviet invasion of Japanese-occupied Manchuria.
To the Soviet military, it is known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation. Although it had no official name to the Japanese, it has become known in the West as Operation August Storm. It was the greatest defeat in Japanese military history, yet few outside the circles of Japanese and Soviet history are even aware that it occurred. It ensured the end of World War II as much as the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki did, yet it is often ignored in Western studies of the war.
Lost edition of Mainichi Shimbun newspaper from day Japan declared war on US found
December 13, 2020 (Mainichi Japan)
The newly discovered evening edition of the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun newspaper which announces the start of Japan s entry into the Pacific War is seen in Yahatahigashi Ward, Kitakyushu, on Dec. 5, 2020. The words sixth printing can be seen in the upper left corner. (Mainichi/Shinichi Okuda) KITAKYUSHU An evening edition of the Mainichi Shimbun not present in the company s archives which announced the outbreak of the Pacific War on Dec. 8, 1941 (Japan time), was found stored at the home of an 82-year-old former company employee in this southwestern Japanese city.