A Sad Thought

[falcadore]

Purple heart medals awarded to Americans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan are over 60 years old. A stock of 500,000 medals were manufacturered in anticipation of the 1946 invasion of Japan - Operation Downfall, an invasion cancelled by the Japanese surrender. Stage 2 of Downfall, Operation Coronet, the invasion of Tokyo Bay, would have been over

Comments

[l_shades]

...that is something that really changes one's perspective on that war... and the ones that have followed. It's actually frightening to consider the ramifications of it. Where did you find this out?

[falcadore]

The thoughts began while reading towards the end of the companion book to the HBO series "The Pacific", which unlike the series is not a dramatisation but a heavily annotated historical narrative. The sections involving those pulled out after the Battle of Okinawa and the beginning of preparations where it looked like entire divisions were going to have to be sacrificed to achieve the beachhead in Tokyo Bay are terrible to consider.

And Wikipedia for the additional detail and the particular statistic about the Purple Hearts.

[l_shades]

...if Japan hadn't surrendered the world would look a very different place today.

[mjhellscream]

Damn.