Ulithi atoll - 1944 -

[Saigon1965]

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=52966

[billybob_jcv]

Very cool pics. My uncle was a Marine in WW II. His company was told that they would be in the 2nd wave of the invasion of Japan and they expected the survival rate of at least the first several waves to be very low. Needless to say, he was a HUGE supporter that using the atomic bombs was the right thing to do!

[scifigunner]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing, OP!

[knucklehead0202]

Incredible pictures, great to see stuff like that. Makes me want to start watching my documentaries again. I've probably got 1000 hours or so of random docus that I've picked up over the years. Can't remember at this point which ones I've watched and which I haven't. Always good to see new footage though. We're running real thin on WWII vets these days and it's a crying shame. If you've ever known one, you know exactly why they're called the greatest generation. We'll never see their like again I'm afraid.

[16in50calNavalRifle]

Thanks for posting, Saigon. WWII threads like that can consume me more than anything else online. Great photos, too. And I've always wanted to visit Pacific sites and dive on war wrecks (the few that are at recreational depth).

[16in50calNavalRifle]

billybob, remember that several atomic bombs had been requested for use in initial operations on Kyushu, Operation Olympic, the first invasion op planned for November 1, 1945. Shameful that I can't recall whether Los Alamos could have provided the number requested by then, but the point is that use of nukes and invasion were not alternatives, they both would have happened if Japan had not found a way to surrender in August (a close-run thing, mostly the work of just two people, the emperor and his chief advisor).

Another factoid that has lots of implications related to this. We are still using the Purple Heart medals struck for the fortunately cancelled Operations Olympic and Coronet (Honshu, March 1946). I believe initial run was 500K, and around 100K are still left. I believe these facts are correct, and what they say not just about WWII but the intervening half century since is very interesting.

[Enfield47]

Very cool stuff, thanks for sharing the link.

[Rem222]

Thanks... Great post...

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Very cool pics. My uncle was a Marine in WW II. His company was told that they would be in the 2nd wave of the invasion of Japan and they expected the survival rate of at least the first several waves to be very low. Needless to say, he was a HUGE supporter that using the atomic bombs was the right thing to do!

The only people who were ever against using atomic bombs on Japan were / are pseudo-academic revisionist bleeding heart types who would never in their lives face the bloodbath that would have awaited U.S. Soldiers and Marines who would have had to storm the Japanese homeland.

[Vlad 11]

Amazing stuff there.

The Pacific was truly a horrifying bloody campaign, but it looks like the guys in rear with the gear were getting some nice R&R... Ballgames, Beer Gardens, relaxing on White Sand Beaches. But probably a severe lack of dames.

The Japanese fought tooth and nail vs the massive fleets and endless men and equipment heading their way. But when they caught wind that we had ships pumping out 500 gallons of Ice Cream - 3 times a day- in the middle of the Pacific, they knew the jig was up.

[gunboat]

I am a good bit older than most of you --
My dad, CWO USMC, was waiting on guam for the invasion -- After the surrender he was sent to Tsingtao china to take surrender of japanese forces there -- He did not return till late '46 - but he did return -- I took the day off from school :-)
I remember well 7 dec and the loss of wake, one of the kids in my class lost her dad there -- our next door neighbor , a chief AP was lost off north island when his patrol plane went down -- a clunky old left over F3F biplane --
We had black out curtains, bucket of sand for incindery (sp) bombs, blackout lights on the car and barrage ballons across the road --

My only regret about the atom bombs is that there was only two available --
Oh my -- old guys memories -

[VegasND]

Great link.

Thanks.

[SonofWWIIDI]

Thanks for sharing the link. Some very cool stuff.

[Cessnapilot89]

For anyone interested, the USS Red Oak Victory, currently a museum docked in Richmond, Ca, was part of that fleet and can be toured. The head docent on the ship was at Ulithi and has many interesting stories.

[billybob_jcv]

The only people who were ever against using atomic bombs on Japan were / are pseudo-academic revisionist bleeding heart types who would never in their lives face the bloodbath that would have awaited U.S. Soldiers and Marines who would have had to storm the Japanese homeland.

In my high school history class, we had a mock debate on whether the US should continue using the atomic weapons. I was the captain of the "pro" team. I had interviewed my uncle and a couple of other WWII vets, and I had also found a reference in our small local library for this:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/truman-leaflets/

The "con" team didn't know about the leaflets and tried to say that dropping the A bomb was just like the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, making us no better than the Japanese. I dropped my leaflet reference on them like an avenging B-17. We destroyed the "con" team!