BAD SHIT IN THOSE JAPANESE POW CAMPS. Over the years I've perused all kinds of stuff but what interests me particularly is stories of injustice towards not only the regular public but, service members who've sacrificed for their country only to be shit on.
I recently read about a old guy living in Florida who was held as a POW by Japan forced to work as a slave for Mitsui . He sits on the shore and watches the Mitsui flagged ships pass and slowly burns inside. He and many others were enslaved by Japan and forced to work in defense plants such as Mitsubishi (remember the Jap Zero?). After the war, and upon being liberated, they were told in no uncertain terms to forget about collecting any reparations from Japan since it was in the "governments' interests" to spare the builders of new Japan the inconvenience of pesky little lawsuits and reminders of how our POW's were treated. Other former POW's reported receiving letters from Japanese corporate types shortly after returning home praising them and their work and hoping that they had learned from their experience. Bizarre shit, no? They obtained the home addresses of their slaves! Who do you suppose released that information to the Japanese companies who enslaved our guys? I have serious doubts that Fred or Mildred in accounting authorized the release of information that sensitive (or insensitive to the former prisoners) to Japan. If I were a betting man, I'd lay it at the feet at someone high up in government to approve the release of information. To what purpose? Who knows. I've heard it said by some old buzzard president from the past, perhaps Coolidge, Taft or Hoover, that "The business of government is business". I also read a line from a State Department official stating that "The U S Government doesn't have friends, it has interests". Kind of says it all. Your patriotic duty tells you to salute the flag and state the pledge of allegiance (even the "under god" part). Don't the politicians have an obligation to at least pretend that our government backs us as well? "Wait a minute, that was over 75 years ago" you may say. Indeed it was. The only good thing to come was the G.I. bill. Unfortunately, vets are still treated poorly. Vets who are disabled, homeless, addicted and have gone mental are treated as debris to ignore or sent to prison. Our government treats our former military men and women like shit. And why not? They got their use out of them. Who gives a shit? Not to worry though. There will always be generations of bright, starry-eyed, patriotism indoctrinated men and women who go bat for the good old U S of A. Perhaps they'll be better taken care of. Perhaps not.
0 Comments
Independence Day approaches and I wonder just how free we are. There are going to be a lot of flag wavers, patriots and veterans marching and proclaiming the greatness of our country.
I however tend to look at the seamy underside of our "greatness". Our young service women and men are returning from some serious shit in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and who the hell knows where else. Service members are returning home from a war zone that they never should have been sent to but notwithstanding, are entitled to exceptional compensation as well as the best medical and mental health care possible. Of course, we know this isn't true and probably won't change but is this something new? Nope. How did it start? I'm glad you asked. So look, before anyone calls bullshit on me, rather than blathering on about how I'm anti-American, check some footnotes that I'll be glad to post as well if you so desire. According to Wikipedia, the Continental Army was mostly disbanded in 1781 and were due some dough. Two years years later hundreds of veterans surrounded the Congress demanding their back pay. Congressmen fled (brave dudes) and after a couple of weeks, the U.S. Army (under which they had served) expelled them. Fast forward to 1932 and the gathering of 17,000 American veterans and their families in D.C. to demand early payment of (what else) dough owed to them for their service. The governments' response was to send MacArthur and his unwilling lackey Eisenhower to burn out the camps and drive the men, women and children out of the city. Are you sensing a pattern here? "Of course not Don, that shit happened ages ago. We've progressed, we're enlightened now". Uh huh. I'm just now starting to find my voice again and I'm not done with this "fucking our servicemen" culture. Looking forward to expressing my views and pissing people off. There are far too many morons in the world. I plan on ranting against local as well as national politicians, cops, stupid people, and people who grow and sell shitty weed. Feel free to click on the "blog" button above to see and comment.
|
|