29 replies to this topic

[cxwq]

That...may not have been real.

Haha, whatever friend.

What world do YOU live in?

Not real... heh.

[taita cakes]

Tait, your comment about "an era of misconstrued information and propaganda" isn't really relevant, because it was a war. That's how wars work. You inflate numbers to boost morale. You can't win a total war without doing that; propaganda is not all bad.

Ummmmmmm. Mate, that's entirely what I meant. By the era, I do mean the war ...

Yeah, well, you would have nothing to refute because,
1 - Australian war heroes are few and far between,
2 - If I did make a post, I would recognise that people have different opinions when I ask "what do you think? did he deserve it?"

I was just answering the question. I think he definitely deserved the MoH, or at least a more major recognition, but the full extremity of the case I do not believe. That's all.

First guy he killed had a saber, too, so that's totally believable.

Yeah, I'll pay that, but what about the other guys? With guns? Or, hell, even sabres!?

[Evil]

If it's true that's amazing, a man so selfless and courageous deserves more than any solace a medal might give to him. If it's not true, I'd like to hear it from his mouth and not from the speculation of kids under 20 years old who have never seen war, blood, and their friends die. I imagine in a situation so unbelievable... a man can distance himself from what he thinks is possible, and can do the unbelievable himself.

To the gentleman whom this story concerns and who the Medal was awarded, I'll say on behalf of every American I know, "Thank you sir; the debt we owe you is too much for us to repay with mere words".

God bless.

Edited by Evil, 11 March 2005 - 10:47 AM.

[AirApache]

Amen.

[Spectre2689]

Well said, it should go for every soldier of every country who gave their life for any just reason.

I just want to get a few things off my chest though. Okto's right about the M1 Garand, which the American forces had in the Phillipines in 1945. It's a heavy son of a bitch, and it has a semi-auto 8-round clip. I don't doubt that he would take out 7 enemies with some well placed shots.

And for the beating to death, he doesn't necessarily need to kill them on contact. A lot of times, if someone was too close for a shot with a rifle (remember they're long, anything under 2 feet away would be extremely hard to shoot), you could just beat them down and shoot them there. The Garand was very easy to reload too. The clip would just pop out after it was spent and you'd put a new one in there.

Also, tait, Japanese soldiers, when they got close enough, would often choose to charge the enemies with bayonets or sabres, even if they had a clear shot with their rifle. It was just part of the mentality. It ofter gave their enemy a nice chance to pick a few off.

Add the fact that it was dark, and American soldiers had dark camoflauged uniforms, compared to the Japanese tan uniforms, plus defending troops always have the advantage, and there you go.

I'm not saying some of the numbers weren't exaggerated, they very well may have been, but the story is still entirely believable.