| Author | Thread |
|
|
03/14/2014 11:08:19 PM · #1 |
There is a horrible truth in the world. Our ww2 vets are passing away at an alarming rate. The newst hero to have passed away was in a very historic / patriotic pic.
(ok I tried to post a pic but it was way too big)
The male sailor just passed away....He was 86...RIP
wwII vet passes away
Message edited by author 2014-03-14 23:10:11.
|
|
|
|
03/15/2014 12:01:55 AM · #2 |
What you didn't point out was that this was the guy in the 'kissing sailor' picture which is so famous.
Interestingly, after reading the nurse's account of the whole thing, it seems likely that if it had happened today he would have probably have been arrested and sued. :D
Curiously though, I find that this doesn't really sadden me too much, I mean, the fella was 86 years old, that's a pretty darn acceptable life-span, and this sailor clearly had an interesting life in those 86 years. Can you maybe describe why this saddens you? I'm not sure I fully understand what makes you sad about this.
Message edited by author 2014-03-15 00:02:53. |
|
|
|
03/15/2014 12:55:36 AM · #3 |
I *think* he is sad, because at the rate of death of WW2 vets, there won't be any left soon.
I agree it's a sad thing.
|
|
|
|
03/15/2014 12:56:59 AM · #4 |
I feel this is when something passes into being distant history rather than recent events. When there is no longer anyone left around who was involved.
|
|
|
|
03/15/2014 03:44:39 AM · #5 |
Think you will find that life always ends in death.
It is what it is. |
|
|
|
03/15/2014 06:28:18 AM · #6 |
| I'm also saddened by the 200,000 Japanese deaths. |
|
|
|
03/15/2014 07:32:02 AM · #7 |
Originally posted by JH:
I'm also saddened by the 200,000 Japanese deaths. |
Let's be serious here. I am about as liberal as you can get, and sometimes, no, most of the time I am shaking my head at cowboy's ideas.
I don't want to speak for him, but I think he is saying that as a serviceman himself, an era is coming to the end of an era, all those alive during WWII will soon be gone.
Let's not turn this into another American bashing episode. Wars don't end well, especially for aggressors who misjudge the might of their enemies.
Message edited by author 2014-03-15 07:32:41. |
|
|
|
03/15/2014 08:35:34 AM · #8 |
Originally posted by blindjustice:
Originally posted by JH:
I'm also saddened by the 200,000 Japanese deaths. |
Let's be serious here. I am about as liberal as you can get, and sometimes, no, most of the time I am shaking my head at cowboy's ideas.
I don't want to speak for him, but I think he is saying that as a serviceman himself, an era is coming to the end of an era, all those alive during WWII will soon be gone. |
The horrors of WW2 will be gone from living memory. That's both sad and frightening. We only have the history books to rely on.
To bring this back to a photography discussion, at the same time the kissing sailor photo was being used to publicise the US victory, any photos showing the results of the bombing in Nagasaki and Hiroshima were heavily censored. The public were sold the line that the bombings were ethically justified because they brought the war to a faster conclusion.
Justifying the use of these weapons like this is a dangerous stance. Censoring the media to prevent people forming their own opinion is even more dangerous. |
|
|
|
03/15/2014 09:56:48 AM · #9 |
The horrors of war have been well captured since then, and there is active discussion as to military tactics in America at this point-defense budget, use of drones, torture at gitmo, surveillance.
I am all for free media and visual documentation of war, to keep the public informed, educated, rightfully enraged at times. While in undergrad, I took a class called "propaganda in cinema in WWII." Fantastic. Photography, film, the arts, we're used brilliantly by the German's for whipping up nationalist fervor. Is this the same? Not by a long shot. |
|
|
|
03/15/2014 10:46:48 AM · #10 |
As an individual citizen, how can I tell when I'm being whipped into a nationalist fervor or maybe just being thoroughly informed? And speaking of thoroughly informed, it helps to hear the other guy's story.
White Light Black Rain is a very interesting documentary movie.
|
|
|
|
03/15/2014 12:12:12 PM · #11 |
| Check out "triumph of the will" that's fervor whipping at its best, so subtle, so pure, so terribly evil. |
|
|
|
03/15/2014 12:27:54 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by pixelpig:
As an individual citizen, how can I tell when I'm being whipped into a nationalist fervor or maybe just being thoroughly informed? |
Propaganda is not exclusively a product of evil empires ... every government is a willing (and constant) participant, and it is not always to promote bad things (though the advertising business might want you to think so). Even Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) got into the act, working on the post-war film Design for Death ...
 |
|
|
|
03/15/2014 04:47:05 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by blindjustice:
Let's not turn this into another American bashing episode. Wars don't end well, especially for aggressors who misjudge the might of their enemies. |
...and a statement of fact coupled with the fact that  JHdid add that he was saddened by the event is most certainly not an attempt at "American Bashing" in my books.
Ray
|
|
|
|
03/15/2014 08:36:39 PM · #14 |
It's WW2 Ray, the last "good war" for America. Say what you will, but the world is free because of America holding the line. without America, the world is speaking German and Japanese, and the Japanese are better off losing what they did rather than surrendering to the Russians. I feel for the American Japanese in internment camps.
(BTW The Australians had a special way of never taking a Japanese prisoner. Didn't want them coming back, ever.) |
|
|
|
03/15/2014 09:51:54 PM · #15 |
In WW2 I was a youngster whose dad worked for the United Boat Company as a machinist, making submarines.
I will always remember the young men who came through New London - upright, full of purpose and ready to fight for our country and the world as we knew it.
Propaganda? Sure there was propaganda, both on "their" side and "our" side. There are words I know, but would never speak now defining some ethnic, but fully American groups caught up in the turmoil.
Did we make mistakes? Oh yes, Nagasaki was a mistake. Hiroshima was enough.
Why did we intern in horrific conditions on the west coast Japanese Americans who were citizens of our country. Especially when in the Hawaiian Islands where the Japanese Americans were so numerous that they could not be interned. Indeed they provided much needed service to America as did the mainland Japanese Americans of military age who were allowed to serve.
Yes, I too consider WW2 the last "good war" for America.
I would continue this post to include our "police action" against Korea -- then it was never called a war, but that "police action" puzzled the America of those times. My cohort served in that "conflict" but we knew it did not hold the stature of World War Two. |
|
|
|
03/16/2014 01:10:40 AM · #16 |
As a small child, I remember the deaths of the last of the civil war veterans. It seems so odd to be witnessing the same for WWII.
|
|
|
|
03/16/2014 02:18:42 AM · #17 |
Originally posted by sfalice:
In WW2 I was a youngster whose dad worked for the United Boat Company as a machinist, making submarines.
I will always remember the young men who came through New London - upright, full of purpose and ready to fight for our country and the world as we knew it.
Propaganda? Sure there was propaganda, both on "their" side and "our" side. There are words I know, but would never speak now defining some ethnic, but fully American groups caught up in the turmoil.
Did we make mistakes? Oh yes, Nagasaki was a mistake. Hiroshima was enough.
Why did we intern in horrific conditions on the west coast Japanese Americans who were citizens of our country. Especially when in the Hawaiian Islands where the Japanese Americans were so numerous that they could not be interned. Indeed they provided much needed service to America as did the mainland Japanese Americans of military age who were allowed to serve.
Yes, I too consider WW2 the last "good war" for America.
I would continue this post to include our "police action" against Korea -- then it was never called a war, but that "police action" puzzled the America of those times. My cohort served in that "conflict" but we knew it did not hold the stature of World War Two. |
Alice, are you talking about the subs built in Groton, that would be EB, or Electric Boat, I remember lots of subs coming out of that green building. |
|
|
|
03/16/2014 09:16:27 AM · #18 |
Originally posted by see:
Originally posted by sfalice:
In WW2 I was a youngster whose dad worked for the United Boat Company as a machinist, making submarines.
|
Alice, are you talking about the subs built in Groton, that would be EB, or Electric Boat, I remember lots of subs coming out of that green building. |
Ah, yes. That would indeed be the Electric Boat Company (eventually to turn in to United Technologies) in Groton, directly across the Thames River from New London.
:) |
|
|
|
03/17/2014 08:30:12 AM · #19 |
Originally posted by MattO:
I *think* he is sad, because at the rate of death of WW2 vets, there won't be any left soon.
I agree it's a sad thing. |
That made me call my uncle (my father's mother's brother). I live 10,000Km away from him. He's 89 and he fought in WW2 against the Germans. He was declared dead together with his entire regiment after they came under a Stuka attack. Family was ready for funerals but it proved that he got buried alive and someone found him.
My granddad fought with the Germans and was a war prisoner in Russia.
They are both heroes, I guess.
Message edited by author 2014-03-17 08:31:24. |
|
|
|
03/17/2014 12:25:04 PM · #20 |
Neither side, in a conflict, has a monopoly on bravery.
Heros can and do occur on both sides.
|
|
|
|
04/11/2014 11:36:04 AM · #21 |
Originally posted by Tiberius:
Originally posted by MattO:
I *think* he is sad, because at the rate of death of WW2 vets, there won't be any left soon.
I agree it's a sad thing. |
That made me call my uncle (my father's mother's brother). I live 10,000Km away from him. He's 89 and he fought in WW2 against the Germans. He was declared dead together with his entire regiment after they came under a Stuka attack. Family was ready for funerals but it proved that he got buried alive and someone found him.
|
My sister called me today...
My uncle fell on the street and died. He died on his own feet like he lived his entire life. I am sad I won't see him again but I am happy he did not suffer and passed away with dignity.
Rest in peace Valeriu, I shed a tear for you... |
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 08/09/2025 04:42:48 AM EDT.
