# War Hero Morris Jeppson Dies: Enola Gay Crewman Who Armed Atomic Bomb Dropped on Japs



## US Army Retired (Apr 7, 2010)

Our hearts and prayers should go out to Jeppson and his family. He was a true war hero who at age 23 armed the Atomic Bomb inside the Enola Gay when they approached the target city of Hiroshima which the result was tens of thousands of dead Japs possibly saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of servicemen including my father (R.I.P. Dad) who was prepared to invade Japan if it came to it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...040604104.html

Morris R. Jeppson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia








 Lt. Jeppson, pictured before his first and only combat mission. (National Museum Of Nuclear Science And History) 

Morris R. Jeppson, 87, one of two weaponeers who armed the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, prompting the surrender of Japanese troops and the end of World War II, died March 30 at a hospital in Las Vegas. His family could not provide a specific cause of death but said he had been hospitalized for back pain and a severe headache. 
Known as "Dick," Mr. Jeppson was a 23-year-old Army Air Forces second lieutenant when he boarded the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber, for what would be his first and only combat mission. 
It was the wee hours of the morning on Aug. 6, 1945, and "Little Boy," the bomb that would introduce the world to nuclear warfare, lay in the plane's belly in safe mode. It had to be armed in flight en route to its target to avoid accidental detonation during takeoff.


More in links.


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## US Army Retired (Apr 7, 2010)

bump for respect.


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## rightwinger (Apr 7, 2010)




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## Granny (Apr 7, 2010)

The Enola Gay ... named for Paul Tibbitts mother.  The Manhattan Project was huge ... bits and pieces spread out across the US.  Everybody knew something was going on, but not what.  Oak Ridge, TN, not far from where I live is still called "The Secret City" ... it was so classified at the time that it was not even shown on maps.  Still very much operational today and still well guarded.  Seems like everyone there has an ID badge and/or a weapon of one kind or another at the ready.

Great museum there about the atomic bomb and related matters.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

So playing your part in the massacring of the Japanese people makes you a war hero?  Sounds more like a war criminal to me.


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## US Army Retired (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> So playing your part in the massacring of the Japanese people makes you a war hero?  Sounds more like a war criminal to me.



Hey, the Japs drew first blood when they attacked Pearl Harbor. We just ended it with the bomb vaporizing tens of thousands of the treacherous Japs.


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## Modbert (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> So playing your part in the massacring of the Japanese people makes you a war hero?  Sounds more like a war criminal to me.



War criminal? How so?

You don't actually believe that peace was going to be achieved in the near future do you? Japan was barely ready to give up AFTER the second bomb was dropped. We would of had to go in, and in the process not only would millions of soldiers on each side had been lost but millions of innocent civilians.

PLUS, Japan would of been turned into rubble.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

US Army Retired said:


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Yes, I'm sure their dictatorial government took a vote among those innocent civilians as to whether they should attack Pearl Harbor.  How treacherous of them.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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Actually it's pretty clear they were reaching out to the Soviet Union to end the fighting before the bombs were dropped, and our intelligence knew this.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Kennedy wishes we could have had a few hundred thousand more americans killed to fit his utopian model.


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## Modbert (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> Actually it's pretty clear they were reaching out to the Soviet Union to end the fighting before the bombs were dropped, and our intelligence knew this.



Link?


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


> Kennedy wishes we could have had a few hundred thousand more americans killed to fit his utopian model.



No, I wish we didn't feel the need to have an unconditional surrender from Japan.  Why weren't we willing to be humble in our victory?


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## rightwinger (Apr 7, 2010)

As horrific as the bombs were...

An invasion of Japan would have killed millions


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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> In the case of Hiroshima, no substantive evidence exists that the bombing was necessary to make Japan surrender. In fact, the Japanese had already attempted to sue for peace in July and were only hesitant because they distrusted the terms of unconditional surrender that the Allies demanded. They specifically wanted to keep their emperor, which, after the atomic bombings, they were allowed to, anyway. The military estimated before Hiroshima that invasion would cost as many as 20,000 or 30,000 American lives, but not nearly the half million lives that Truman later claimed had been the estimate. Even without invasion, Japan was utterly defeated by the war and U.S. blockades prevented the island nation from getting the necessary food to survive, much less maintain any type of threat against America.



Targeting Civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Anthony Gregory

Though I'm guessing you don't take LewRockwell.com as a credible source.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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the way they were humble at Pearl?  the way they were humble to american POW's?  the way they were humble to the population of Nanking?   fuck them.


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## SFC Ollie (Apr 7, 2010)

RIP Lt. Jeppson, Another Warrior has been called home to report to the commander of us all.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

rightwinger said:


> As horrific as the bombs were...
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> An invasion of Japan would have killed millions



An entirely inflated estimation from the true numbers.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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The Japanese civilians committed none of those crimes.


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## Modbert (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> Targeting Civilians at Hiroshima*and*Nagasaki by Anthony Gregory
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> *Though I'm guessing you don't take LewRockwell.com as a credible source*.



No, I'm not going to take a site that's main purpose includes being anti-war as a credible source. Get a real credible source, instead of some musician from California.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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yeah, dumbfuck, that's why they were training their civilians in hand-to-hand combat right before the bombs.  because they were trying to wage peace.


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## Modbert (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> The Japanese civilians committed none of those crimes.



And yet you (or Ron Paul I should say) think that America brought 9/11 upon itself. But Japan did not bring this upon itself?

Consider the alternatives to what could of been done.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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You're free to not accept my source but I'm not going to play musical sources and go hunting over the internet to try to impress you.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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Now that's not very nice.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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## Modbert (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> You're free to not accept my source but I'm not going to play musical sources and go hunting over the internet to try to impress you.



All I'm asking is you is to get a real source, and not one that is so biased that it's plain to see.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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Neither I nor Ron Paul thinks the civilians that were killed on 9/11 brought that attack upon themselves.

The alternatives:  Allowing the Japanese to surrender without massacring innocent civilians.  How horrible.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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Well I certainly find it sad when innocent civilians are killed, whether they're American or otherwise.


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## Modbert (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> Neither I nor Ron Paul thinks the civilians that were killed on 9/11 brought that attack upon themselves.
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> The alternatives:  Allowing the Japanese to surrender without massacring innocent civilians.  How horrible.



Except there is no credible evidence of that.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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Every source is biased.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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Of course there is.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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Yeah, let's get Martin Sheen's opinion while we're at it.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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Truman's own Chief of Staff disagrees:

"Trumans chief of staff, Admiral William D. Leahy, wrote in his book I Was There that using the barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons."

Targeting Civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Anthony Gregory

Same source as before, so feel free to ignore it.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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Here's an idea.  Maybe the Japs shouldn't have started something they couldn't finish.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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Those innocent civilians never started anything.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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So do you just not care about the deaths of innocent civilians in general, or just those of other countries?


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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better question:
do you just not care about the lives of american soldiers or are you just that fucking ignorant about history?  
I am guessing a little of both.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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I care very much for the lives of American soldiers, which is why I'm a strict noninterventionist.  I don't like them dying for empire or to save face.  As for being ignorant about history, my own personal opinion is that I'm not but I'm guessing yours differs.


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## Modbert (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> * I care very much for the lives of American soldiers, which is why I'm a strict noninterventionist*.  I don't like them dying for empire or to save face.  As for being ignorant about history, my own personal opinion is that I'm not but I'm guessing yours differs.



I don't know how you wouldn't of gotten along with FDR. He ignored the Holocaust. And as according to your "strict noninterventionist" stance, you wouldn't of gotten involved in that either.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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Well I wouldn't have provoked the Japanese into attacking us in the first place, and his economic policies left much to be desired.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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kevin wouldn't have done anything after pearl harbor.  he would have sat back until the Japs made it all the way to Chicago.


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## Modbert (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> Well I wouldn't have provoked the Japanese into attacking us in the first place, and his economic policies left much to be desired.



We didn't provoke the Japanese into attacking us in the first place you wingnut. The Japanese wanted to keep invading places for resources for the war which would of went directly to the Nazis. Plus, we weren't too happy about their actions against the Chinese.

Stop swimming and drowning yourself in the Libertarian think tank kool-aid for five minutes and realize that Japan was the aggressor.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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As stated previously, I wouldn't have given Japan the incentive to attack Pearl Harbor in the first place.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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Is name calling really productive to the discussion?


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## RetiredGySgt (Apr 7, 2010)

Source documents.

The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II: A Collection of Primary Sources

The Japanese had NO INTENTION of surrendering before we dropped the bombs. In fact they had no intention of surrendering AFTER we dropped the Bombs. Only the DIRECT INTERVENTION by the Emperor changed that. And even then the Army attempted a Coup against the Emperor to stop his announcement they would surrender.


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## Modbert (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> Is name calling really productive to the discussion?



Oh grow up Kevin. If you seriously believe that America was the aggressor, you are being a wingnut. You seriously do not know your history and whatever you learn from those Libertarian think tanks have seriously warped your mind if you believe that. Nobody here is saying that we loved to drop the bombs on Japan. However, war is full of many actions that are both necessary and difficult. This is one of them.


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## RetiredGySgt (Apr 7, 2010)

Japan attacked the US to further their war aims in the Far East. THEY started a hot war against China to which the US quit selling them scrap metal and oil. Claiming that we FORCED the Japanese to attack us is retarded and insane.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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Grown ups don't generally refer to each other as "wingnuts" in civil conversation.  If you can't see how vaporizing innocent civilians is aggressive, then I'm afraid we have little more to discuss.  But you know, as well as I do, that had Germany or Japan dropped a nuke on us or anyone else they would have gone down in history as war-criminals.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

RetiredGySgt said:


> Japan attacked the US to further their war aims in the Far East. THEY started a hot war against China to which the US quit selling them scrap metal and oil. Claiming that we FORCED the Japanese to attack us is retarded and insane.



Nobody said they were forced to attack us, simply that they were given incentive to do so.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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well maybe you shouldn't be calling people war criminals when you don't know what the fuck you're talking about.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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If vaporizing innocent civilians isn't a war crime then nothing in the history of the world has been a war crime.


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## RetiredGySgt (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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Ahh yes, we should have continued to arm and fuel Japan and her wars of aggression so that we would be safe from attack, I got ya.


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## RetiredGySgt (Apr 7, 2010)

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Both atomic weapons were dropped on MILITARY TARGETS.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

RetiredGySgt said:


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We should have minded our own business.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

RetiredGySgt said:


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Hiroshima was a city.


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## RetiredGySgt (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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By continuing to sell fuel and metal to the war machine that was Japan? Got ya.


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## RetiredGySgt (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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Which did not change the fact it was a military target.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

RetiredGySgt said:


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Full of innocent civilians.


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## Modbert (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> We should have minded our own business.



It's reasons like this is why I would never vote for a hardcore Libertarian as POTUS. No offense Kevin, but I wouldn't want a POTUS at the wheel who would be willing to sit on his hands while clear and cut genocide occurs in front of him.


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## RetiredGySgt (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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Never mind that it is SOLELY our BUSINESS who we chose to sell to.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dogbert said:


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The President is elected by the United States, not the world.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

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yeah.  better to have americans vaporized, eh dumbfuck?


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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By the nuke that Japan didn't have, and wouldn't have been in a position to use at that point even if they did?


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

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no you stupid fuck.  dead americans from the invasion of mainland japan, which would have taken place whether your stupid mealy-mouthed ass admits it or not.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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Which there would have been no need for.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

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yeah let them rebuild so they can hit us again.  oh wait, you wouldn't have done anything after pearl.  They would have been in chicago before you thought about doing anything.


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## US Army Retired (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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You must realize that the nips were sending thousands of bombs by balloons to try to kill civilians here in the U.S. by using the Jet Stream. In 1944 they succeeded by killing a bunch of Church kids in Oregon state. IF they had a nuke they would have surely tried that way. Know your history.

Japanese Balloon Bombs (Fu-Go Weapon)


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## US Army Retired (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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Those civilians were building war weapons and aiding their war effort to defeat the United States. Civilians in war time are considered Colateral Damage.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

US Army Retired said:


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So if Japan had bombed Detroit that would have been collateral damage, correct?


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## csbarry (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> So playing your part in the massacring of the Japanese people makes you a war hero?  Sounds more like a war criminal to me.



You're a pathetic douche ...


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## csbarry (Apr 7, 2010)

Thanks Morris ...


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## US Army Retired (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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Yes. They would be victims of war.


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## blu (Apr 7, 2010)

US Army Retired said:


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the citizens were treacherous to us? and technically we drew the first blood with our embargos that killed people there


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## blu (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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the citizens killed and the future mutated babies did all that?


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

US Army Retired said:


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Interesting.


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## csbarry (Apr 7, 2010)

I haven't been this disappointed in any American citizen in my entire 57 years.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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Grown ups generally know what the fuck they're talking about when entering a discussion.


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## George Costanza (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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Apparently few others here do.


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## csbarry (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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Yes, they would have; and yes they did, because they were.


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## George Costanza (Apr 7, 2010)

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Kevin's point is that it is wrong to vaporize _civilians_ for actions of _soldiers_.  How do you feel about that?  Do you think that killing tens of thousands of civilians is justified by the fact that their army was waging war against our country?


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

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That's not my experience.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

George Costanza said:


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my point is that a mainland invasion of Japan (which would have happened without dropping the bombs) would have killed hundreds of thousand of americans and millions of japanese.  how do you feel about that?


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## George Costanza (Apr 7, 2010)

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Well, of course it would have.  Look - I'm not saying we shouldn't have dropped the bomb.  Obviously, we should have.  All I'm saying is that it is just too bad that so many innocent (and they were innocent) civilians had to die in the process.

Maybe we aren't so far apart on this point after all.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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My point is that a mainland invasion of Japan was as unnecessary as dropping the bombs, but we just had to have an unconditional surrender regardless of the lives lost in the process.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

George Costanza said:


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It is too bad.  No doubt about it.  I just don't like him calling our boys war criminals. I think that is why this thread has such a sour flavor.


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

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It would have been necessary, you dumbass.  Why the fuck do you think Japan had their civilians training their civilians in hand-to-hand combat if they were ready to surrender, you mealy-mouthed idealist little bastard.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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Maybe because they thought we were going to invade them?  But them training their citizens to fight us if we invade them isn't cause for us to actually invade them.


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## Dr Gregg (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> So playing your part in the massacring of the Japanese people makes you a war hero?  Sounds more like a war criminal to me.



Ending the war that would of likely killed many more people, by a sick and twisted group of people that would go on suicide charges, instead of surrendering would kill themselves, brutalized a many people, and even told citizens, women and children, to kill themselves as opposed to surrender.

After the horrendous shit the japanese did in WWII, I'm not going to shed a tear for using the atomic bomb to end it.

And as horrible as the A-Bomb was, the full horror of it was not fully known,especially the radiation effects.   the bomb was far weaker than the ones developed later, so who knows what would of happened if the first bomb ever used was one of the more powerful ones, when Russia also had it. Obviously just a thought on that matter, I'm not saying that is fact. But this event likely opened the eyes of the world to the horrors of nuclear weapons


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## Dr Gregg (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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are you kidding? After what they did to the world? Let them still have a military? Plus, the unconditional surrender helped change Japan drastically and we helped build them up to be economically and technologically strong


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## George Costanza (Apr 7, 2010)

Dr Gregg said:


> radiation effects.   the bomb was far weaker than the ones developed later, so who knows what would of happened if the first bomb ever used was one of the more powerful ones, when Russia also had it. Obviously just a thought on that matter, I'm not saying that is fact. But this event likely opened the eyes of the world to the horrors of nuclear weapons



EXCELLENT point.


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## Dr Gregg (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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Yeah, you would of just let them take over the entire pacific and terrorize the people who lived there.

And even if Pearl Harbor didn't happen, as soon as the Japs started invading other Islands in the pacific which they did when they invaded Pearl harbor, the US would of likely gotten involved anyway.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dr Gregg said:


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After what we did should we still be allowed to have a military?  Yes, well I'm sure glad the U.S. government bombed Japan so they could then steal from the American taxpayer to rebuild Japan.  Excellent.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dr Gregg said:


> Kevin_Kennedy said:
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So it's better for us to radiate the citizens of Japan rather than have Japan "terrorize" people in the Pacific?  I'm not so sure, but I don't personally make much distinction between two different forms of evil.


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## US Army Retired (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> Dr Gregg said:
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Do you believe we should have a Military?


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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so FDR/Truman =  Tojo?


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

US Army Retired said:


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Certainly.  But I also see nothing wrong with Japan having a military.


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## Dr Gregg (Apr 7, 2010)

csbarry said:


> I haven't been this disappointed in any American citizen in my entire 57 years.



I hear you, what a bunch of assholes to criticize the USA during WWII, which helped liberate the entire world from a bunch of sick, twisted people hell bent on taking over the world and killing as many people as they could. 

Unbelievable. I'm by far anti a lot of wars, but WWII we truly were the heros of the world


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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Murderers are murderers in my book, whether they equal the status of another murderer is irrelevant.


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## Dr Gregg (Apr 7, 2010)

George Costanza said:


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50 million people died during WWII, mostly civilians. It was horrible. Who was responsible for it all? Germans and Japanese.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dr Gregg said:


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That would be incorrect.  The Japanese did not give the order to drop the nukes on Hiroshima or Nagasaki.


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## asaratis (Apr 7, 2010)

US Army Retired said:


> Our hearts and prayers should go out to Jeppson and his family. He was a true war hero who at age 23 armed the Atomic Bomb inside the Enola Gay when they approached the target city of Hiroshima which the result was tens of thousands of dead Japs possibly saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of servicemen including my father (R.I.P. Dad) who was prepared to invade Japan if it came to it.
> 
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...040604104.html
> 
> ...


Your use of Japs" in the OP is noted, racist.



Kevin_Kennedy said:


> So playing your part in the massacring of the Japanese people makes you a war hero?  Sounds more like a war criminal to me.


Those two bombs saved more lives than they took...stopped the war without a costly (in lives) invasion.



US Army Retired said:


> Kevin_Kennedy said:
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> > So playing your part in the massacring of the Japanese people makes you a war hero?  Sounds more like a war criminal to me.
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Your racism is showing.


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## Dr Gregg (Apr 7, 2010)

US Army Retired said:


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NO, I'm thinking his plan would to of been to get them to stop by asking them really nicely.

This person has to be saying this shit to purposely piss people off, can't be that stupid as to actually believe this shit, can he?


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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so you think 9/11 was caused by the US government's foreign policy (blowback), but you don't think the Japanese government brought Hiroshima on itself?


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## elvis (Apr 7, 2010)

Dr Gregg said:


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He believes it.


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## Dr Gregg (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


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NO, they did things worse, burn cities to the ground with incendiary bombs, enslaved people and performed genocide.  YOu know how horrible it is to be burned to death during those bombings? I'd take incineration any day over what they did to people.


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## Dr Gregg (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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He's a complete dickhead, probably one of the most bipartisan, unifying opinions the USMB has ever seen.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

elvis said:


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I don't think the Japanese civilians brought Hiroshima on themselves.  The government's policies certainly created the environment for Hiroshima.  But I personally wish our government didn't choose to play the role of al-Qaeda in this analogy.


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## Dr Gregg (Apr 7, 2010)

And you talk about being humble with war?  We built up Japan and Germany after WWII, if we were not humble and doing the noble thing, why would we help build their countries back up, even after what they put our people and the world through?

 WWII and the ending of the emperor's rule was probably the best thing that ever happen to Japan. They blew up economically after that, and is now an ally.

I don't think you can get as humble and noble as that


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dr Gregg said:


> And you talk about being humble with war?  We built up Japan and Germany after WWII, if we were not humble and doing the noble thing, why would we help build their countries back up, even after what they put our people and the world through?
> 
> WWII and the ending of the emperor's rule was probably the best thing that ever happen to Japan. They blew up economically after that, and is now an ally.
> 
> I don't think you can get as humble and noble as that



I don't qualify stealing from taxpayers to clean up the mess the government created being "humble."


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## Dr Gregg (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> Dr Gregg said:
> 
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> > And you talk about being humble with war?  We built up Japan and Germany after WWII, if we were not humble and doing the noble thing, why would we help build their countries back up, even after what they put our people and the world through?
> ...


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 7, 2010)

Dr Gregg said:


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So you think it is humble to steal from the taxpayers to clean up the mess the government created?


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## RetiredGySgt (Apr 7, 2010)

George Costanza said:


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Once again both targets were military, Both had war factories, I think both were ports and I know one of them was the Headquarters for an entire Army forming to defend the Island. More Japanese died in the fire bombs then either nuke attack.

If we had invaded we might have wiped out the Japanese race. We were looking at as many as a million casualties with 100k at least dead on our side.


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## elvis (Apr 8, 2010)

RetiredGySgt said:


> George Costanza said:
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kevin swears up and down that we didn't need to drop the bombs or invade the mainland.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 8, 2010)

elvis said:


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Side to side as well.


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## RetiredGySgt (Apr 8, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> elvis said:
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Read the documents dumb ass all Japan offered was a stop to the war. They would have retained everything they still held. Including China. They had no intention of surrendering. Even after 2 Atom bombs the Army which ran the Government REFUSED to surrender. It required a direct intervention by the Emperor and then the Army attempted a coup to stop him.


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## Kevin_Kennedy (Apr 8, 2010)

RetiredGySgt said:


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How horrible of them only wanting to stop the war.  But... wait...  Wouldn't that have meant no U.S. soldiers had to die, and no Japanese civilians?


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## elvis (Apr 8, 2010)

RetiredGySgt said:


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what role did the soviet union's declaration of war and invasion of Manchuria play?


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## RetiredGySgt (Apr 8, 2010)

elvis said:


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None. It had not happened yet. The Emperor surrendered because of the two atomic bombs.


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## GilbertArizona (Apr 8, 2010)

I figure that he and his generation are owed my gratitude for their great sacrifices.   I'll simply pay my respect by passing along his obituary from the Las Vegas newspaper.  May he rest in peace.                  

Morris Jeppson Obituary: Morris Jeppson?s Obituary by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Morris Richard Jeppson was born in Logan, Utah, June 23, 1922. Loved by all, and having had a life rich in family, travel and love, he passed away peacefully March 30, 2010, at Summerlin Hospital. Morris Richard "Dick" served in the military from 1943 to 1946. He attended Air Force electronics/radar schools at Yale, Harvard and MIT, after which he was assigned to Los Alamos, where he worked on the development/field testing of the first atomic bombs. He was a member of the 509th Composite Group and was the weapons test officer on the Enola Gay flight that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Following this historic event, Dick went on to have a successful career working in electronics and applied radiation at University of California Radiation Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory; and he founded several companies, including Applied Radiation Corporation and Cryodry Corporation. He was the director of the Optical Research and Development Corporation and the director of Humphrey Instruments. He authored numerous patents on industrial microwave equipment/processes and energy/resource systems. Dick had a brilliant mind to the end and over his lifetime he developed many inventions that were well ahead of their time. He is survived by his wife, Molly Ann (Hussey) Jeppson; brother, Lawrence Jeppson of Salt Lake City; daughters, Nancy Hoskins of Colorado Springs, Colo., Carol English of Medford, Ore., Sally Jeppson of Gackle, N.D., and Jane Ross of Midland, Ontario; sons, Mike Sullivan of Pahrump, and John Sullivan of Lakeport, Calif.; 11 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. Dick enjoyed travel, reading, research, good food, bridge and gardening. He was a devoted husband and loving father. No funeral services will take place.


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## Xenophon (Apr 8, 2010)

Kevin_Kennedy said:


> Dogbert said:
> 
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On terms to restore the pre war situation, something both rediculous and unacceptable after 4 years of war.


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## csbarry (Apr 8, 2010)

asaratis said:


> US Army Retired said:
> 
> 
> > Our hearts and prayers should go out to Jeppson and his family. He was a true war hero who at age 23 armed the Atomic Bomb inside the Enola Gay when they approached the target city of Hiroshima which the result was tens of thousands of dead Japs possibly saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of servicemen including my father (R.I.P. Dad) who was prepared to invade Japan if it came to it.
> ...



First and foremost, the term "Japs" was the term used during the Second World War. The use of the term "Japs" has nothing to do with racism, it is simply a slang term, much the same as "gringos" or "canucks" is used in reference to those living on the North American continent.


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## Neser Boha (Apr 8, 2010)

So, Christians, is he going to go to *heaven* or *hell*?  After all, he was responsible for thousands of deaths of innocent civilians, a lot of whom were children.


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## RetiredGySgt (Apr 8, 2010)

Neser Boha said:


> So, Christians, is he going to go to *heaven* or *hell*?  After all, he was responsible for thousands of deaths of innocent civilians, a lot of whom were children.



That will be decided at the end times, no one goes to heaven or hell until the Judgement. As far as I am concerned he acted within the context of a war. God does not punish someone for waging just war. The war against Japan was a just war.

 Just my personal opinion.


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## blu (Apr 8, 2010)

Dr Gregg said:


> And you talk about being humble with war?  We built up Japan and Germany after WWII, if we were not humble and doing the noble thing, why would we help build their countries back up, even after what they put our people and the world through?
> 
> WWII and the ending of the emperor's rule was probably the best thing that ever happen to Japan. They blew up economically after that, and is now an ally.
> 
> I don't think you can get as humble and noble as that



they stole tax payer money to enrich USA engineering, construction, and mercenary companies. sound familar? I don't find out right theft to be noble


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## rightwinger (Apr 8, 2010)

Neser Boha said:


> So, Christians, is he going to go to *heaven* or *hell*?  After all, he was responsible for thousands of deaths of innocent civilians, a lot of whom were children.



Regardless of your moral position on the use of atomic bombs, Morris R. Jeppson was a young kid who was given enormous responsibility. He executed his mission as he was trained and ordered to do.


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## Douger (Apr 8, 2010)

It's too bad there is no such place as hell because, if there was, that brainwashed ass wipe would get a golden throne there.

Official Japanese figures at the time put the death toll at 118661 *civilians*


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## theHawk (Apr 8, 2010)

Hundreds of thousands more died in the Tokyo bombings by conventional weapons.  What does it really matter how someone dies?  You think people dying by a bullet or a normal mortar shell is a good way to die and getting vaporized in an atomic bomb blast is somehow worse?  All it means is the few people that flew the airplane that dropped it were responsible for those deaths, as opposed to the hundreds of pilots that dropped bombs on Tokyo.  Does it really make a difference if 2 people were able to kill 100,000 people in one day versus hundreds of pilots killing 200,000?  And how about the thousands of Americans who help built all those bombs?  Are they resonsible too?  Just like all the Japanese  who lived and worked in industrial cities like Hiroshima making weapons and supplies for their army and navy which were no doubt used to kill God knows how many people?

Nearly 80 million people died in that war.  So enough of the phoney outrage over 80,000 "innocent" Japs killed by the bomb.  Japan's total losses pale in comparison to what China, the Soviets, and European civilians went through.  Cry me a river.


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