THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 28, 1994 TAG: 9412280009
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
As a warrior nation, Japan loosed some of modern days' most savage armies as it sought to bring all of Asia under its domination. Its soldiers pillaged, raped, tortured and murdered civilians and military personnel alike as they marched across Asia extending Japan's sphere of influence.
Present-day Japan is engaged in another quest - the status of martyr as it depicts itself as ``victimized'' by atomic bombs following the leveling of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We think differently today of the nation which, during the 1930s and 1940s, cold-bloodedly ravaged throughout the Pacific area. By 1945, Japan rightly deserved all the damnation that could be visited upon its people and land.
Unmentioned by the Japanese, and apparently unknown by those allied with it in pursuit of the martyr's crown, is either mention of, or the proposed fate of, tens of thousands of Allied prisoners of war interned in that island nation. They were to be put to death at the first sign of an invasion force. There is ample testimony to this, and it bears remembering as Japan, and its current supporters, shed tears about being ``victimized'' by atomic bombs.
ERNEST F. BREDE
Virginia Beach, Dec. 10, 1994 by CNB