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Post by okla on Dec 21, 2012 7:13:32 GMT 8
Hey Registrar....My former niece in law's grandfather, a member of the 31st Infantry Regiment (US) went into the POW pen at Cabanatuan, weighing 150 pounds and came out of Bilibid in 1945 tipping the scales at 95 lbs. I ask you if this was delusion on his part or a flat out fact according to his medical records? Multiply his experience by a few thousand others and we are probably looking at something more akin to the facts then what evolves from some "workshop" comprised of many individuals who don't even know which end of the barrel the projectile exits. Again, only my humble. Keep up the good fight.
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Post by Registrar on Dec 22, 2012 6:48:25 GMT 8
The following is lightly edited, but reflects Author and Historian JOHN D. LUKACS' message to our group as of 22 December, 2012:
Unfortunately, since I'm incredibly swamped with various projects right now, I'll have to let my forthcoming book on the Battle of Manila, to be published by Penguin NAL/Caliber in late 2013, serve as my major contribution to the fight. Since the book is from a major publisher and will hopefully reach a large audience, it may serve as the Little Boy or Fat Man that can obliterate whatever offensive the Yamashita documentary folks or other far left, liberal revisionists here in the States are planning.
Just about the only thing I can tell everyone right now is that PBS itself isn't responsible for the genesis of, nor financing of this Yamashita cleansing project. Outside of Sesame Street or the McNeil Lehrer news show, PBS really doesn't have any organic, or in-house production capabilities. I'm guessing that most, if not all, of what the documentaries they are are "outsourced." In other words, they depend on outside production entities to finance and put together their doc programming. They just air it. These outside programming entities raise the funds themselves, usually by grants from foundations or even sometimes through donors, sponsors and investors, corporate entities and rich individuals alike. PBS doesn't even pay Ken Burns - if you notice, his films are always made "thanks to the generosity of Chevrolet" or "a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation" or what have you. So us, the American taxpayers, are not commissioning this project.
Furthermore, do we even know how legitimate this production is? Most people like to say "I'm with PBS" or "We're shooting for the History Channel" or whatever in order to gain credibility with whomever they are contacting. This whole thing could be an expensive home movie bankrolled by the Yamashita family for all we know. Beyond this Sunshine, who appears to be the Manila intermediary, has anyone had any contact with the film crew? Perhaps Rico got some names or a business card when they interviewed him? What is the production company called? If we learn that, we could find out who they got a grant from or who is paying for the production. Of course, such sleuthing would help us get to the bottom of this project, but if they raise the funds and are successful in convincing the PTB at PBS to air the thing, it'll see the light of day. Sadly, the latter isn't too difficult nowadays, seeing as how an alarming majority of programming VPs and other execs are left-leaning and also have no clue about anything historical. Plus, they'd likely jump at the chance to bash MacArthur.
I can speak from experience on these items because I'm currently producing a documentary myself, on the Davao POW escape. I received a grant from a foundation in Texas to finance the film, which will be produced in conjunction with the World War II Foundation and will likely air on PBS late next year. Likely, because while the possibility exists for us to air the film on the History Channel, Nat Geo, Discovery, etc., I'm personally leaning towards PBS because I'll have more editorial control and won't see my hour-long masterpiece whittled down to 43 minutes by the cable TV necessity of commercials.
Best Regards, John D. Lukacs
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Post by Registrar on Dec 22, 2012 7:08:51 GMT 8
JOYCE B. VELDE writes:
It is really hurtful to see how history can be rewritten to suit the slant of the times. And they are believed by a world of non-readers.
I am certainly not surprised that PBS would be involved, and the Japanese have constantly revised their deadly incursions into China and the Far East, as well as Pearl Harbor. So why not blame it on MacArthur individually and the US armed forces in the Philippines as a group?
We, who were part of the times, especially are resentful at the revisionist history and the public will buy it for lack of history being taught otherwise.
Right now, 3 US senators, Feinstein (D), Leahy (D) and McCain (R) have called for a retraction of the Hollywood movie accusing the US military of using torture as a major method used in the capture of Osama bin Laden, as well as other major inaccuracies. Whom do you think will win?
The Japanese textbooks have also been rewritten, hiding the involvement of the Japanese, and today's younger generation does not believe that the Japanese did anything wrong. I watch the History Channel frequently, but this new version of The Battle for Manila has not been shown, I believe.
Joyce B. Velde
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Post by Registrar on Dec 22, 2012 18:51:55 GMT 8
JAMES ZOBEL writes:I really hope these people come to visit me, but I seriously doubt it. I mean if you are going to write a book and do a movie about MacArthur, Yamashita, and the battle for Manila why would you go and research the papers of the General, the war, and the war crimes trials? That would be stupid. MacArthur Memorial Z
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Post by Registrar on Jan 5, 2013 9:17:38 GMT 8
The following is posted on behalf of Hans H. Hoeflein, concerning his experiences relevant to the Battle of Manila. Mr. Hoflein is one of the co-authors of the short book "Manila Memories - Four Boys Remember Their Lives Before, During and After the Japanese Occupation", Edited by Juergen R. Goldhagen, ISBN 978-1-84861-010-1. - Registrar"...We lived at 1196 MH DelPilar. This is one block from Dewey Blvd., and in line with the Mitchell Apts and one block from the Syqiua and Admiral Apts - both of which were being used by the Japs during the occupation. I was going to LaSalle during this time and the schools closed just before the first air raid on Sept 21st 1944. It was then the Japs started building pill boxes at many of the intersections. In January they mined many of the streets with artillery shells buried vertically. They also put aerial bombs in the ground floor of all the bigger buildings with fuses attached. Most of the Japs in our area disappeared. We did have a battery of 120mm Dual purpose guns dug in on Dewey across from the Apostolic Delegation, with many 25mm AA automatic weapons supporting them, all manned by Naval forces. These were the guns that fired on Santo Thomas and drew a lot of counter battery fire from the US. On February 6th the Japs came to our house and told us they were going to burn all the houses and to get out. They did not bother us and we went to Remedios Hospital, which was two blocks from us. We stayed there until the artillery fire became very heavy and left on the 12th to dig a hole where we hid until we were liberated by the 37th Div on the 16th. The word in our area was watch out for the Makapilis. In my rambling way this supports the conclusion that someone decided to prepare to fight for Manila at least five moths before the battle. H/3
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Post by Registrar on Mar 9, 2013 15:32:59 GMT 8
This reply is from Esteban Pirovano, a survivor of the Battle of Manila, via Peter Parsons:
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Post by Registrar on Mar 9, 2013 15:43:25 GMT 8
This reply is from Luis Amechazuerra, also survivor of the Battle of Manila, via Peter Parsons:
I'm not surprised that this Ryan Book and documentary is an attempt to link the Yamashita execution to the current trials of the 6 terrorists at Gitmo that are self admittedly linked to the 9-11 murders of civilians in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. But underlying all this is the relentless effort of the left to destroy the history and character of Douglas MacArthur in order to protect that of FDR. If Yamashita is innocent then MacArthur is, by extension, the War Criminal and not Yamashita. And that conclusion is necessary in order to preserve and protect the truth about FDR and the consequences of his policies from his election in 1932 all the way through his death in 1945. Between 1932 and 1936 FDR slashed the War Departments budget by 20% all the while Japan and Germany were not only feverishly expanding their Armies and, in the case of Japan, invading their neighbors. From the time of MacArthur's arrival in the Philippines in 1935 and all the way up to December 7, 1941 both MacArthur and Quezon pleaded repeatedly for military supplies, armaments and munitions and their pleas were largely ignored. By 1938 the US Army's strength was on a par with those of Greece and Paraguay, 175,000 ill-equipped men compared to the many millions of well armed soldiers under Hitler and Hirohito. And even worse, while MacArthur loyally stuck to the War Plan Orange strategies even after December 7, he was never informed that FDR and the Pentagon had decided to abandon the Philippine strategy called for in War Plan Orange and the Philippines (even the far left writer Wm. Manchester in his Pulitzer winning book, American Caesar, acknowledges that decision) and focus on instead saving Britain. Had he been so informed of that critical decision that he was not to be re-supplied and re-enforced with fresh troops, it is inconceivable that MacArthur would then have led his troops into the dead end trap that was the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor as was specifically called for in War Plan Orange. The Orange strategy was for American and Filipino troops to fight a delaying action on Bataan and Corregidor until they could be re-supplied and re-enforced with fresh soldiers. And apparently, as part of that over all plan to denigrate MacArthur there is also a new movie coming out about MacArthur with Tommy Lee Jones playing the General. Just from that casting choice, without disparaging Jones considerable acting talent in any way, his persona and particularly his manner of speaking are the very antithesis of MacArthur's, so one can only imagine how the film will portray the General himself.
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Post by Registrar on Mar 9, 2013 16:02:05 GMT 8
The following is by Rod Hall, a survivor of the Battle of Manila. Mr. Hall has been in the forefront of the movement to memorialize the Battle of Manila through literary works, and together with Juergen Goldhagen, Hans Hoeflein and Hans Walser, is the co-author of "Manila Memories, Four Boys Remember Their Lives Before, During and After the Japanese Occupation." - Registrar
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Post by EXO on Mar 9, 2013 16:29:11 GMT 8
Independently, I too came upon the review by Samuel T. Morison, (of the Office of the Chief Defense Counsel, U.S. Department of Defense) of Allan Ryan's Yamashita's Ghost: War Crimes, MacArthur's Justice, and Command Accountability.
Morison establishes exactly where Allan Ryan's book is coming from, and where he's heading with the documentary he's been filming lately in Manila.
Rod Hall just stole the march on me (Good on you, Rod!) and what he says is so good, I will repeat Rod's comment, and then add my topper to it:
Here's my take:
Recently, Bin Laden's son-in-law was captured, and an indictment was unsealed last Thursday in the US, requiring that he appear in a Federal New York courtroom this week. That is a civilian New York Federal courtroom, external from all forms of a military justice system. What we have here is a "gotcha", based upon a false meme that MacArthur's system of Military Justice (as exemplified In Re Yamashita) was so horrifically abhorrent to fair-thinking jurists, that the line of authority established under it cannot be relied upon to prosecute enemy combatants through a system of military tribunals, and that the United States must instead prosecute terrorists through a civilian system in accordance with the desires of Eric Holder's Department of Justice that considers terrorists as criminals, not as enemy combatants.
When one plays an entire country for suckers, which is what the revisionists are doing, what's a few white lies to a bunch of foreigners, ex-pats, survivors of a massacre, the memory of a mere 100,000 plus civilians, and a bunch of retired old guys and gals.
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Post by okla on Mar 9, 2013 22:19:57 GMT 8
Hey EXO....For the life of me, I can't see trying this guy in a civilian court. It doesn't make a lick of sense. It's no different than if he had killed somebody in a liquor store stick up. It's absolutely crazy.
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