70th Anniversary of the end of WWII on May 8, 2015

[JJIII]

Originally Posted by HarmanKardon

Stupid little hillbilly from the Black Forest is ACTUALLY familiar with the (pacific) war in Japan and he knows about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hear hear...

Calm down Chris.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Actually, that was me.

The thing to remember is one's frame of reference. For Chris and for other Europeans May 8th 1945 1 is a profoundly important date. Its significance really can't be underestimated. September 2nd, on the other hand, carries much less importance with regard to their past, present and future.

My post wasn't intended as an insult or slight to Chris. It was intended to reflect how different countries view their participation/contribution/heroism/culpability in WWII. For Americans, the losses in both theaters were roughly equal (Europe - 213,407, Pacific - 162,525) and about half of Pacific Theater causalities occurred in the Battle of Okinawa which wasn't over until over a month after VE Day.

[HarmanKardon]

5 weeks after...

All I can say is that it was a big big mistake to start this memorial thread. Okay then... learning by doing...

Cheers

[donquixote99]

If I may, I'll suggest the mistake was expecting whatever you expected from it, and continuing to be somewhat bitter that you didn't get it.

The topic clearly carries some emotional freight for you that is hard for us to 'get.' There are no pictures of conquering troops on our streets, mingling with our women and children....

[HarmanKardon]

You got it, thanks.