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From: tan@ihlpg.UUCP (Bill Tanenbaum)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Orphaned Response
Message-ID: <1261@ihlpg.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 16-Sep-85 18:53:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihlpg.1261
Posted: Mon Sep 16 18:53:37 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 17-Sep-85 06:16:05 EDT
References: <91@decwrl.UUCP> <7800425@inmet.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 61

> >> >[Unknown]
> >> >Since no living American has experienced an invasion of America,
> >> >we cannot expect them to fully comprehend the repercussions of
> >> >war in Main Street, USA. While I don't claim to know the extent
> >> >of those repercussions, I am sure any attack on America (which
> >> >if non-nuclear at first, would quickly turn nuclear) would
> >> >destroy the lives of millions.
> >--------
> >> [NRH]
> >> My understanding was that during WWII the Japanese took territory
> >> on an American island off the coast of Alaska, and bombed both
> >> Alaska and California.  
> >> Perhaps you should not be so quick with the "no living American" 
> >> stuff.
> >-------
> >The two Aleutian islands taken by the Japanese were uninhabited.  They
> >never bombed Alaska or California.  Perhaps you are confusing the movie
> >1941 with reality.  Even Pearl Harbor was only an attack on a military
> >base, not an invasion or an attack on civilian targets.  Civilian
> >casualties at Pearl Harbor were very small.  No living American has
> >experienced an invasion of America.
---------
> [NRH]
> Annoyed at the implication that I would confuse the movie "1941" with
> reality, I called the Boston Public Library, and asked them whether
> the Japanese bombed the mainland.
> 
> In "the Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of WWII", pp 48, it is said that
> over 1000 "balloon bombs" -- anti-personnel incendiary reached North
> America, most in Canada.  In one such landing, Six people were killed.
> 
> In September 1942, according to the same reference, a single Japanese
> airplane dropped 2 bombs in Oregon (this was the only Japanese plane to
> attack the continental US).
> 
> As it happened, one of the folks at the BPL was stationed in Alaska
> late in the War.  He points out the the government evacuated the
> Aleuts from the Aleutians early in the war.  
> 
> So, Mr. Tanenbaum, I am NOT confusing the film "1941" with reality.
> While we agree that there was never a massive invasion with lots of
> soldiers of Anytown, USA, there were evacuations, bombings, and
> invasions in force of US territory.  To the soldiers in Alaska, or the
> folks killed by balloon bombs, or the people watching the two bombs drop
> from that plane in September 1942, these events no doubt felt like 
> an invasion (remember, they didn't know the Japanese had no more planes
> around, no other carriers with which to invade other islands, nor 
> any way of making the balloon bombs more accurate.
-----
I concede I did not know of the balloon bombs or of the other mainland
incidents you and several others mentioned.  I retract and apologize for
the remark about the movie 1941.  However, with the possible exception
of anyone who may have been on those two Aleutian Islands, no living 
American has experienced an invasion of America.  Those mainland bombings
were dwarfed by Pearl Harbor, and neither constitutes an invasion.  Also,
the Phillipines, Guam, etc., may have been U. S. territories, they are
usually not considered as part of what is meant by "America".
Since we now agree on the facts, if not the semantics, we hopefully can
terminate this discussion.
-- 
Bill Tanenbaum - AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville IL  ihnp4!ihlpg!tan


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