Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
I don't think anybody is asking anyone to sympathize with these men or their cause, but to consider how complex the situation they faced was and how complex war is for any of its participants.
Richard
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Good point sir. I recall as a kid reading "Samurai!" by Saburo Sakai, who ended up being their top surviving ace. They were taking the ranks of their best operational pilots as well - since we had pushed them back to their last stand. He also couldn't find his target (obscured) and RTB'd. Then he rushed home to try to interrupt his young wife, who knew he'd taken off and vowed that day to commit
seppuku. He was successful at that, but even as a kid it made me ponder what kind of mindset would take a premier operational pilot to that point. That helped to harden a view of what can happen with figurative lemmings and the dogma of what drives them.