[GreenKeys] Enola Gay images available...

[Bob McConnell]

Philipp,

Those saved lives most probably included my father. He was in the 
Phillipines preparing to sail North when the Japanese surrendered. Had 
they not, there would have been hundreds of Iwo Jima style assaults on 
fortified islands as the Allied forces moved toward Japan in a war of 
attrition. Since he did not meet my mother until after the war, my 
siblings and I could have turned out somewhat differently.

You mention elsewhere about the current situation in Iraq. I have a son 
serving with the 82nd Airborne currently preparing for his second 
deployment to that country. After his first tour he is absolutely 
convinced that we should be there and must stay until the Iraqi 
government is capable of protecting their people. Despite what the press 
is reporting, most of their problems are being caused by outsiders 
trying to incite the various sects into a civil war. All because one 
irrational man with some money has decided that America does not deserve 
to exist in his world.

Yes, peace is preferable. However, as long as there are lunatics like 
Osama bin Ladin, Saddam Hussein, Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, etc, those of 
us that are able must do what we can to prevent them from destroying all 
chances for real peace and freedom. Unfortunately, most of them do not 
respect anything short of an armed force. Talking to them as if they 
were sane will only allow them to continue on whatever course their 
unbalanced minds have selected.

The Enola Gay is a reminder that we shouldn't wait too long before doing 
something about those lunatics, or we will once again be forced to take 
similar measures to prevent them from destroying everything our 
forefathers have built. But I also believe that more German civilians 
were killed by Allied bombs than those two atom bombs killed. In fact, 
Germany probably suffered the most of any country as a direct result of 
Hitler's actions, not only materially, but also from the continued 
prejudice resulting from being associated and identified with the Nazi 
party. Part of that is a failure of modern education and their attempt 
to clean up the history books so they are politically correct.

Bob McConnell
N2SPP
Ex-RM2, USN
Vietnam Service 1971, 72-73.

WF2U wrote:
> You and your kind of pacifists (as if the rest of us want war and you and
> your ilk are the only ones who are against it) are so naive and completely
> lack  any knowledge of history. Whatever little you may know, you distort.
> 
> Anyway, Enola Gay and Boxcar (the Nagasaki bomber) are great reminders,
> together with the heroes who crewed them, that dropping the bombs saved at
> least a million American lives, and at least that many Japanese lives by
> persuading Japan to surrender so an invasion and ground fighting there
> didn't have to take place. By the way many more Japanese perished from
> conventional bombs and other aerial munitions than from these two atomic
> bombs.
> Don't preach to us about "awful acts human beings are able to perform". The
> Japanese weren't slouches in that department, either!
> And don't be sarcastic referring to our history and artifacts. We're not
> mentioning anything about some artifacts in  "your wonderful homeland" so
> you can kiss them.
> 
> Meir WF2U
> Landrum, South Carolina, USA
> 
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net
>>[mailto:greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Philipp Hachtmann
>>Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2006 1:20 PM
>>To: Don Robert House
>>Cc: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net
>>Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] Enola Gay images available...
>>
>>
>>That airplane should have gone to scrap and not into a museum. It's one
>>of the most obnoxious relicts of the 20ths century. In my opinion the
>>Enola Gay and its crew don't deserve any honours. I consider dropping
>>atomic bombs to be one of the most awful acts human beings are able to
>>perform.
>>I cannot understand why anybody nowadays wants to look at this airplane.
>>Everybody knows the image from the history schoolbook, that's enough I
>>think.
>>
>>Hey Don, if you really need it, the airplane is located somewhere in
>>your wonderful homeland, so you can visit and kiss it's sheet metal....
>>Images can easily be found by google image search. Here what you're
>>looking for:
>>http://www.narhams.org/photos/Udvar-Hazy/Enola%20Gay.jpg
>>
>>Is this mailing list any longer focussed on teleprinters or has it
>>already become a refuge for WW2 veterans and fans?
>>If yes, please let me know - would save space in my mailbox.
>>
>>I am a young and explicit pacifistic teleprinter enthusiast. I am
>>collecting some of these machines. I like the mechanics - and not their
>>"glorious" roles they played in various wars. I am explicitely not
>>interested in war.
>>
>>At last..... Did you know that the german (and other european)
>>teleprinters - which you seem to ignore on this list - have a much
>>better overall quality than the Teletype ones? They're technical more
>>advanced - but don't bother, I like the funky american machines, too....
>>I have some model 33s (ASR, KSR) and a model 35 ASR which does not work
>>properly. From a historical point of view they're extremely cool.
>>
>>
>>Ph