My Dear Father fought in WWII and Korea, died on Columbus Day last year. Major in the Air Force, flew bombers. Lots of stories...God Bless ALL of our veterans! (and serving armed forces!!!!)...
I do have an Armistice Day thread lurking around here somewhere, which also serves as a Veterans Day reminder. Always affecting to watch BBC coverage of the two minutes of silence in Whitehall, followed by the bugles playing Last Post, and the queen placing her wreath at the Cenotaph.
My dad fought in WWII - a Kansas farm boy on a ship in the Pacific Ocean (which later got torpedoed and thus had to limp back to the Philippines in danger of sinking). Brave stuff - he was a pharmacists' mate and part of that duty included going in after the marines stormed some nameless island, reef, or atoll and, under fire, bearing a stretcher to take the wounded out. But it would have embarrassed him if I'd ever say he was brave. One thing that impressed me: I never once heard him say a bad thing about the Japanese. The war was over.
I do have an Armistice Day thread lurking around here somewhere, which also serves as a Veterans Day reminder. Always affecting to watch BBC coverage of the two minutes of silence in Whitehall, followed by the bugles playing Last Post, and the queen placing her wreath at the Cenotaph.
My dad fought in WWII - a Kansas farm boy on a ship in the Pacific Ocean (which later got torpedoed and thus had to limp back to the Philippines in danger of sinking). Brave stuff - he was a pharmacists' mate and part of that duty included going in after the marines stormed some nameless island, reef, or atoll and, under fire, bearing a stretcher to take the wounded out. But it would have embarrassed him if I'd ever say he was brave. One thing that impressed me: I never once heard him say a bad thing about the Japanese. The war was over.
OMG - they have a pic of my dad landing a plane upside down! My DB has that slide. Also (sorry Mom) pics of their Korean "laundry women" helping? them, lol.
That is honorable - I could never get my dad to say Asian instead of Oriental...but there was no hint of animosity based on race, ever.
Probably the most-used term other than "Japs" - the other term used in a derogatory sense - was based on Japan's being known, until the end of WWII, as Dai Nippon Teikoku.I have a question: I'm writing a play that takes place during WWII and it simply sounds unnatural to have characters say "the Japanese" every time they refer to the enemy.
It's a musical comedy and I certainly wouldn't use the uglier words, but is there a way to avoid having people of the period refer to "the Japs"? I can't find one. Nor can I find a newsreel or newspaper from the period that uses the full term, "Japanese".
I'm sure there wasn't. I hear Asians use the "O" word in documentaries and ads for hotels, Chinese food and the like.
I think that's more an American requirement. I've learned to say "Asian", but I don't think less of people of my parents' generation who use the old word.
OMG - they have a pic of my dad landing a plane upside down! My DB has that slide. Also (sorry Mom) pics of their Korean "laundry women" helping? them, lol.