Some Reflections on VE Day, Japan, and War

Greetings,

Osama bin Laden is gone, but the war on terrorism continues and we are currently engaged in two wars one in Afghanistan and the other Iraq. With that in mind I almost forgot this weekend’s historical significance in regard to past wars.  

I just recently returned from Germany and was reminded of the Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day or VE Day) which commemorates May 8, 1945 the date when the World War II, Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The Japanese surrendered a few months later on September 1945.

I wrote the following from a personal perspective and thought it appropriate to remind us once again of the price paid for those victories.

Following is a e-mail from a friend in Hawaii who had a recent experience with some Japanese tourists at the sight of Pearl Harbor where the Japanese initiated hostilities with the USA by bombing Pearl in a surprise raid on December 7, 1941.

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 “I wasn’t afraid of the bombs.

To me, nighttime air raids over Glasgow (Scotland) were just the way life was—noisy, but not frightening.  I accepted them the same way I accepted food shortages and soldiers in the streets; British and American uniforms side by side.  At the first wail of the sirens I would climb into a chair beside the window to watch the city black out street by street, until all I could see was the flicker of flashlights as wardens went from house to house checking blackout curtains.

As far as I knew, life had never been any different.  Outside I could hear men shouting, firefighting equipment rumbling by.  Sometimes there would be earth-rocking explosions as bombs struck the Clyde Bank shipyards nearby. We often donned our gas masks and hurried to the bomb shelter beneath our building. Often time we did not and my Dad said we had to trust the Lord as the bombs dropped around us and the anti-aircraft fire from the roof of the adjoining building shot at the German planes in the night sky.”

Those are my childhood memories I wrote in my book Scott Free a number of years ago.

My dad lost four brothers in the Great War or World War I. One brother had amnesia and didn’t show up until over fifty years later in England. No one knows where he had been. That’s another story. My Dad lied about his age and enlisted in the British army at seventeen years of age to get revenge on the Germans. There are numerous stories of God’s supernatural intervention in his life that saved him, both physically, and spiritually. My maternal grandfather was an officer in the British army and survived, but not without “shell shock” as they called it then.

VE Day and Memorial Day are more than beer parties and the beginning of summer; and Thanksgiving Day is more than turkey; they should be times to express gratitude to God and the men & women who gave their all.

As an immigrant son to America from Scotland, I just want to say thank you, and with Winston Churchill salute those who gave their “blood, sweat, and tears.”

As filmmaker Ken Burns stated after completing his masterful film series on World War II:

“Instead of the shared sacrifices World War II demanded that created community and made us spiritually richer, we’re so lacking today. We aren’t asked to give up anything. We’re narcissistic free agents. Surfing the Internet alone. Watching TV alone. Driving alone. There’s too much Pluribus and not enough Unum.”

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From Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Dear Scott,

During the big Japanese tourism heyday, many Japanese flocked to Pearl Harbor. Older American service people, who served in WWII were extremely angry and felt they were here to mock us and everything being about the dollar.

Noting the large number of Japanese tourists, I talked with one Japanese girl (24 yrs), she said they came to pay respect and learn from their mistakes.

Later, we took my Japanese friend and her mother (Japanese visitor) to Pearl Harbor and to 4th of July festivities. The mother at first was frightened and wary. When she saw the display of the Japanese prisoners of war, she told of how they prayed for them and hoped they were all right. She also sang a song they had written for these Japanese soldiers. I didn't understand a word.

We're just proud of what the men and women did and embarrassed at the price they had to pay.

Suzan

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My prayer: “Come, see the glorious works of the Lord…who causes wars to end throughout the earth, He breaks the bow and snaps the spear in two; He burns the shields with fire.” (Psalm 46.8-9)

God hasten the day, I pray.

Scott Ross