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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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John, I could not disagree more about MacArthur. David Halberstam's brilliant book on Korea lays it all out. Didn't care about his men.
I've met virtually no man who served under him who didn't want to kill him.
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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Muri the Montanan--fock yeah!
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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For an excellent take on MacArthur I recc a reading of just published, "The Generals," by Thomas Ricks. Then again, "The American Cesar," by William Manchester is an excellent bio on the man.
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rwedgee
Ice climber
canyon country,CA
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Feb 11, 2013 - 10:49am PT
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 18, 2013 - 08:24pm PT
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Today is the 71rst anniversary of the Doolittle raid.
Regarding General MacArthur;
he built his reputation fighting in the Pacific.
He is most notable for his actions in the Philippines.
He was sacked by the President for insubordination, and his return home started a national controversy.
And that was ARTHUR MacArthur!!!
He had a son named Douglas who ended up doing the same things!
(they were probably both jackholes to their men)
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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thanks for the source tgt.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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I just read recently that Midway was the first naval battle the Japanese had lost in over 300 years.
No wonder they thought themselves unbeatable.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 8, 2013 - 01:04pm PT
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I dunno about 300 years, but they got understandably cocky after soundly defeating the richest and biggest country in the world (Russia).
Midway was THE pivot point in the Pacific War. Defense and offense permanently changed sides.
But I was thinking of Woody again today and The Last Stand Of The Tin Can Sailors.
Now that was an amazing battle! Destroyers and destroyer escorts taking on the biggest battleships in history and getting in so close that they couldn't depress their huge guns enough to fire on us.
(OK, too bad the other ships could)
The first planned kamikaze attack (it sank a "jeep" aircraft carrier)
The US Navy's finest day.
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Last of Tin Can Soldiers; what a book (as with Neptune's Inferno)! I'm not sure who went through more hell, the guys in on the island or the tin cans.
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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I recommend the book "Shattered Sword" by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully.
It tells the tale from the Japanese point of view, and it is full of details.
The bottom line is this: we won cause our carriers were better built to survive battles and we displayed flexibility with our battle plan while the Japanese stuck to the "BOOK".
The battle didn't win the war with Japan but it evened the count of Carriers with them. This allowed the USA to take the war to them, at Guadalcanal, sooner rather then later.
The Japanese never built a single new Carrier in the war, we started pumping one out almost every other month... that's equipped, planes, pilots, trained seamen.
No Japanese naval planner could have ever imagined that.
Midway was won by guts and bravery and the US industry.
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Admiral Nagumo hesitated and lost his flagship and ultimately the war in five silly minutes.
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