Picture of the Day - Miscellaneous

[Viking1066]

Mitsubishi A5M2bs of 12th Ku 1939 KAGE

 

[Viking1066]

RAAF Hawker Demons 3Sqn A1-30 & A1-42 at Nandowra aerodrome Scone NSW Australia ASBIZ

 

[Shinpachi]

I can't find Alec Guinness in any of these…?

One thing I noticed in the movie was that British engineers did not design the bridge in fact.

Final nail to connect the line

Source: History of Showa-era (一億人の昭和史・日本の戦史 8・太平洋戦争 2)(Dec.1978)

 

[Zippythehog]

One thing I noticed in the movie was that British engineers did not design the bridge in fact.

View attachment 789011View attachment 789012View attachment 789013

Final nail to connect the line
View attachment 789014
Source: History of Showa-era (一億人の昭和史・日本の戦史 8・太平洋戦争 2)(Dec.1978)

I would not have thought that POW engineers would be allowed to.

Perhaps the writers struggled, unconsciously, with vestigial hubris?

 

[Shinpachi]

I would not have thought that POW engineers would be allowed to.

Perhaps the writers struggled, unconsciously, with vestigial hubris?

Frankly, I do not know how they felt abou the historical incident to produce the movie in the 1950s but know that it took more than thirty years for the survivors to reconcile. I am not in the position to commit myself

On October 25, 1976, survivors from both sides reconciled on the bridge of Kwai.

Takashi Nagase with Stan Willner at Yokohama Port ca. 1976

Source: The Bridge on the River Kwai - Myth and Reality (1986)
by former IJA interpreter Takashi Nagase

 

[Wurger]

 

[cammerjeff]

Shinpachi it is understandable given the situation, and the attitudes of both sides before, during, and after the war. I found it interesting that my Father fought the Japanese in WWII, but was not captured by them. He said before actually seeing combat he believed most of the anti Japanese propaganda that he was exposed to. In rural Colorado it was unusual to see any Asian, or Black people. We did see and interact with Hispanic people, and Native Americans.
After seeing both sides fliers in action during the 1942-43, and after seeing the courage the Japanese fliers and infantry in and around Guadalcanal he had nothing but respect for his opponents. And understood they were very much like him, just performing as best as they could for there respective countries.
After WWII he had many friends in the JSDF. A few that he later found out he may have flown in the same battles during the war. But as he was never a POW he did not experiance the harsh treatment that was normal in most Japanese POW camps.
I can imagine it would take much longer for individuals that did experience the POW camps to get over the conditions and treatment. The individuals that give the harsh treatment usually feel justified for what ever they do (no nationality is immune from that attitude) and of course those receiving the harsh treatment resent it, and the individuals that are responsible. In my experience it usually takes decades, not years for those attitudes to subside. So it does not surprise me that in this case it took 20+ years for it happen. I am actually surprised it didn't take longer.

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots!

 

[Viking1066]

Mitsubishi A5M4 'W-101' from IJNS Soryu operations East China Sea November 1938 KAGE

 

[Viking1066]

Macchi C.205-Veltro Aeronautica Co-Belligerante Lecce-Italy 1944 ASBIZ