View the 1945 Naval Armada Set to Invade Japan

[BangkokDean]

View the 1945 Naval Armada Set to Invade Japan

This is phenomenal…! An Armada of ships and airplanes poised for the invasion of Japan…that never happened…because President Truman authorized the dropping of A bombs at Nagasaki and Hiroshima that resulted in the Japanese surrender. Just think of the American lives that would have been lost had this invasion occurred. Sadly most Americans today know nothing about this and the sacrifices made by those before us. We are not teaching US history in our schools anymore….
Some great pictures of the Ulithi armada! US Naval armada deployed for invasion of Japan. There will never be another assemblage of naval ships like this again.

Staging area for the invasion of Japan. Check out the carriers on "Murderer's Row."

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=52966

 

[JPhil]

Interesting. My father and one of his brothers were both Naval aviators in the South Pacific theater, my dad flying a land based PV1 Ventura and Francy carrier based F6F Hellcat & F4U Corsair. They met up once on Ulithi and I have the photo and article which was in the local paper about it. The article did not mention the name of the island of course, but I remember dad saying that's where it was.

A side note, unlike so many veterans of more recent service, neither of them regarded themselves as 'heroes' or even anything special at all. They said they just did what they had to do, like everyone did, and when it was over and done with they came back home and got on with their lives.

One further more personal note: My dad enlisted in 1939--he saw the war coming--and served until 1946. After 5 years of flying in the front lines he was finally relieved and due to go back home. He was sitting on a bench in Luzon, Philippines waiting for transport back home, his crew having already left, when his officer came and asked him if he would fly just one more patrol. He couldn't tell him what he was looking for--just go out and look for something, anything, unusual. They were sending out every available plane they had.

He was issued a silk map of the area and told his search coordinates. He flew the mission, saw nothing, came back and got on a boat headed home. When he got to San Francisco he heard about the Indianapolis and realized that was what he had been looking for. He told us that for 40 years he worried that he had flown over them and not seen them and was bothered greatly by that thought. In the '90s when the specifics were declassified and the actual position of the Indianapolis sinking was released, he bought the book immediately and read it. He found that he had been about a hundred miles south and so would never have seen it. He said he felt great relief at learning this. But it was a Ventura from a different squadron in his group that did find them.

I have the silk map.

 

[mrvette]

My son's grandfather on his mom's side was in Burma, E.E. helping flip planes around ....My Father was training sharpshooters at Camp Perry, he born in 1905, sis born in '31, I born in '44 so at age 40 he was going to the Jap invasion force, far as he knew....

Today we drive Mutsobitchy, Toyota, Honda, etc.....

:gurney:

 

[kutmup]

Those who condemn the US for the use of atomic weapons (through ignorance or agenda) don't mention that the total number of Japanese lives lost would have been far greater if the war had continued and the invasion occurred. The two atomic weapons saved many American lives but many Japanese owe their lives to the way the war quickly concluded.

 

[mrvette]

Those who condemn the US for the use of atomic weapons (through ignorance or agenda) don't mention that the total number of Japanese lives lost would have been far greater if the war had continued and the invasion occurred. The two atomic weapons saved many American lives but many Japanese owe their lives to the way the war quickly concluded.

True, but never get that past the communist indoctrination forces in this nation...not any more......

 

[BBShark]

View the 1945 Naval Armada Set to Invade Japan

This is phenomenal…! An Armada of ships and airplanes poised for the invasion of Japan…that never happened…because President Truman authorized the dropping of A bombs at Nagasaki and Hiroshima that resulted in the Japanese surrender. Just think of the American lives that would have been lost had this invasion occurred. Sadly most Americans today know nothing about this and the sacrifices made by those before us. We are not teaching US history in our schools anymore….
Some great pictures of the Ulithi armada! US Naval armada deployed for invasion of Japan. There will never be another assemblage of naval ships like this again.

Staging area for the invasion of Japan. Check out the carriers on "Murderer's Row."

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=52966

So the plane launched from a submarine (presumably a submarine that couldn't go under water)? Where did it land?

I just read a story about the Japanese balloon bombs that made it to the US. Kind of a shot in the dark but kind of clever.

 

[VegasJen]

Interesting. My father and one of his brothers were both Naval aviators in the South Pacific theater, my dad flying a land based PV1 Ventura and Francy carrier based F6F Hellcat & F4U Corsair. They met up once on Ulithi and I have the photo and article which was in the local paper about it. The article did not mention the name of the island of course, but I remember dad saying that's where it was.

A side note, unlike so many veterans of more recent service, neither of them regarded themselves as 'heroes' or even anything special at all. They said they just did what they had to do, like everyone did, and when it was over and done with they came back home and got on with their lives.

One further more personal note: My dad enlisted in 1939--he saw the war coming--and served until 1946. After 5 years of flying in the front lines he was finally relieved and due to go back home. He was sitting on a bench in Luzon, Philippines waiting for transport back home, his crew having already left, when his officer came and asked him if he would fly just one more patrol. He couldn't tell him what he was looking for--just go out and look for something, anything, unusual. They were sending out every available plane they had.

He was issued a silk map of the area and told his search coordinates. He flew the mission, saw nothing, came back and got on a boat headed home. When he got to San Francisco he heard about the Indianapolis and realized that was what he had been looking for. He told us that for 40 years he worried that he had flown over them and not seen them and was bothered greatly by that thought. In the '90s when the specifics were declassified and the actual position of the Indianapolis sinking was released, he bought the book immediately and read it. He found that he had been about a hundred miles south and so would never have seen it. He said he felt great relief at learning this. But it was a Ventura from a different squadron in his group that did find them.

I have the silk map.

Pretty amazing story. I feel bad for him that he carried that thought with him all those years. I guess it's part of that "survivor's guilt" we hear about. I'm so thankful that someone or something watched over me during my time and kept me out of harm's way.