In a message dated 8/22/2004 2:29:21 AM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


>
> At least in Palau, the Japanese were allowed in after the war to remove the
> remains of their sailors

Hello Bjorn my friend,

Sir, from what I understand the same was allowed in Truk also. If I remember
correctly when I was there I was told that in 1985 the Japanese had been given
the honor to remove the bones for a Shinto burial (If I'm remembering my
facts right).

You are right about one thing. My dive guide on the Aikoku took me inside of
a room and shined his light on an object which took me a few moments to
realize that it was a complete human skeleton. I had the feeling that I was
violating a sanctuary.

The horrors of war are to be respected but I agree with Strike that by being
allowed to visit such places new generations will know how their lives were
formed by the sacrifices of the past.

It saddens me to realize that todays children (at least here in the US) know
nothing about history. When the movie Pearl Harbor came out I heard several
young people say "Did this really happen?" I was teaching my young niece about
how close the world came to total annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis
and she said that she knew nothing of it. She just graduated from high school.
Through the years I've become quite a student of the CMC and it's amazing how
much we are still learning from this conflict and even more amazing that
mankind made the right decisions for once.

If our children have any hope of constructively shaping the future then they
must know of lessons learned (and many of them the hard way) of the past.

Take care sir,

Ray