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Most of them were told "Never, ever speak about any of this". And they didn't. Like the Zanryu Nipponhei [0], they were loyal to the last. Even my own father
by nonrandomstring 1y ago
Most of them were told "Never, ever speak about any of this".
And they didn't.
Like the Zanryu Nipponhei [0], they were loyal to the last. Even my
own father kept things about his airforce days way too tightly wrapped
up long, long after the official secrets sell-by date. I have some
admiration for this, but in the end it's a loss to historical record.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_holdout https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_holdout
- DocTomoe 1y agoConsider it a blessing. Those orders were about controlling history much more than 'secrets': Many things done in war are later considered war crimes. Your admiration might have taken a hit had he started talking gleefully about the time he - just to pick a random example of things that happened - heroically shot fleeing "enemy" children on the ground.
- nonrandomstring 1y agoYou're absolutely right. I did hear a few of those. And there was as much shame as pride in the old stories.