THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
Regarding a commemorative stamp denoting the dropping of the atomic bomb, it seems that we are yielding to the Japanese; the stamp will probably not be sold.
Many of us have mixed feelings about this. In a real sense, the attack on Hiroshima represented a decisive victory for the Allies, since we now know that at least a million lives (both Japanese and American) were saved. In this case, the means really did justify the ends.
But let's go back four years earlier to December 1941. Japan also won a great military victory when its warplanes swooped out of a cloudless sky heading toward Pearl Harbor. Without warning, Japanese bombs smashed into American ships. The Japanese were attacking a nation against which they had not even declared war.
In the article ``World War II vets up in arms'' (Perspectives, Jan. 14), columnist Joan Beck interviewed many World War II fighting men who were destined to fight their way into Tokyo. These men made it very clear that President Truman's decision was the right one. As a result, countless thousands of grandfathers living today can tell their grandchildren about the great battle that never took place: the Battle of Japan.
BILL SEXTON
Virginia Beach, Jan. 20, 1995 by CNB