The death of Admiral Yamamoto - April 18, 1943

[opoefc]

I had met Thomas Lanphier several times after WW2, as he lived in San Diego, as I did, and was one of the founders of PSA ( Pacific Southwest Airlines ) and I had a son of his I'm my YMCA Camping group. He always said he was the pilot that shot down Yamamoto. Ed

 

[Old 44 Guy]

I remember this well as I about 12 YO then. A very large boost to our moral then.

 

[Beemerguy53]

Odd that the Brits would worry about polishing off Yamamoto. They were keen to do away with Rommel. "Political" considerations didn't stop them from trying that. Likewise the Germans made an effort to kill high Allied commanders towards the end of the war in Europe, but I don't think they had any success. There is no point in mentioning specifics of the brutality of the Japanese before and during the war. It's not popular. War should be all about causing harm to your enemy. Eliminating high officers should be nothing more than a cost vs. effect calculation. Likewise with the politicians who start the wars, IMO.

In his landmark book "Justice at Nuremberg". author Robert Conot relates how in the summer of 1944, the Roosevelt Administration began research and planning for war crimes trials after the eventual end of hostilities.

Winston Churchill objected to the idea of trials, and proposed instead that the Allies simply round up the leaders of the Third Reich and summarily execute them. Roosevelt's people argued that we needed to hold trials, so that evidence of Axis atrocities could be presented to the world, and so that we could demonstrate that unlike the Nazis, the Allies respected the rule of law.

 

[LVSteve]

The P38 was an outstanding plane. Hang a couple drop tanks on them and it was indeed a fine long range weapon. When flying over water 2 engines are much better than 1.

It also taught Kelly Johnson a great deal about compressibility, much like the Hawker Typhoon did for the British.