# Have you ever met an Axis veteran? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 27, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272 "2012-05-27T19:49:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/42 "2012-05-31T03:23:54Z")
When I had Dr. Hans Sennholtz at Grove City College, nobody questioned the idea he had served with the Luftwaffle. True? ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/43 "2012-05-31T03:52:13Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Sounds like [The 25th Hour.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062445/) > German POWs work in agriculture from Arkansas prison camps. > One at least was tortured for not working by shining headlights on him in the hot Summer night. Mosquitoes convinced him to work. 🙂 I recall hearing a story in Alabama during the war where a deputy pulled over a car that was acting suspiciously. The people had German accents, were drunk, and told the deputy they’d gotten lost and needed directions back to the POW camp. Somebody back at the camp gave them car for good behavior. IIRC, I think I read it in a Time-Life book about WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/44 "2012-05-31T05:33:02Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > When I had Dr. Hans Sennholtz at Grove City College, nobody questioned the idea he had served with the Luftwaffle. True? Yes; he flew one of [these.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vought_XF5U) ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/45 "2012-05-31T13:46:16Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Kamikazis, the penchant of the Japanese to never surrender and these [Battle of Saipan - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saipan) and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-G7\_I4Tm5M](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-G7_I4Tm5M) argue against your point. I see. There have never been any civilized people who senselessly sent millions of their young off to die, and the acts of men in war define a country and its values. I’m going to go punch out a Brit for the Battle of the Somme. ---
**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/46 "2012-05-31T15:10:06Z")
One of Dad’s bosses was in the Wehrmacht during WWII, and emigrated to the Chicago area after the war. I met him once or twice in the early 1970s, and he seemed pretty normal; then again, I was in grade school at the time, so my awareness of any weirdness would have been suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/47 "2012-05-31T15:15:15Z")
Agreed. What a weird thing to say. Ferocity in battle and the use of (what may seem) extreme tactics don’t necessarily mean that a people don’t love their children. I think he missed your point entirely, **TP**. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/48 "2012-05-31T17:30:38Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > I think he missed your point entirely, **TP**. Or he failed to read Alfred Lord Tennyson > [@](#): > > Half a league, half a league, > Half a league onward, > All in the valley of Death > Rode the six hundred. > “Forward the Light Brigade! > Charge for the guns!” he said. > Into the valley of Death > Rode the six hundred. > > Forward, the Light Brigade!" > Was there a man dismay’d? > Not tho’ the soldier knew > Some one had blunder’d. > Theirs not to make reply, > Theirs not to reason why, > Theirs but to do and die. > Into the valley of Death > Rode the six hundred. > > Cannon to right of them, > Cannon to left of them, > Cannon in front of them > Volley’d and thunder’d; > Storm’d at with shot and shell, > Boldly they rode and well, > Into the jaws of Death, > Into the mouth of hell > Rode the six hundred. > > Flash’d all their sabres bare, > Flash’d as they turn’d in air > Sabring the gunners there, > Charging an army, while > All the world wonder’d. > Plunged in the battery-smoke > Right thro’ the line they broke; > Cossack and Russian > Reel’d from the sabre-stroke > Shatter’d and sunder’d. > Then they rode back, but not, > Not the six hundred. > > Cannon to right of them, > Cannon to left of them, > Cannon behind them > Volley’d and thunder’d; > Storm’d at with shot and shell, > While horse and hero fell, > They that had fought so well > Came thro’ the jaws of Death, > Back from the mouth of hell, > All that was left of them, > Left of six hundred. > > When can their glory fade? > O the wild charge they made! > All the world wonder’d. > Honor the charge they made! > Honor the Light Brigade, > Noble six hundred! ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/49 "2012-05-31T17:34:49Z")
Dad was a member of an old timers WWII pilot group who met weekly for breakfast. When dad passed, many of them came to his funeral and then to the get together following the services. One of the members was a WWII German Me109 ace. A very interesting fellow to talk to. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/50 "2012-05-31T20:01:41Z")
> [@TokyoPlayer](#): > > I see. There have never been any civilized people who senselessly sent millions of their young off to die, and the acts of men in war define a country and its values. > > I’m going to go punch out a Brit for the Battle of the Somme. 1)The British didnt start WWI 2)The Japanese put their Emperor before the lives of their children 3)As seen in the vid I posted, some Japanese mothers would rather kill their children than let them fall into the hands of Americans… 4)A ‘civilized’ peoples also dont commit the heinous war crimes the Japanese committed in China, Korea and the Philippines; they dont force women into prostitution. They dont do all they can to deny these crimes. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/51 "2012-05-31T20:04:58Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Agreed. What a weird thing to say. Ferocity in battle and the use of (what may seem) extreme tactics don’t necessarily mean that a people don’t love their children. > > I think he missed your point entirely, **TP**. Oh yeah. Forcing your troops to fight to the death when a battle/war is lost shows what love and compassion the Japanese held for their children. You two are trying to force a western philosophy on the Japanese; it doesnt fit. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/52 "2012-05-31T23:41:23Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Oh yeah. Oh yeah, whatever. This is IMHO, in a thread about meeting axis veterans. This has been a fun hijack, and it gave me the opportunity to reread one of my favorite poems. The Pit would be an excellent place to bitch about them Japanese, or GD would be an excellent place to start a thread if there is anything fundamentally different about this particular country, in a world history filled with war and atrocities. And don’t forget the Rape of Nankin, the Bataan Death March and Unit 731, some of the grizzliest and most horrible things which one group of humans can do to another. The capacity of depravity within the human soul is a caution to us all. Unless we just want to simply; and I’ll go out and punch out my neighbor’s six-year-old. Damn Japanese. And now we return you to the regularly scheduled program. ---
**Author:** ![Cold\_Dish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cold\_Dish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cold_Dish)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/53 "2012-06-01T01:28:40Z")
My grandpa was a Bataan Death March survivor. He was a very sweet & loving man but he hated the Japanese and anything Japanese related until the day he died. Extra care was taken by the family on Christmas & birthdays to make sure no gifts were marked ‘made in Japan’. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/54 "2012-06-01T02:07:17Z")
> [@Cold\_Dish](#): > > My grandpa was a Bataan Death March survivor. He was a very sweet & loving man but he hated the Japanese and anything Japanese related until the day he died. Extra care was taken by the family on Christmas & birthdays to make sure no gifts were marked ‘made in Japan’. I met a Bataan Death March survivor in Alaska in the late '70s. He was working on the Alaska Pipeline. Your Grandpa must have been one tough-beyond-common man. Kudos to him. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/55 "2012-06-01T04:59:21Z")
Yes, I have visited my Mom’s brothers. All four of them lived in Germany. They are all dead now. My mom was the youngest child, and she’s now 85 years old. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/56 "2012-06-01T17:37:19Z")
Yes. When I was a young buck in college and worked in a warehouse I was put with an older guy. It took him a couple months to open up to me. It helped that I was half German. It helped that I was interested in WWII and it helped that I seemed non-judgemental and curious. Turns out he fought for the German Army 1941- 1945. He didn’t even live in Germany at the time…lived in the Soviet Union but flocked to join the German Army at first opportunity (He had German citizenship) He had many interesting stories. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/57 "2012-06-02T00:19:21Z")
My wife and I both have (or had) family members in the Wehrmacht. My grandfather was a radio operator, first in occupation France, and then across the Eastern front into the Crimea. Eventually he was captured and worked in a Polish coal mine until around 1950…other than telling me some details about the capture, he didn’t want to talk about it much. He did take a lot of pictures along the way, and I have those. [ETA: I’ll note that twice a year he was allowed to trade packages with his family in Germany…they’d send him paints, and he’d paint little wildlife or still life scenes that he’d send back…I have some of those as well, but the whole idea always seemed oddly genteel to me] Last year I also met one of my wife’s relatives, who was in the League of German Maidens, and worked in her late teens as a driver in a shoe (boot?) factory that used POW labor. She was grabbed near the end of the war, and released from reparations work around 1955. I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask her, but since it was something like her 87th birthday I managed to restrain myself. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/58 "2012-06-02T17:34:07Z")
I met a _kamikaze_ pilot. This was back in the late '80’s in California. I was taking tai chi and he was brought in by the neighboring taikwondo school to teach _iaido_. He talked to our group for a little bit before class. He had been in the samurai class, of course, and was brought up on _dulce et decorum est_. His plane had been shot down short of the target and he had been fished out of the water. His knee was messed up in the crash. He did not talk too much about it but my take was that he felt he had been doing his duty, and he did it the best that he could. Interesting man, from a different world. Pretty sure he loved children and kittens. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/59 "2012-06-02T18:49:10Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > He had been in the samurai class, of course, Ah, yes. That class of Japanese who could kill any common person at any time. For you out there who want to romanticize the Japanese; and for those others who havent been informed about extent and brutality of Japanese war crimes…look at this. > **[Japanese war crimes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes)** > > During its imperial era, Japan committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity across various Asian-Pacific nations, notably during the Second Sino-Japanese and Pacific Wars. These incidents have been referred to as "the Asian Holocaust" and "Japan's Holocaust", and also as the "Rape of Asia". The crimes occurred during the early part of the Shōwa era, under Hirohito's reign. > The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) were responsible for a multitude of wa... > [@](#): > > R. J. Rummel, a professor of political science at the University of Hawaii, states that between 1937 and 1945, the Japanese military murdered from nearly 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people, most likely 6,000,000 Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, among others, including Western prisoners of war. “This democide was due to a morally bankrupt political and military strategy, military expediency and custom, and national culture.”[36] > [@](#): > > It is estimated that at least one out of every 20 Filipinos died at the hand of the Japanese during the occupation > [@](#): > > Historian Mitsuyoshi Himeta reports that a “Three Alls Policy” (Sankō Sakusen) was implemented in China from 1942 to 1945 and was in itself responsible for the deaths of “more than 2.7 million” Chinese civilians. This scorched earth strategy, sanctioned by Hirohito himself, directed Japanese forces to “Kill All, Burn All, and Loot All.” This sure sounds a hell of a lot like the policy of the Germans in the East. Whereas the Germans were forced to confront their criminality at the end of WWII and denazify, the Japanese were allowed to keep their Emperor and didnt have to confront the evil they had unleashed on Asia. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/60 "2012-06-02T22:38:03Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Whereas the Germans were forced to confront their criminality at the end of WWII and denazify, the Japanese were allowed to keep their Emperor and didnt have to confront the evil they had unleashed on Asia. Douglas MacArthur had war crimes trials and hanged some convicted Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272/61 "2012-06-03T00:31:50Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Douglas MacArthur had war crimes trials and hanged some convicted Japanese. Some war crimes trials..the biggest war criminal of them all Hirohito not only wasnt tried but was allowed to keep his post, in a ceremonial role. Woulda been like capturing Hitler and allowing his to serve as German President. Also, the Japanese people werent forced to acknowledge and accept their war guilt. Why these women [Comfort women - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women) have yet to be compensated by the Japanese government. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-met-an-axis-veteran/623272.md?page=4)