HISTORY LESSON

HISTORY LESSON: World War II vet Al Neuharth is outraged that France and the Philippines are thumbing their nose at the US:

France laid down its arms just 44 days after Hitler’s invasion in 1940. We and our allies freed them four years later. The cost included 30,426 U.S. WWII troops buried under small white crosses on French soil.

The Philippines fell within six months of the Japanese invasion in 1941. We freed the country three years later. The cost included 17,206 U.S. servicemen and servicewomen buried in Manila’s American Cemetery. Nearby, marbled walls carry rows of names of 36,280 U.S. troops missing in action in that area.

This nose-thumbing by the French and Filipinos may have many of my buddies in our 86th Infantry Division, which served in both Europe and the Pacific in WWII, returning the gesture from their graves.

Hell, they’ve forgotten September 11, 2001, how can we expect them to remember the 1940s? (via YahooNews)

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.