No Average Day: The 24 Hours of October 24, 1944

[@WW2TV]

Here are some responses from Rona about questions and comments in the live chat; POW Transports - Markings There were no markings on the Japanese hell ships to indicate the freighters and passenger ships were carrying prisoners of war. Geneva Conventions of “proper conduct” in war were not instituted until 1949. From a distance, they would appear as any other freighter carrying cargo that could have been war materiel and thus fair game. Numbers of hell ships and prisoners From my research and as quoted in the book: “Lost, with countless Japanese records destroyed at the end of the war, is the precise number of ships, voyages, prisoners transported, and prisoners who died during transit. By some estimates, however, well over fifty ships and perhaps as many as one hundred crisscrossed the South Pacific with as many as sixty-­ eight thousand prisoners in their cargo holds. Some twenty-­two thousand men are believed to have perished during these voyages. Some died from the miserable conditions on board, while others perished as submarines and bombers attacked and sank what they believed were nothing more than enemy cargo transports. In one case a typhoon raged and caused a ship carrying prisoners to sink. Of the total fatalities, about thirty-­eight hundred were Americans.” Total number of fallen American military 421,000 total American fallen during the war (less than one-third of a percent of its population, approximately 300 per day. 2,600 on October 24, 1944 2,500 on June 6, 1944 (including the invasion of Normandy on one day) 2,400 on December 7, 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbor And for comparison: 10 million total Russian fallen during the war (about 5% of its population) 1 million deaths during the six month Battle of Stalingrad, arguably the greatest of the war, averaged 5,000 per day. Kamikaze attacks Again, from my research: “For the moment, while the crash of a Japanese aircraft might have been a deliberate, last-­ ditch effort by a dying pilot to cause destruction and death, the military did not consider the attacks to be an organized suicide-­ bombing program. . . . An attack on October 30, 1944, by three Japanese fighters, one of which crashed on the USS Franklin’s deck and a second on the USS Belleau Wood’s deck, is often cited as the first true “kamikaze” strikes.” Maru Meaning and Origin There are multiple unverified reasons for many (but not all) Japanese ships having the word “maru” appended to their name. The literal translation is circle. “Actually, nobody knows for sure, but if you’re a World War II naval history buff, you must have encountered numerous Japanese ship names ending in “maru,” and in fact it’s still often added to the names of Japanese commercial or private ships today. The practice actually long predates World War II, with the first known such vessel being the Nippon Maru, the flagship of a 16th century Japanese feudal lord.” Source: www.beachesofnormandy.com/didyouknow

[@timbrown1481]

@@WW2TV Wow! All along I thought it was designated just for WWII cargo and transports. Once again Woody, I now have more education in this matter. Thanks Rona for your very detailed research.

[@bufatutuagonistes8876]

When Ms.Simmons mentioned the death of the soldier from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team I started googling and reading more about that outfit comprised entirely of Nisei. I went down one of Woody's proverbial rabbit holes. In a short time, my eyes were filled with tears. Though all were American citizens and all were born in the USA, they were treated as disposable because of their Japanese ethnicity and were apparently used as cannon fodder by their White commanding officer. Even other White officers were disgusted by his cavalier approach to the unit's devastating casualty rates. Though they ended up as the most decorated unit in American history and though so many gave life or limb to this nation, they returned from the war to outrageous meanness and bigotry from so many of their fellow Americans. It is a further tribute to these soldiers that many of them nonetheless achieved success and greatness. Thanks for another great presentation by a very worthy presenter.

[@jefsantamonica641]

Yes. The 442 regiment was subjected to some of the worst battles, sent because of "let them prove their patriotism" AND THEY DID! At least the ones who survived. They command treated them with little respect so they set their own standards of respect within the regiment.

[@jefsantamonica641]

*their command

[@davidk7324]

My neighbor when I was growing up was in the 442nd RCT 552nd Field Artillery Battalion. Master Sergeant, bronze Star. Fought in Italy and later his unit helped liberate a Dachau satellite camp. We he came home, he married a woman who was incarcerated at the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho. Canada has an equally troubling history of treatment of ethnic Japanese after Pearl Harbor. Canadian Order-in-Council P.C. 1486.

[@KevinJones-yh2jb]

Another brilliant and well presented and researched presentation on WW2TV, such tragic stories of men and women. Thank you Rona for bringing these stories to life. Many thanks to Rona and Woody.

[@georgecooksey8216]

Terrific presentation and discussion. Thanks Rona and Paul.

[@peterbrown1208]

What an ingenious formulation of a story line. Dedication to the research was intense. Very nicely done. Too late to make Xmas list, but I got a birthday coming up in March. Thank you both.

[@jefsantamonica641]

Ms. Simmons was just amazing. One date during WWII has so much information! What a great presentation. During this time my grandfather was winding down the fights in Holland to eventually get to Rheims to refit, relax and get winter OD's. I had no idea with the other dates what was going on. Thank you for this!

[@ronasimmons7624]

You are most welcome. While I picked this one day because of the record breaking number of deaths, every day has thousands of untold stories.

[@davidlavigne207]

This is the second time I've been able to here from Rona about her book. This book is on my list to purchase for a Christmas present to myself. I will also recommend it to my WW2 history friends and family members. A seminal work from a great author.

[@timbrown1481]

Thank you Rona for giving voices to the forgotten fallen.

[@matthewnewton8812]

I absolutely love the “world in a day” idea, just generally as a concept. Telling the stories of a disparate group of people all around the world in a single day. It works across all forms of media. There was a movie that came out a number of years ago with this theme too. I think it was called “A Day on Earth”, or possibly “One Day on Earth”. Something similar to that. It featured the simultaneous daily lives of individuals from all different cultures on the same day.

[@timbrown1481]

Tremendous endeavor. Great job Rona. I have my Gramma’s scrap book of clippings from the Birmingham Alabama news papers that discuss the death, general location of local boys and where they were involved in all theatre’s of WW II. Rona is correct.. a treasure trove of information from home town newspapers.

[@ronasimmons7624]

What a wonderful memento. I think the smaller towns were closer to their citizens and more interested in keeping the local “heroes” top of mind. Thank you for watching.

[@johnlucas8479]

Very interesting presentation Ation

[@garymiller_85]

Very interesting approach by Rona.

[@TomMullen-hn7wc]

Fascinating. A great idea for a topic to research.

[@shoofly529]

At 30:00 when talking about ship flooding reminded me about the 2017 naval collision of the USS Fitzgerald off of Japan where a Petty Officer sealed himself & about 7 other sailors in a compartment by closing the hatch to prevent the loss of the ship to flooding. All perished.

[@davidlavigne207]

Such bravery is born of love of one's fellow sailors.

[@janslimming9]

This is great Rona, glad to see you with a Brit on TV. #codebreakersdaughter #Cofepow

[@buonafortuna8928]

Wow that is some quest. Salut Rona

[@ronasimmons7624]

Thank you, but it was rewarding every step of the way.

[@Thumpalumpacus]

I haven't read Rona's book, but y'all's conversation makes me think of Studs Terkel's book "The Good War" which collates oral histories from everyone from combat soldiers and sailors to draft resistors and Mafiosi. Seeing the war from a personal sense is valuable as well, aside from large history tropes stories told thrice.

[@WW2TV]

Yep, that's a great book

[@petergibson9009]

John Ellis’ book ‘One Day in a Very Long War’ uses the same idea. He chose the date of 25 October 1944.

[@billimplom6610]

My uncle Bill was KIA Oct 8, 1944 on the Dutch-German boarder near Oidtweiler Germany. 2nd Armored div. 66th Armored Reg. Co. F.

[@moo5289]

There was a man in my church who died a few years back. I don't have any corroborating evidence, but this is the story he told. He had been a survivor of the Batan death march and was in the hold of one of those ships that was sunk, he said by air attack. For whatever reason, the Japanese pulled him out and put him on another ship to the home Islands, where he worked in a factory for the duration of the war. He bore no ill will toward the American pilots who sank the ship. I never doubted his story unlike the Scotsman who claimed to have been on the HMS Hood when they sank the Bismark.

[@Neaptide184]

What an absolutely incredible idea. Almost sounds like an episode of “The Twilight Zone.” An unremarkably remarkable day in WW2…..

[@timbrown1481]

I’m watching the recorded show. Where are all the side bar comments from the live presentation?

[@WW2TV]

They will reappear after the video has processed on KZbin. Usually within 12 hours

[@timbrown1481]

@@WW2TV Ah! Okay. Thank you Woody.

[@ronasimmons7624]

Thank you for watching. I’d love to hear your comments, regardless.

[@WW2TV]

They are back now Rona

[@dankolar6066]

“A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil.” ― Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried

[@ronasimmons7624]

Some very thoughtful words. I hope to have left everyone who reads the book with something to “chew on” and form their own opinion. PS in o’Brien’s very large steps, I recently wrote an article - the things they left us. With the passage of time we now have to know “them” by what they left behind.

[@dankolar6066]

I grew up in the postwar era. Most men of my parents' generation had seen service. Most of the women had either worked in the fields or the factories. They usually told no stories. Most, tho, had lifelong habits - like shaving every morning or laying out tomorrow's garments. These little habits had helped them to survive, so they never forgot them. Only at their funerals, did I finally hear some of their stories. Then I wished I had listened more to the math teacher who had once been a Marine. Or had listened to the postal carrier who had once flown cargo from India into China.

[@timbrown1481]

@@dankolar6066 I wish I had engaged more with my Dad about his war time experiences. Yet I have some of his story in the photos he took while on Guadalcanal plus letters he wrote to his cousin while he was over there.

[@dankolar6066]

@ - It has become my belief that we have become a not especially grateful nation. If we were grateful, then vets would not be living under bridges. If we were grateful, vets would be dwelling in free housing. We would be cutting their lawns. We would even be keeping them in free beer. But we don't. We don't care for our vets because few of us realize what we have asked our vets to do. I wish this was not the case.

[@davidlavigne207]

It is the human condition that you speak of. The experience of people in combat is universal and transcends nationality in many ways.

[@Thumpalumpacus]

My firefighter brotha in the USAF, A1C James White, died in peacetime, in a training fire. You cannot tell me that he didn't die for his country as well. The idea that only combat KIAs merit respect is horseshit, to me.

[@WW2TV]

That was the exact point we made

[@Thumpalumpacus]

@@WW2TV Right, not arguing, only supporting this important and valuable point. I may not have worded it well, but I'm fully on-board. Forgive my imperfect delivery and know that you and Rona putting that point home is appreciated. Sacrifices made, whether in combat or on the home front, they all matter. Sorry if I came across wrong in wording, I sure didn't mean that about your interview here, which was great.