Possibly apocraphal story about Enola Gay display

I can't vouch for the authenticity of this story. I was talking with
an acquaintence I don't see often and he asked me: "You're a pilot
aren't you?" I told him I was, that I'd gotten my PPL last August.

He then launched into this story he'd heard from a relative who worked
at the Udvar Hazy Center down in Washington.

He told me that the director, an ex general, was squiring a group of
Japanese journalists around the center (date of this incident not
mentioned). When they passed the Enola Gay, some of the journalists
spoke up and said that they were offended by the display, saying that
the bomber had dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.

The ex general asked them what they thought about Pearl Harbor. The
Japanese, all journalists, were bewildered. "What about Pearl
Harbor?" They asked.

The history being taught in Japan, at least at the time these
gentlemen were learning it, kind of skipped over Japan's involvement
in how the war got started, but sure focused on how it ended. For
many Japanese, apparently, their understanding of WWII is that they
somehow got to fighting with the US, then we dropped two atomic bombs
on them. China isn't mentioned, Korea isn't mentioned and the fact
that they attacked Pearl Harbor isn't mentioned.

Amazing, if true, although it isn't the first time I've heard of the
Japanese style of blindered teaching of this period of their history.

Corky Scott

The problem is, that's the same sort of revisionism being taught to American
school children.

But that means the future should be interesting: If our biased teaching and
reporting becomes revisionist history who knows how it will come out!



wrote in message
...
I can't vouch for the authenticity of this story. I was talking with
an acquaintence I don't see often and he asked me: "You're a pilot
aren't you?" I told him I was, that I'd gotten my PPL last August.

He then launched into this story he'd heard from a relative who worked
at the Udvar Hazy Center down in Washington.

He told me that the director, an ex general, was squiring a group of
Japanese journalists around the center (date of this incident not
mentioned). When they passed the Enola Gay, some of the journalists
spoke up and said that they were offended by the display, saying that
the bomber had dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.

The ex general asked them what they thought about Pearl Harbor. The
Japanese, all journalists, were bewildered. "What about Pearl
Harbor?" They asked.

The history being taught in Japan, at least at the time these
gentlemen were learning it, kind of skipped over Japan's involvement
in how the war got started, but sure focused on how it ended. For
many Japanese, apparently, their understanding of WWII is that they
somehow got to fighting with the US, then we dropped two atomic bombs
on them. China isn't mentioned, Korea isn't mentioned and the fact
that they attacked Pearl Harbor isn't mentioned.

Amazing, if true, although it isn't the first time I've heard of the
Japanese style of blindered teaching of this period of their history.

Corky Scott

Bill Denton ) wrote:
: The problem is, that's the same sort of revisionism being taught to
: American school children.
:

And has been for some time.

I graduated from high school (Tulsa, Oklahoma) in 1963. None of my history
courses covered any of these topics in school:

o Internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry during WW II
o Tulsa's 1921 race riot [1]
o Cherokees and other tribes owned black slaves [2]
o Near-treasonous behavior of corporations who violated embargoes
on sales of goods and technology to Japan shortly before WW II [3]


--Jerry Leslie
Note: is invalid for email

[1] http://www.forgottenhistory.org/exhibits/tulsa.html
Tulsa Race Riot (1921)

[2] http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/slave_rv.htm
CHEROKEE SLAVE REVOLT OF 1842

[3] http://www.wvculture.org/history/jou...h/wvh55-6.html
Senator Harley M. Kilgore and Japan's World War II Business Practices

In a previous article, "Bill Denton" said:
The problem is, that's the same sort of revisionism being taught to American
school children.

I'm still bewildered at how many USian adults don't know that the US
tried to invade Canada during the Revolutionary War, and lost, and tried
to invade Canada again during the the War of 1812 and lost, or that
during the Wo1812, British and Canadian troops actually burned the White
House, and that's why it's white - to hide the smoke stains on the marble.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

Amazing, if true, although it isn't the first time I've heard of the
Japanese style of blindered teaching of this period of their history.

I don't necessarily blame the Japanese for glossing over their own sordid
history. They have to shave every morning, too.

My only worry is that *their* warped perception somehow becomes *our* view,
rather than the other way around. If we ever allow this to happen, and
we -- for instance -- "tone down" the Enola Gay display, we dishonor our
veterans and lose the moral high ground.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Paul Tomblin wrote:

I'm still bewildered at how many USian adults don't know that the US
tried to invade Canada during the Revolutionary War, and lost, and tried
to invade Canada again during the the War of 1812 and lost, or that
during the Wo1812, British and Canadian troops actually burned the White
House, and that's why it's white - to hide the smoke stains on the marble.

And Canadian kids don't learn about the Battle of New Orleans at the end of
the War of 1812 and other campaigns late in the war when smaller American
forces managed to humiliate large British forces U.S. soil, just as tiny
British and native forces had humiliated the huge American armies trying to
invade Canada at the start of the war.

Few countries do a good job teaching their own history, or even try, for
that matter--the one exception is probably Germany, which was forced (by the
occupying forces) to go through a painful soul-searching after WWII.

Now back to airplanes.


All the best,


David

On Fri, 28 May 2004 20:13:08 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

Amazing, if true, although it isn't the first time I've heard of the
Japanese style of blindered teaching of this period of their history.

I don't necessarily blame the Japanese for glossing over their own sordid
history. They have to shave every morning, too.

My only worry is that *their* warped perception somehow becomes *our* view,
rather than the other way around. If we ever allow this to happen, and
we -- for instance -- "tone down" the Enola Gay display, we dishonor our
veterans and lose the moral high ground.

There's not really much to tone down. I was there 2 weeks ago, and
all they displayed was the plane. It felt more like they were
displaying a B-29 than that particular B-29. BTW, I can see why it
was considered such a technological feat to design and build this
thing in the 1940's.

In a previous article, David Megginson said:
Paul Tomblin wrote:
I'm still bewildered at how many USian adults don't know that the US
tried to invade Canada during the Revolutionary War, and lost, and tried
to invade Canada again during the the War of 1812 and lost, or that
And Canadian kids don't learn about the Battle of New Orleans at the end of
the War of 1812 and other campaigns late in the war when smaller American

Yeah, we learn about the Battle of New Orleans. We learn that the US
finally managed to win a battle AFTER THE WAR HAD ENDED! :-)

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Sheridan: "Well, as answers go, short, to the point, utterly useless and
totally consistent, what I've come to expect from a Vorlon."
Kosh: "Good."

wrote in message . ..


The history being taught in Japan, at least at the time these
gentlemen were learning it, kind of skipped over Japan's involvement
in how the war got started, but sure focused on how it ended. For
many Japanese, apparently, their understanding of WWII is that they
somehow got to fighting with the US, then we dropped two atomic bombs
on them. China isn't mentioned, Korea isn't mentioned and the fact
that they attacked Pearl Harbor isn't mentioned.

Amazing, if true, although it isn't the first time I've heard of the
Japanese style of blindered teaching of this period of their history.

Corky Scott

All of us do that, to some degree, but perhaps not quite that
blatantly. A nation wants to forget its mistakes, so we downplay them
in the history texts, or take them out altogether. Conversely, we
emphasize our successes, sometimes taking credit not rightfully ours.
It's not fair to our kids, and they won't learn from their ancestor's
mistakes. Here in Canada there's often debate about what belongs in a
text (or a documentary) and what should be left out.

Dan

Dan

He told me that the director, an ex general, was squiring a group of
Japanese journalists around the center (date of this incident not
mentioned). When they passed the Enola Gay, some of the journalists
spoke up and said that they were offended by the display, saying that
the bomber had dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.

The ex general asked them what they thought about Pearl Harbor. The
Japanese, all journalists, were bewildered. "What about Pearl
Harbor?" They asked.

It's just barely possible that something like this did happen. The
NASM director is actually an admiral. There were certainly a lot of
Japanese visiting Udvar-Hazy when I was there in January. They
clustered around the Ohta suicide flying bomb and other relicts of the
JAAF and JNAF, and of course on the walkway over Enola Gay. (You cna't
get to it on the ground level, and there's a barrier to discourage
folks from throwing things from the walkway.)

I'm sure however that every Japanese journalist knows about the Pearl
Harbor attack. If something like this conversation took place, it
almost certainly meant: "What has our conventional and justifiable
attack on a military target have to do with your incincerating one of
our larger cities?"

Anyhow, it's not just the Japanese. The sour joke about American high
schools is that the students learn two facts about World War Two in
the Pacific: 1) that the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on
Hiroshima, and 2) so the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

My visit to Udvar Hazy is posted at www.warbirdforum.com/udvarhaz.htm

(Enola Gay is visible just beneath the Super Cub


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

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