I find it ironic that Australia and Australians still have difficulty in coming to grips with the fact that Asian people do not see life through the same prism as Anglo Saxons in particular or Europeans in general. In many ways they are different. Note the word DIFFERENT. Not better, not worse....different. Go live amongst them, as I have done. All will be revealed. Their religion/s are different and mostly embrace fast reincarnation after death. (So death is not as important to them). They have a different attitude to family and the responsibilities that come with a family. (Retreat is a stain on the character of the entire family for ever through eternity to them, a military necessity sometimes, to us) They have a different attitude to wealth. (Throughout Asia the most incredible poverty lives side by side with the most incredible wealth). Why then do we find it difficult to understand that their approach to war is different. Dying for the Emperor was their way. Killing the enemy in the name of our King was our way. A wounded soldier was a nuisance was their way. A wounded man required special treatment was our way. Being a POW was a matter of shame to them. Being a POW was a matter of bad luck to us. Killing an enemy POW was 'normal' to them. Killing an enemy POW was against all our rules and nature/s. Sinking hospital ships, beheading prisoners, slaughtering civilians, using POWs as bayonet dummies, indeed even starting the war in the Pacific with a sneak raid while protesting total abhorrence for war at the political level are all things that are on the record as proven fact. None of those things wore the Australian Rising Sun badge. Yes they are different. We better get used to it. Did we sink hospital ships? No. How am I sure? Because if we had the revisionists and the do gooders and the anti-Western (read Australian) guilt makers in our society would have been shoving it down our throats for years as "further proof" that we are responsible for all the bad things in the world. Cheers, Ted Harris ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anthony Staunton" <anthony.staunton@pcug.org.au> To: <AUS-MILITARY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, May 13, 2006 11:37 PM Subject: RE: [AUS-MIL] Hospital Ships > Jan > > The claim that allies had attacked Japanese hospital ships was first aired > 38 hours after the Centaur was sunk. As the Naval official historian states > it could have been a coincidence but it suggests an attempt to forestall an > Australian announcements and condemnation of the attack on the Centaur. See > http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/25/chapters/09.pdf pages 257-261. > > Anthony > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jan Thomas [mailto:jthomas4@bigpond.net.au] > Sent: Saturday, 13 May 2006 10:21 PM > To: AUS-MILITARY-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [AUS-MIL] Hospital Ships > > Dear Anthony > > Thanks for your reply. > > Periodically throughout my life I have heard stories that the Centaur was > sunk in retaliation for Allied attacks on a Japanese hospital ship or ships. > > The most recent yesterday at a Centaur Memorial Service. > > I am secretary and founder of the 2/3 AHS Centaur Association established in > > 1999 for survivors, descendants, relatives and friends, or indeed anyone > with any sort of interest in the Centaur. > > Rumours surrounding the Centaur are rife and still surfacing after 63 years. > > They are very hurtful to those whose lives have been affected by her loss, > and I am trying to verify or scotch as many as I can. > > If this allegation is just another rumour, I need to be able to state > factually that the Allies did not attack Japanese hospital ships. But I > need concrete evidence - which of course is very hard to find in the > negative. Perhaps the way for me to go is to follow your line that Japan > didn't have hospital ships, or ships that were internationally recognized as > > such. > > Thanks again > > > > ==== AUS-MILITARY Mailing List ==== > Milton Ulladulla Boer War & WW1 > http://www.shoalhaven.net.au/~cathyd/war/ >