ARMY & NAVY
Said a Navy directive last week: “The use of insulting epithets in connection with the Japanese as a race or as individuals does not now become officers of the U.S. Navy.”
On a transport en route to Japan a Marine officer tried to explain that to his men. The inevitable question: “You mean we can’t say the Japs are dirty little blank blanks?”
“No, you can’t say that now.”
“But. sir, they are dirty little blank blanks.”
“I know they are and we can still think it, but we can’t say it any more.”
The order was going to be hard to enforce. Admiral William F. (“Bull”) Halsey did not make it any easier. After the surrender ceremony on the Missouri, Halsey said he would “like to have kicked each Japanese delegate in the face.”
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Introducing the 2024 TIME100 Next
- The Reinvention of J.D. Vance
- How to Survive Election Season Without Losing Your Mind
- Welcome to the Golden Age of Scams
- Did the Pandemic Break Our Brains?
- The Many Lives of Jack Antonoff
- 33 True Crime Documentaries That Shaped the Genre
- Why Gut Health Issues Are More Common in Women
Contact us at letters@time.com