World Battlefronts: BATTLE OP THE PACIFIC: An Infantryman Speaks

To the average U.S. citizen, air and sea power are the weapons to be used to defeat Japan. Last week an infantryman gave a different opinion. Burly Lieut. General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., head of the Army’s new Alaskan Department, told reporters that he was for land occupation of the Pacific enemy’s homeland.

“Loss of a few thousand men in invading Japan would be insurance against the loss of millions in a next war,” he said. “We’ll be better friends [with the Japanese] afterwards. They’ll respect us. They understand force. We made a mistake when we didn’t crush Germany by actual invasion in the last war.”