"The" Tokyo Rose of Tokyo Roses Dies [Updated]
What a tragic story was "Orphan Ann's," the elements of which should be read be as a cautionary tale.
Too late tonight for me to comment. But I remember, so clearly, when Gerald Ford pardoned "Tokyo Rose" back in early '77, not so very many weeks before my 16th birthday. As always, it was an opportunity for a history lesson in my family, one that packed a wallop.
When you finish reading the WaPo article, overnight or tomorrow morning, you might also want to read this.
Iva Toguri D'Aquino: R.I.P.
(Sincerely curious: How many of you reading this would have recognized D'Aquino's name by itself? For that matter, how many people even think about Tokyo Rose anymore, much less her "Orphan Ann" incarnation? Much less the real woman, so unjustly treated?)
UPDATE: I see that Ann Althouse has a post up about D'Aquino's death and the NYT obituary.
I'm getting the impression, from reading around a bit today, that there are still people (not Ann) who buy into the Tokyo Rose myth, specifically with regard to D'Aquino. Despite better information being out there for decades and decades. Despite facts presented in articles about her death even this week.
How incredibly sad. Funny the way injustice just lingers and lingers and lingers, like a smell you just can't quite eradicate.
UPDATE: For a perspective from a publication not exactly know as soft on those who would offer "aid and comfort to the enemy," see this 2002 Weekly Standard article.
UPDATE: One more: A pdf of an article from Issue XXVII, Winter 2004-2005, of World War II Chronicles: A Quarterly Publication of the World War II Veterans Committee. Google it if you want to read the html version.
Too late tonight for me to comment. But I remember, so clearly, when Gerald Ford pardoned "Tokyo Rose" back in early '77, not so very many weeks before my 16th birthday. As always, it was an opportunity for a history lesson in my family, one that packed a wallop.
When you finish reading the WaPo article, overnight or tomorrow morning, you might also want to read this.
Iva Toguri D'Aquino: R.I.P.
(Sincerely curious: How many of you reading this would have recognized D'Aquino's name by itself? For that matter, how many people even think about Tokyo Rose anymore, much less her "Orphan Ann" incarnation? Much less the real woman, so unjustly treated?)
UPDATE: I see that Ann Althouse has a post up about D'Aquino's death and the NYT obituary.
I'm getting the impression, from reading around a bit today, that there are still people (not Ann) who buy into the Tokyo Rose myth, specifically with regard to D'Aquino. Despite better information being out there for decades and decades. Despite facts presented in articles about her death even this week.
How incredibly sad. Funny the way injustice just lingers and lingers and lingers, like a smell you just can't quite eradicate.
UPDATE: For a perspective from a publication not exactly know as soft on those who would offer "aid and comfort to the enemy," see this 2002 Weekly Standard article.
UPDATE: One more: A pdf of an article from Issue XXVII, Winter 2004-2005, of World War II Chronicles: A Quarterly Publication of the World War II Veterans Committee. Google it if you want to read the html version.
