I have heard the story of the emperor of Japan asking his admirals for their north American invasion stratagem and being rebuffed by the "rifle behind every blade of grass" line. Where can I read more about this?
It may not be an accurate quote:
http://factcheck.org/2009/05/misquoting-yamamoto/
I couldn't find a substantiated reference. It is a widely-used quote but may be folklore.
Most online sources attribute it to Admiral Yamamoto as the reason the Japanese did not plan an invasion of the continental United States.
I remember reading a few years back that it was made by a different Japanese Fleet Officer during a military conference after the war.
However, I've been unable to find it since that time.
In the material I read there was additional material in the quote similar to "we know most families own firearms, we know you even teach rifle marksmanship in your schools and promote rifle competitions between the school rifle teams.", etc.
At one time that was very true.
I have never been able to find a reputable source for this quote. I've searched quite a bit too.
I asked a buddy of mine who's in the Navy and he too, of course, had heard it but couldn't find a quote. Currently, he and his wife are attempting to find "official" naval confirmation. To date... nothing. (However, they did confirm the Navy is flying the Navy Jack on ships that're under way.)
I'll post on here if they let me know something.
Admiral Yamamoto almost certainly never said that: http://factcheck.org/2009/05/misquoting-yamamoto/ (http://factcheck.org/2009/05/misquoting-yamamoto/)
However, he was quite familiar with the United States and it's the kind of thing he would have said... perhaps not as poetically, of course.
Perhaps the best example of Americans living up to that ideal is the story of Castner's Cutthroats. There's a few books about them, such as here: http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Warriors-Aleutian-Campaign-Rearden/dp/1575101203/ref=pd_cp_b_1 (http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Warriors-Aleutian-Campaign-Rearden/dp/1575101203/ref=pd_cp_b_1)
japan did not have the resources to follow up the attack on pearl harbor with land troops, the thought of invading/occupying any thing other than a few alaska islands like the mainland would have been absurd
I'm glad to see that we are stomping this "Quote" out. There's nothing worse than WRONG HISTORY.
My research found that this quote never existed until showing up on gun boards earlier in THIS century.
It's a cool quote - would be even cooler if it was real.
Is fact check another word for SNOPES?
JA
Quote from: dalesp on July 28, 2010, 10:10:05 AM
My research found that this quote never existed until showing up on gun boards earlier in THIS century.
I clearly remember hearing that quote as far back as 1979 from an ex coastie who loved to shoot. Not saying the quote is correct, or even real, but it is quite old.
YHJ
Yeah, an invasion of the United States was never part of Japan's plan... they just wanted to knock out our Pacific Fleet so they could seize our oil-producing islands in the Pacific without much resistance. After we embargoed them and cut off 97% of their oil to try to get them to stop their war in China, they had to choose between waving the white flag of surrender and giving into the demands of foreigners, or seizing our oil and trying to keep the war effort going.
Oil-producing islands in the Pacific? I've never heard about THAT before. Can you elaborate?
mostly around vietnam
The Netherlands East Indies - sheesh! :)
They don't teach history like they used to