warspite1
Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008 From: England Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: BBfanboy Not so negative. Both Bunker Hill and Franklin were saved in spite of horrific damage. A real tribute to US damage control and crew bravery. The thing I have against these pictures is that they focus solely on US forces when there were obviously other nations involved, including Japan! My thought for a summary picture was the one of Admiral Nimitz and Gen. MacArthur briefing President Roosevelt on their proposed strategies for advancement in the Pacific, in front of a map encompassing the whole arena of battle. The US effort at sea definitely dwarfed all the other nations combined, but the Chinese are the ones whose army tied down so much of the IJA that they could not put as many troops on their conquests as they should have in early. Later on, the USN and USAAF dominance prevented significant movement of troops by ship so I rate them the most important forces from 1943 on. The picture of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima is symbolic and human, but does not portray the combat. The picture of the burning carrier does not show the human element closely enough. I think maybe a suite of about 20 pictures could paint a decent picture of what went on. warspite1 Well the OP asked for an Iconic image that each of us see as stand out for the Pacific War. There is no right or wrong answer. I don't see that every nation has to be represented. Without in anyway disregarding (and certainly not disrespecting) the British Commonwealth, the Chinese, the Dutch or anyone else, it was the US forces that won the Pacific War. There are quite a few iconic pictures - Percival surrendering at Singapore, the Arizona blowing up, the Bomb just after it was dropped at Hiroshima, one of the B-25's taking off from Hornet, the Formidable after being hit by a Kamikaze etc etc. But the brief was to choose one - and to me the Iwo Jima picture, more than any other single picture, is the Pacific War. Sure, and as alluded to when I mentioned the Bunker Hill, depending on what the subject matter is for the picture and the context, it may be that there are other more appropriate images - but I just went by the brief.
< Message edited by warspite1 -- 10/1/2017 5:16:34 PM >
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England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805
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