Tokyo Rose.
This is coolbert:
Iva Toguri d'Aquino has passed away.
Better known to the world as "Tokyo Rose". Made propaganda broadcasts for the Japanese during world War Two [WW2]. Was tried in the aftermath of the war, found guilty, and spent six years in prison.
Her passing was carried as front page news in today's Chicago Tribune. The title of the article calls her the alleged "Tokyo Rose".
Alleged?
NO!! She WAS "Tokyo Rose". NOT just alleged. DID make the broadcasts. She openly admitted as much, was photographed doing so, and had recordings made of her transmissions. Once such recording was played on the radio this morning.
[some have suggested that there WAS NO TOKYO ROSE!! This is not so. There was a group of English speaking Japanese women that made propaganda broadcasts during WW2. Iva was one of them. Iva did call herself "Orphan Annie or Annie" during her broadcasts. But to say that THERE WAS NO TOKYO ROSE IS JUST MISTAKEN!!]
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT THAT SHE DID MAKE THE PROPAGANDA BROADCASTS. Alleged is the incorrect word to use. What at doubt is whether she made these transmissions under duress or not. That is the question.
She later received a pardon from President Ford. Led a long, prosperous, and relatively uneventful but full life. Ran a Japanese import gift shop, and sponsored for years a Chicago FM radio station "ethnic" program, called the "The Sakura Hour".
[interestingly enough, "sakura" means cherry blossoms. The name given to the kamikaze of WW2. Persons dying at the height of their youth and beauty. Falling from the sky as does a cherry blossom.]
Contrast the sentence given Iva with that of William Joyce ["Lord Haw Haw"] and John Amery. Two Englishmen convicted of also making propaganda broadcasts during WW2. Did so for the Germans. The fate of those two men was much more harsh. Both sentenced to death AND EXECUTED!!
Also contrast the sentence given to Iva with that given to Mildred Gillars. Known to the world as "Axis Sally". Also made transmissions for Hitler. Did so willingly. Did so at the behest of her husband, who was director of Radio Berlin. "Sally" [Mildred] spent thirteen years in prison.
There was no mercy for her either.
Iva got off easy.
Visit here a web site that has the various recordings of Iva, Mildred, and others. Actual transmissions preserved for posterity.
coolbert.
1 Comments:
A number of disagrements: William Joyce called himself "Lord Haw-Haw" and Mildred Gillars called herself "Axis Sally". If Iva Toguri identified herself repeatedly as "Orphan Ann", as she did, then she was not "Tokyo Rose", which origin seems to be from fantasy conflation of all the Japanese female announcers by young, lonely, fearful, brave & p.o.'d GIs,
Not one of those women announcers called herself "Tokyo Rose". Not one of those women announcers, save Iva Toguri, was ever punished.
It is unfair to lump Iva Toguri with dreck as Joyce, Amery & Gillars. In the summer of 1941, with war clearly threatening, a naif went to Japan, in her mother's stead to care for a sick aunt, from duty & love of family & not from emperor worship, sympathy with Japanese militarism, belief in the superiority of the "yellow race" over the "white" or psychological imbalance. She meant to tend to an ill woman & to return statesside as quick as she could to continue her university studies.
Your blog entry ignores the role and contrasting fate of Major Charles H. Cousens, Iva Toguri's recruiter. Here is a article on him for your consideration (http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130571b.htm).
After 07.12.41 Iva Toguri was an American trapped in Japan. The Japanese were capable of the grossest cruelties. Their brutality was constant & casual.
If I may rework a phrase in the last paragraph of the article I referred you to, today the United States and Australian militaries are still unsettled on the question of the degree of physical and mental endurance that may be expected from allied soldiers made prisoners of war.
Sixty-four years ago, Iva Toguri was a civilian. She knew nothing of the Articles of War or Navy Courts & Boards. They weren't relevant to her & she couldn't consult them if they were. All she had in an appalling situation was Major Cousens' guidance.
Don't just say she got off easy. Put yourself in her shoes. What would you do?
1:08 PM
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