P.O.W illegaly executed

[Eagle92]

F,

Unfortunately the Niihau Incident DID influence public policy for the interment camps. Sorry I don't have the references I had, no longer in the history field, but I've copies of the the USN report on the matter as a friend of mine was working in that area of history. Wikipedia has a good summary of the incident found here.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau_Incident

 

It was sad in what happened, esp. in light of the 442d's combat record in Europe. But Nisei were involved in the matter, and it seemed prudent at the time. Pity they never taught this as the cause of the internment camps while I was growing up; didn't hear about it until grad school and my friend above was talking about his trip to NARA and the USMC Historical Center

[John-in-KC]

My Dad was in Fukuoka prefecture at the time of Fat Man, slave labor in Baron Mitsui's coal mines. A very comprehensive site of the POW camp he was imprisoned in is

http://www.lindavdahl.com/index.html

[GKlose]

Kahuna --> about Breaker Morant (unless you've dropped this thread already): I was in a used bookstore a long time ago, and in the history section, saw a massive set of books which described the history of the Boer Wars. Since the only thing I really knew about the wars was what I'd seen in the movie, I looked up Harry "Breaker" Morant.

 

It was interesting -- out of that entire history, there was just one small paragraph devoted to the case, and it was fairly dismissive. I took that to mean that George Witton had one point of view (which was used for the script) while the incident may not have really registered on the historical radar.

 

So I can't really claim any knowledge other than what I've seen in the movie. I've always felt it was an excellent movie, not only story-wise but also in terms of good, solid point-of-view filmmaking.

 

Guy

[Kahuna]

"I took that to mean that George Witton had one point of view (which was used for the script) while the incident may not have really registered on the historical radar."

 

Certainly Witton's point of view would have to be considered biased. I have found very little about the incident in all the histories of the Boer War that I have read. From what I know of the British Army in those days and the Boer War in particular, I find the movie story very credible. Of course, the men could not be considered innocent, but seems to me they got a raw deal, especially in view of the fact that the Englishmen who were accused of the same things were not shot or imprisoned.

 

I did find this on the internet (and copies of the book "The Breaker" are available on Amazon). http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-vc/breaker_morant.htm

 

 

[Shriscov]

I think the "Breaker Morant" posts are still relevant to the original subject. It's not just the subject of the Boer War but the subject of history and how time reinterprets events.

I'd like to add how much a film shapes public perception. It probably has something to do with accessibility and popularity.

Of course, history is subject to interpretation. Recall what Napoleon may or may not have said, "history is a set of lies agreed upon".