Troops Quotes
This was hand written the day before D-Day by Eisenhower. It was to be issued in the event of a failure of operation Overlord—the D-Day landings. The success was by no means a sure thing and the greatness of Eisenhower is indicated by the fact that he was not arrogant, kept the possibility of failure in mind, and took it upon himself to accept the responsibility of things had not gone well. This was one of the greatest quotations that was never made.
General Cornwallis was informing his superior that he had surrendered at Yorktown. The French navy had prevented escape or resupply from the sea, and the British were totally surrounded by American and French land forces.
This statement caused great consternation. NcNutt did try to explain that he was speaking personally and not for the Government, but there was a small proportion of America who had concluded that all Japanese should be killed. Such an concept which was unthinkable 5 years earlier was considered as a result of several factors: The Japanese had murdered many American prisoners of war. Killed millions of civilians throughout Asia including doing medical and weapons experiments on live human beings. They had practiced torture, compulsory prostitution and mass rape of conquered territories. At the same time, the Germans had tried to exterminate all the Jews and, with some Japanese help, did kill two-thirds. The concept of genocide had been introduced to Americans as the concentration camps were liberated. And American casualties in the Pacific had been heavy. Vengeance was desired by many. Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of Americans never considered genocide seriously.
Even today many Americans believe the myth that the American colonial citizen was a skilled marksman who existing skill and familiarity with guns carried the day in the American Revolution. However, even General Washington had to dispel the myth. It was bad politics for members of Congress and other public officials to criticize the local citizenry militias regardless of how inept they were. Less than one fourth of the militia even owned guns and most were unfamiliar with how to use them. Perhaps one of Washington’s greatest military accomplishment was his choosing Van Stuben and other European officers who did such a good job of training a regular army. See {613015}, {613016}, {613022}, {613027}, {621987}, {621988}, {613030}, {613033}, & {613056}.
He had wanted more troops for the Afghan War than President Obama would approve. The Republican members of the Congress tried to make the difference a major issue of a President not supporting his commanders. The General made this brilliant response.
