Death without honour
From Mr David Morgan
Sir: Were the soldiers who surrendered to the Japanese 'cowards"? Perhaps Taki (High life, 24 August) would like to come to Australia next 25 April (Anzac Day) and tell that to the former members of the 8th Division.
In his praise of kamikaze pilots, Taki tells us 'the difference between Western and Japanese philosophy is that the former tells a person how to live, whereas the latter tells them how to die'. Well, a fat lot of good it did them. Long before the kamikaze pilots, Japanese soldiers in New Guinea were killing themselves out of shame if they didn't succeed in their objective, often by throwing themselves at Australian guns. Fighting to the last man is one thing but, unlike the kamikazes, their deaths had no military purpose. And if they were captured, Japanese soldiers often proved surprisingly talkative.
David Morgan
Summer Hill, New South Wales. Australia
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