Wow! The Burma Railway! It has been a while since I have read about that. I think I will need to refresh my memory!

No, worries about the heavy talk. It is amazing to me, how we two can talk about family members how have fought in the stage, and being half-world away. It reminds me of the the phrase "the ties that bind us". I feel all the richer, knowing about your fathers struggle.

I agree with your coments in the censoring of materials. While I admire the Japanese, I keep the WWII stories I have read/heard in the back of my mind. Many refuse to see, that the same ruthlessness they employed in war, is now used in the conference rooms.

Another example of how small the world is: I had an uncle in Korea. While on R&R he went over to Tokyo, which is no small city in its own right. While at a bar, he hears "Lemler!!". Here, it turned out, a neighbor (jerked over amishman yet to boot), who was not even in the same service, was there. Here two good old country boys from Bourbon area,  found each other in a bar in Tokyo, while on leave from the fighting in Korea in 195x?. Amazing!

That uncle, by the way,never talked about his fighting either. And he was tough-as-nails. Even a couple of years ago before he died of cancer in his 70's, I rarely could out work him cutting wood. I still feel like a punk, thinking how a 70 year old man could cut/split/rank wood faster than me. I still hear him:"here, get out of the way, let me show you how this is done".

With that, I'm to bed. We'll be in touch.