World+War+II

=World War II =

**Journal Day 1**

 * Pearl Harbor**
 * Pearl Harbor was on the 5th on a Sunday, at 7:55 am.
 * 8 battleships, 3 cruisers, many other vessels, and 164 aircrafts were destroyed.
 * 2,304 Americans died.
 * Everyone realized it would be war.
 * People saw other people of Japanese descent as "other" or even terrorists.
 * Everyone listened to the radio to hear a declaration of was from Eisenhower.


 * 3 Days Later**
 * Japan's allies, Italy and Germany declared war with the U.S.
 * The U.S. had allies with Europe.
 * The U.S. did not want to go to war.


 * The 1930's-40's**
 * Throughout the 1930's, countries were being taken down. Benito Mussolini had a thirst to take over and Hitler was hungry for power.
 * Hitler wanted world domination. Everything was being taken over.
 * September 1st, 1939 was the start of war by Hitler.
 * Britain and France declared was with Germany when Hitler invaded Poland.
 * In June of 1940, Paris fell.
 * For a year, England was attacked by German airforces. Winston Churchill made England fight and not give in.
 * The U.S. disliked Hitler for everything he was doing, even if they weren't part of it yet.
 * The Soviet Union signed an agreement that said they wouldn't attack Germany and vice versa, but they did end up attacking each other.
 * Japan dreamed like Hitler and took over.

Journal Day 2

 * The Nazis**
 * The Nazis were against the Jews.
 * The Jews were tortured in every way.
 * In 1942, all news was bad. The Germans attacked the Soviet Union, who were U.S.'s new allies.


 * The U.S.**
 * The U.S. could only hold their own. Hitler was a bigger threat than Japan was, and the U.S. decided to defeat Hitler first.
 * Producing weapons would take time, and Britain depended on us.


 * Germany**
 * German U-boats waited by New York in 1942. They sunk 7 unarmed vessels, 25 tankers, and blew up an oil tank in just a couple of days. 2-3 vessels were then taken a day.
 * The Florida to Texas shipping lane was the most dangerous one.


 * Japan**
 * Japan had taken over many things, especially in the South Pacific.


 * In the Philippines**
 * 80,000 U.S. and Philippine surrendered to the Japanese on the Bataan peninsula in the Philippines.
 * The U.S./Philippines fought off one attack after another.
 * 314 of Japan's defenders were weak, hungry, injured, or dying.
 * The U.S. had orders to fight until the last man, but surrendered eventually to an agreement that the U.S.'s men would not be wrongly treated.
 * Nevertheless, the men became prisoners, and began the Bataan Death March, in which they were beaten for standing and sitting or if they had rings on their fingers, their fingers would be cut off and the rings taken. People were burned alive or run over, their throats were cut or they were beaten with a rifle until the life was gone from them. Women had their stomachs cut open and people were beheaded.
 * Few really survived.
 * No one knows how many died. It was between 6,000 and 7,000 soldiers.
 * Some days they buried 250 men, and when the Death March ended they were left alone to eat soups made out of worms and other insects.

Journal Day 3
How do I feel about death? Well, contrary to other people, I'm not that much afraid of it. I'd rather die when I'm 50 and still wrinkle-free, than have people watch me suffer through my last years, but that's just me. I would also like to have my casket lowered into the ocean rather than buried in the ground, because then I'll always be part of the ocean and I'll also be providing food for some hungry sharks (:

I don't really understand why people are so afraid of death. Who knows if it hurts? Who knows where you go? One thing I do know, though, is that you can't just simply be gone when you die. I mean, what about you, and who you were? Your thoughts and memories and the times you laughed and cried? That will have to go somewhere. Don't fear death.

Journal Day 4
To soldiers, killing became okay when it normally would not have. I know that I would never kill anyone, but in those circumstances, is it really okay? Who knows. I guess it's all about your opinion and the way you think of things. In my opinion, there should be no wars, but with the way we humans are, that's probably not going to happen any time soon. I really don't think killing another human being is alright to do, but I guess when you are put into a situation like that, what else are you going to do? It all comes down to this: kill or die.

Journal Day 5
I don't agree with wars, battles, or anything else of that sort. Can't people just solve things without the use of threats or weapons? I really don't understand why there has to be so much bloodshed, and how people go into this knowing what will happen. Don't people understand that fighting is not the answer to all your problems? How could it be? Then people would be dieing everywhere! Ugh. It just makes me mad. I mean, I understand why people want to fight (for the safety of our country), but if the whole world didn't have fights then there wouldn't have to be armies or soldiers or wars or battles.

Journal Day 6
It had been fifty years since the battle, but one man said that he'd still rather have come back without an arm or his legs than without his brother. I would feel the same exact way if I had been in a battle like that. All the things that happened to these men were horrible. I don't even know how they could stand it. So many people died, and it's so awful. I mean, they go into it knowing that //someone// has to die. Has there ever been such a war where no one on our side died? Is our country that willing to sacrifice men's lives for others? That makes it seem so barbaric, like some people are better than others, and some deserve life while others don't.

Journal Day 7
When you hear about something like the Holocaust, it's almost unbelievable. How could something like that happen right under the German's noses? In my opinion, it can't. The Germans must have suspected something going on, especially with all the rumors floating around, but still they said they knew nothing about the death camps nearby, even though you could smell them. Still, to this day, some people say that those things never happened, that it was all a lie; fiction. If it's a lie, then my name is Princess Magdalena Danielle Penelope Gloriana of Ortheley (which it's not).