There’s more than one ‘other side’

CLINT EASTWOOD has been rewarded with Oscar nominations for “Letters From Iwo Jima” and he is to be commended [“The Story Is Written on This Actor’s Face,” Jan. 28]. This project elicits sympathy for the Japanese soldiers who suffered almost complete annihilation during the battle.

The Japanese defending Iwo Jima believed they were defending the soil of their homeland and, from this standpoint, one can find sympathy for their cause. But the Japanese marched into Manila on Jan. 2, 1942, completely unopposed. They were aggressors and conquerors. They were enraged at the Filipino populace because of their support for America, and during the battle, started a wholesale slaughter of civilians. This has been termed the Manila Massacre and over 100,000 people died, some caught in the crossfire, but most executed by marauding Japanese troops.

“Letters From Iwo Jima” speaks to the mind-set of the defending Japanese. But what could have been the mind-set of the defenders of Manila as the Japanese raced into hospitals slaughtering doctors, nurses, patients and visitors? What could it have been when they raped and mutilated Filipina women and bayoneted babies, or shot fleeing people to let their bodies rot on the sidewalks and streets? The Japanese murdered more people in Manila in that short period than were killed by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. America should not be chastised for our actions. It was a brutal war but we did not start it.

ANGUS LORENZEN

Rancho Palos Verdes

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Lorenzen was a prisoner in the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila, which was liberated Feb. 3, 1945.