Ever see the film, “The Bridge on the River Kwai?” It is a marvelous film, and won many academy awards. Sir Alec Guinness was superb. However, it was about 100% false, as a two hour show on the History Channel proved. People have often accused me of being a racist as far as the Japs are concerned, and I am. I refuse to buy anything with a Japanese label on it, as I have heard the horror stories of the way the Japanese treated their prisoners during WW II. The POW films about WW II are always concerned with the Germans, and the reason is clear. The “Gerries” as they were called, always did the best they could as far as prisoner treatment was concerned. The Japs were so brutal, so malicious, so indescribably merciless that it is literally unspeakable. As far as the Thailand-Burma railroad is concerned, that bridge was peanuts compared to the rest of the construction, done with Australian and Brit prisoners in the main. I had to turn it off after an hour and a half, so sickening was it, that I was becoming sick myself. The starvation, beatings, shootings, hangings, and treatment of prisoners in the show was so disgusting and sickening that I had to literally turn it off. The guards were well fed and cared for, so that is no excuse. I don’t give a damn about the quality of Jap cars, I will never buy one. The Koreans hate the Japs as do the Chinese, and for good reasons. It makes me sick to even think about the brutal, senseless, inhuman treatment and beheadings the Japs mustered out to their prisoners, including the Koreans and Chinese. Yes, it was decades ago, but I am an elephant with a long memory, and it appears as if the Chinese and Koreans have the same memories.
Have a wonderful turkey day and weekend. No column till Monday, as I am closed Thursday and Friday as are the markets, so I couldn’t work if I wanted to. The shipping department is closed on Thursday and Friday also, so stuff that was supposed to go out then, will have to wait till Monday. Sorry.