George
Pease Jr. passed away in December, 2013. He had lived in Limestone,
Maine for the past several years. He had family and
friends in and around the Northwood area.
Because
his funeral and burial were in upstate Maine, not many of those
family and friends were able to attend his services. Therefore, on
July 5, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. an informal memorial will be held at the
home of his brother, Charles Pease, at 110 Bow Street in Northwood.
Any
friends or acquaintances of George, who would like to attend and
share their memories, are most welcome. We will be
having a cookout after the memorial for those wishing to stay.
The
Chesley Memorial Library will be hosting a Senior Summer Café every
Monday from July 14 through August 25, 1:00-2:30 p.m. The central
air is on so it’s a perfect place to cool down while meeting up with
friends! There is no specific program planned for each week; we
might talk about books, make decorations for the library, play
Trivial Pursuit, or we might just visit and enjoy each other’s
company. Light refreshments will be served. Caretakers are welcome
to stay with seniors for the café but can also enjoy some time away
on their own if appropriate. Please call the library at 942-5472 if
you would like more information.
The Veterans Corner Richard Doucet
August
7, 1945: A day that will live in Infamy…for some Americans
No I am
not confused as to the date that Japan launched an unprovoked attack
on Pearl Harbor which not only killed soldiers and sailors but
hundreds of innocent civilians as well. I am referring to the “new”
day of infamy, as seen by a small but vocal band of American history
revisionists; the day we dropped the first nuclear device (atom
bomb) on a military target in Japan. These self-loathing people,
who see America as a bully nation with no regard for life, will
gather, some in secret, to spit in the face of all those who died at
the hands of Imperial Japan; military, civilian, American, Chinese,
Korean, Indian, all of our allies. They will apologize to Japan for
our “barbarous act” and pay homage to the Japanese dead.
During
this ceremony no mention will be made of Japanese aggression that
started in the early 1900’s with the invasion of Korea to be
followed by China, Mongolia and a blood soaked march south and west
along the Pacific rim and east into the Pacific. Nothing will be
mentioned of the Bataan Death March, hundreds of thousands of
individual atrocities committed against prisoners of war and
civilians alike. Atrocities like the “Rape of Nanking” (China). In
that city alone an estimated 300,000 civilians; men women and
children, even infants, were killed not as of a result of collateral
damage in taking the city, but as a result of an intentional
Japanese policy to have the average soldier kill people at random to
harden them to the blood letting of war.
Even in
the face of hard and overwhelming evidence of Japanese inhuman
behavior these revisionist, most of whom were not alive when it
happened and only know what other revisionist have told them, have
decided that we were an evil nation. That we should not have
punished Japan for its starting of the war with its inhuman
policies.
In a
sense they are right, but only by accident and certainly not by
intent. We should not have and did not “punish” anyone in
retribution. We are not a nation that, as a matter of national
policy, punishes the defeated with the same kind of inhuman behavior
that they had visited upon us. Certainly we have occupied them but
only to insure that civil society could regain a foothold in a
secure environment.
The
reason that the “bomb” was used was to end the war, and the killing,
as soon as possible to save as many lives, ours and theirs, as we
could. This is where we as veterans and students of history have to
step in to debunk the revisionist fantasy to America’s youth that we
acted out of racist hatred and revenge.
The
following is extracted from Episode #24 of the series “World at War,
1945”
The
Nationalistic Party of Japan vows: “…to fight to the bitter end
rather than surrender.”
Emperor
Hirohito says: “The Unites States has created a cruel new weapon
that could mean the destruction of Japan and the end of all
civilization…Japan must endure the unendurable and surrender…”.
(Note their belief that the end of Japan is the end of all
civilization.) One Japanese commentator expresses: “… Americans are
not civilized.”
Mr.
Kito, former Privy Seal to the emperor in 1945, notes: “…without the
doping of the (atom) bombs the military (Nationalistic Party) would
probably never have accepted the concept of surrender, looking
instead for complete extermination of the Japanese people in
glorious combat“.
The
fact is that it was clear to US military planners, as evidenced by
the very low numbers of Japanese military who ever surrendered in
the Pacific campaigns, unless Japan was presented with such
devastation that they as a race might be destroyed they would not
quit. There are several factors to support this point of view.
In May
of 1945 when Germany saw that there was no hope of ever regaining
any military initiative they surrendered. Though some fighting
formations were dedicated to Hitler personally and pledged to fight
to their own extermination, few in the civilian population
worshiped Hitler as god and even some who did, in the end, tried to
leave like rats off a sinking ship. There was no national death
culture in Germany.
In
Japan the emperor was god on earth. The entire population, not just
the military, was duty bound to die for him. Surrender was so
repugnant to the entire population that suicidal attacks was the
only honorable alternative.
As US
military planners looked at the invasion of Japan they knew several
things. 1) That Japanese military forces would fight to the last
man. 2) That Japan had hundreds of thousands of troops in Japan
proper and one million more in countries they still occupied. 3)
Every person in Japan was being trained to resist an invasion, with
bamboo spears if they had to,…this included women and grade school
children.
Every
inch of Japan would have to be contested; every city, village, port,
and hamlet reduced to ashes. An estimated 250,000 US dead were
expected. And then there would be the Japanese losses. Perhaps
millions of women and children, shelled, bombed or cut down by
machine gun fire as they made hopeless charges with spears against
US infantry so that they could die for the emperor. Aside from the
tragic loss of young lives, how would this play around the world
when seen on newsreels of the time? It was also feared, by some
military leaders, that the war could degenerate into a guerilla war
that could last for years (Vietnam?). And why not? The brave
Philippine people fought the Japanese that way for the whole of
their occupation costing the Japanese thousands more soldiers.
Then
there was the question of troops still in occupied countries. The
commanders in each one of these zones, even if Japan were reduced to
rubble and the homeland population all but annihilated, could
establish themselves as local warlords. Each in turn would have to
be taken down at the cost of more US and Japanese lives.
The use
of the two bombs assured the fast and unconditional surrender of
Japan even if it did so at the cost of about one hundred thousand
Japanese lives. (Note that Japan sacrificed 140,000 Japanese
military and civilians lives in the futile attempt to defend
Okinawa.) Once the emperor ordered the surrender we were assured
that, with the exception of the rare isolated unit that did not get
the order to surrender, millions of military and civilian Japanese
would lay down their arms saving not only American lives but their
own as well.
This is
the reason why the use of the two bombs was the right and moral
choice.
Even
today the Japanese, as a society, refuse to acknowledge that they
tried to become an industrial world power by robbing their neighbors
of their natural resources, and, in the process, committing the most
horrendous atrocities in recorded history. We can not let our
younger generations be taught that we ended a war with an inhumane
weapon designed to inflict as much pain and suffering as possible.
And, as a result that we need to apologize to the culture that
caused their own demise. It was not a callous act of inhumanity but
the logical choice to end a war that could have dragged on for
years longer at the cost of millions more lives and the possible end
of a culture.
To
paraphrase Mr. Charles Krauthammer: We cannot hold a whole culture
as guilty for the acts of some but we can, and must, hold them
responsible as a culture for the acts committed by their leaders in
their name.
Our
youth has to understand that we did not commit an act of inhumanity.
We chose to end an inhumane war, which we did not start, in the
most humane way we that could given the conditions that we faced at
the time . Some people may, for their own reasons, forgive Japan
but America as culture bears no shame and should not apologize…ever…
for that choice.
Letter To The Editor
There
have been some very important details that have come to my attention
since my response to the letter by Lucy Edwards of June 11, 2014.
My wife
has her principle health insurance through BC&BS. The new required
policy, as a result of Obama care, has increased the cost by
$2556.00 a year! One of the questions we had in deciding on what to
do was related to coverage if we went to Florida for several months
during the winter. The agent’s response was a VERY BIG SURPRISE!!!
BC&BS coverage applies to individual states only, thus she is only
covered in N.H. Any health care other than emergency service will
be at your expense as you are not covered outside of N.H. I ask the
agent if this was true under the old policy (before Obama care) and
they responded NO, THIS ONLY WENT INTO EFFECT WITH OBAMA CARE!!!!
So, what are the options? We can declare residency in Florida and
take out a BC&BS policy in Florida and cancel the policy in N.H. and
when we return to N.H. declare residency in N.H. and cancel the
policy in N.H. Would you want to go through all these changes to go
on vacation?
The
only other option is to obtain a policy through another carrier that
provides coverage throughout the states at an increased cost of
$4,100.00 over the old BC&BS policy! This increase in cost only gets
me back to the level of coverage I had before Obama care! Did
Senator Shaheen understand this when she signed Obama Care into law?
If not, she should not be reelected!! If she did understand this
was going to happen, again, she should not be reelected!! I ask you
Ms. Edwards, whose “senior safety net” is Senator Shaheen and the
New Hampshire Alliance for Retired Americans looking out for in this
regard??
Do you
think that we need Senators that will be watching out for the people
of N.H.? If so, get out and vote!!
Douglas
Pollock
Northwood
Thank You
The
Somersworth / Coe-Brown Bearcats Hockey Boosters wish to extend a
heartfelt thank you to the communities of Somersworth and Northwood
for supporting their recent car washes.
On
Saturday, May 31st the group washed cars under sunny skies for
donations at the Irving Gas Station in Somersworth, NH and raised
more than $300 for their team. The second event took place on
Saturday, June 14th at the Northwood Garage in Northwood, NH. After
a cloudy start the sun came out along with lines of cars to wash
earning the Bearcats more than $350.
A great
big thanks to all who came out to support this group of boys and a
special thank you to Northwood Garage and Somersworth Irving for
hosting the events.
For
more information about the Somersworth / Coe-Brown Bearcats Hockey
Organization please visit
http://www.leaguelineup.com/information.asp?url=scbhockey.
Letter To The Editor
Once
again, I am a candidate for the NH House of Representatives for
Rockingham District 1, to represent the citizens of Northwood. I
first ran for this seat 20 years ago, and given the passage of time,
want to remind you of how I initially became a candidate.
Johanna
and I moved to Northwood in 1982, and with running my business and
raising our daughter, I wasn’t involved in politics. And when it
came time to vote, at least for the NH House seat, there was only
one person to vote for: the Honorable Robert A. Johnson, long-time
representative – and Town Moderator.
Having
only a long-serving incumbent running unopposed as an option was not
my idea of democracy, so, in 1994, I decided to pay the $2 filing
fee and run. I was trounced – 580 to 184 – but I had the
satisfaction of having a choice and giving that choice to others.
Over
the next three cycles, I narrowed the gap to 60/40, but in 2002,
redistricting lumped Northwood with Candia, Deerfield and
Nottingham. Republicans won all 5 seats in 2002 and 2004, but in
Northwood, the gap narrowed to 1,108 to 900.
Finally, in 2006, Bob and I finished in a virtual tie: 661 to 651.
More importantly, Democrats won 2 of the 5 seats, and we had a real
two-party system here in Northwood.
Rep.
Johnson retired and I moved out of state for several years to care
for my elderly parents. The 2010 election brought back 5 Republican
reps and the contentious Bill O’Brien-led House. In 2012, some
sanity returned as voters sent Maureen Mann (D) and Bruce Hodgdon
(R) to Concord to represent them.
In
2014, I am once again a candidate. Support me and the two-party
system.
Tom
Chase
Northwood
Volunteers Needed
The
stone wall at Northwood Beach is almost complete. Two final work
days are scheduled and volunteers are needed to work with Master
Stone Builder Dan Schroth to complete the project. Consider donating
an hour or two of your time to this community project to insure it
will be finished for the summer season. No experience or skills are
needed, just a willingness to help. The wall will be a permanent
feature for generations to come. Please stop by the beach on Lake
Shore Drive anytime from 7-2 on Saturday, July 5 or Sunday, July 6
and lend a hand. If you have any questions or need directions,
contact Tim at 303-5224.
Town
Hall Driveway Reconstruction
The
driveway and parking areas at the town hall are scheduled to be
reconstructed and paved on Tuesday, July 8 and Wednesday, July 9,
weather permitting. During this time the ability to provide services
to residents will be seriously impacted. Please plan to avoid these
days and to conduct business at the town hall on Monday, Thursday or
Friday of that week. For the most current information on the status
of the reconstruction, please check the town website:
northwoodnh.org
Chesley
Memorial Library News
It’s
time for sun, sand, and stories! The Chesley Memorial Library and
the Northwood Recreation Department will co-sponsor a summer story
time at Mary Waldron Beach on Tuesdays (July 8 through August 5,
weather permitting) at 10:45 a.m. The kids want to swim, you want
to relax at the beach, but you still want to encourage reading so
let us bring story time to you. All ages welcome; no registration
required; approximately thirty minutes long.
“Fizz,
Boom, Read!” at the Chesley Memorial Library this summer. Our
summer reading program begins on July 9 and ends on August 13 this
year. Join us for fun crafts and activities such as: lego
challenges, bouncy balls, paint swirls, pinwheels and windmills,
lava lamps, and homemade root beer floats. Drop-in craft sessions
will be held every Monday during the following times:
10:30am-12:30pm: PreK –Grade 2
1:30-3:30 pm: Grade 3-5
4:30-6:30pm: Grade 6 and up
Families with multiple age groups may choose to attend together,
just pick whatever session works best for your schedule. Adults
don’t let the kids have all the fun! Even grown-ups read over the
summer, so why not join too? Just register at the front desk to get
a raffle ticket for signing up and then fill out a raffle ticket for
every book you read. Drawings will be held weekly and winners will
receive a gift assortment package…it’s that easy!
Letter
To The Editor
Editor,
The FOR
SALE, Commercial, sign on the Johnson field east of the dairy bar in
Northwood is a shock to many residents who have treasured the view
of great field, iron-gated cemetery, Narrows roof tops and low
hills. No doubt there are also regular travelers through our town
who were equally saddened to see such a sign in that well known
“field with a view.”
There’s
not another spot like it in all the miles between Concord and
Durham. That view represents all that’s good in a state that prides
itself on scenic beauty.
That it
may soon be destroyed to accommodate a business that may or may not
enhance life here in Northwood seems risky.
As most
of us know, location is everything. The Johnson field view is
enjoyed by a great many people because it is on a busy highway. Were
such a setting off on a side road, the beauty would be the same, but
few would have even known it existed. Sadly, that busy highway is
also the very thing that makes the property so attractive for
commercial purposes. A real plum for a developer.
Interesting that Benjamin Bickford, first to settle the west half of
big Johnson field, (the house was right where the dairy bar is now),
also had a problem with that highway.
According to legend, Benjamin Bickford was so angered when the First
New Hampshire turnpike was laid out right through the middle of his
farm that he sold out and left town.
That
was more than two hundred years ago, about 1800. Now one wonders if
it will be the farms, the big field itself, that will be the one to
go.
Joan
Weeks Bailey
Northwood
Letter
To The Editor
My name
is Leighelle, I am eight years old and I’m a member of Northwood
Brownie Troop #11043.
There
is something that I don’t like to see, bullying in my school. It
makes me feel sorry for the kids who get picked on. A solution for
bullying is; when you see someone being mean say stop, and show
support for the kid getting bullied. At school, I make non-bullying
posters saying, “Lets have peace in our school”, and hang them in
the hallways. I do this to show the people who bully, that it needs
to stop.
If you
see someone getting picked on, please help them so we that we can
make bullying extinct. Thank you!
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