Seppuku & Honor

I believe that Seppuku mentality is outrageous, like most things the Japanese do. The state of mind you have to be in to take a knife to your stomach is kind of unimaginable, but it just goes to show the power and control the Japanese have over their people. The only role in the defense of Imperial Japan that suicide plays in my opinion is that other countries can never gather intel or inside info on them. If everybody kills themselves, there is nobody that surrenders so the risk of being captured is irrevelant. If nobody is captured to question or try and get information out of, you cannot gather intel on the enemy

Grandfather's involvement in WW2

My grandfather was Joe Sills, crew cheif of the 335th Fighter Squadron which was apart of the 4th Fighter Group in WW2 stationed in Debden, Essex, UK. I remember him telling stories about the war when I was little. Most were about pilots in his Squadron getting shot down and surviving. I heard numerous stories of his pilots having to eject in the middle of the sky after being shot down. My fav. story was about a pilot who was shot down but was stuck in his seat and could not eject. He ended up having to cut his seatbelt off with a knife to eject seconds before it would have been too late. He also had roles of film takin from the cockpit of  pilots in his squadron doing missions in Germany. I remember one film displayed a pilot dropping bombs on a Nazi bases in Germany and obliterating everything on the ground. There is also a website with stories, pictures and videos dedicated to the Fourth Fighter Group. http://www.fourthfightergroup.com/