Talk:James W. Blanchard

Latest comment: 6 years ago by Botteville in topic Taimei Maru

Biography edit

Retired as an active duty Rear Admiral (O-7). Was married to Dorothy (nee) Doris of Providence, Rhode Island. Had two children, James W. Blanchard, Jr. (USNA class of 1956, Commanded USS Bonefish, SS582 1969-1970) and Patricia (Wilson). Interned alongside his wife at the United States Naval Academy Columbarium. Major D.K. Blanchard, grandson.

Taimei Maru edit

I think that this incident needs to be revisited. The Japanese said that he and his men were shooting people in the water, sometimes with a .45. He said that he was trying to rescue them. He did rescue 5 people. On the other hand the vessel was manifestly unarmed and carrying mainly civilians. There was no return fire at all. He hounded it down until he sank it. He had no business to do that. Forced to submerge a number of times, he kept surfacing to concern himself further with it. As it was a claim of American atrocities coming from high levels in Japan I think it should be better covered. Did he cross the line or not? Why did he pursue the vessel? Could the Japanese in the water have bee mistaken? Wikipedia does not just dump pictures of medals all around the place, it tries to be substantial according to the sources. There are some good sources on this.Botteville (talk) 00:46, 21 July 2017 (UTC)Unrestricted submarine warfare, sink everything including inner-island steamers, junks, anything that can carry people or materiel in support the Japanese or be used as picket/communications platforms. I have the full documentation (originals) from the high command and grandfather (Pop) Blanchard's response. gctrans1@yahoo.com. D.K. BlanchardReply