Journal+of+December+19,+1937

December 19, 1937 Fort Thomas, Kentucky

Dear Diary,

All is gay as the whole country seems to have joined the Christmas bandwagon. As I was walking as usual to Fort Thomas for my regular training as a flying cadet, I heard carols and people starting to put up Christmas decorations. I could already feel that vibe in the air as I walked down the streets. However all that was shattered in an instant when I was walking past the news stand.

At first, I just glanced at the news stand just to take a garner at what were the headlines and kept on walking before doing a double take. As I turned toward the news stand, I could read “Nanking Atrocity!” as the headlines along with a photo that showed a stream choked with the bodies of what seemed to be civilians. I was sick to the stomach as I looked on the picture and read the details of the incident which estimated that thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians were being massacred every day within Nanking.

As a fellow soldier, I am in the Air Force after all, the very first lesson we learn is to not take out our anger upon civilians. The rules of engagement strictly states that we only violently respond to credible threats, which in most cases would be enemy troops. I wondered what barbaric country would dare to purse this course of action and just massacre hundreds of thousands civilians. It was a few hours later, but as I was discussing this issue with some other cadets at the Fort, I learned soon enough that that country was no other than Japan.

Japan. A fanciful place. Recently, over the radio, I had been hearing more and more mentions of Japan. The most I have ever heard about it, however, was that that it seems that it was not getting on very well with my country right now. Apparently the issues over land and resources within Asia are at the heart of the controversy since it seems that Japan is trying to flex its own muscles.

Anyway, I managed to make my way home a few hours earlier and have been in deep thought about the issue ever since. My holiday spirit has seemingly gone out the window and all I am thinking now is whether U.S. has a duty to protect these innocent civilians from the violent clutches of the Japanese Empire. I am sure a day of justice will come, but I am really tired right now so I will sign off here.

Sincerley, Paul Tibbets Flying Cadet of U.S. Army Air Corps