Dear Sir,
The letter Untrue and hurtful from Mr Atchley on Friday, not wishing to enter into any type of argument about American foreign policy or actions, the main points made by Mr Atchley are somewhat ambiguous and a bit stretched.
It is true that the contribution from the USA was substantial, but only when Churchill declared war on Japan as soon as Pearl Harbor was attacked, which automatically invoked the US declaration against Germany. Until then, for years, Britain stood alone, and the aid on Lend-Lease had to be paid for by Britain to the USA.
To say almost alone' the US fought Japan is to insult the thousands of British, and then Empire, troops who died in that theatre of war.
The quarter of a million troops taken prisoner in Singapore, for many to die on the Burma Road should not be forgotten, even though we are swamped with Hollywood movies showing their interpretation of history and war.
On the matter of the Berlin wall, it was a brave effort of US airmen to break the blockade, but the reason for the wall' should be remembered - in return for the withdrawal of Russian missiles from Cuba, the US allowed the Russians to build that insidious barrier to freedom.
Noone would deny that America contributes in a major way in finance and effort, it is just that so often their foreign policy, with all the best intentions, ends on a sour note. Maybe it is because they are inward' looking and miss the big picture.
One major example was at the end of the second world war, the oft-mentioned telegram from Churchill to Roosevelt, with all the allied troops in position in Europe, where Churchill urged Roosevelt to turn the armies onto the Soviet Union to crush communism forever. Never will we be in a better position... I believe it read, but the call in the US was to bring the boys home and so followed 45 years of cold war and the profusion of atomic weapons which pose a constant threat today, and innumerable small wars backed by one party or the other.
Yours sincerely