US PLAYED ITS PART

Contrary to his claims about Somsak Pola (‘‘History lesson required’’, PostBag, Sept 19), it is Jimbob who requires the history lesson. His claim that the US didn’t enter World War II until Germany had already lost the war due to the actions of Russia and the United Kingdom reveals astonishing ignorance or a deliberate attempt at revisionism on a level with those who say the Holocaust never happened.

The facts are that the US entered World War II in December 1941, some two years and three months after the start of the war with the Nazi invasion of Poland, although the US was supplying major war supplies and material to Britain, Russia and China under the Lend-Lease Programme long before formally entering the war.

Formal US involvement in the war continued for three and a half years in Europe and nearly four years in the Pacific, until the end of World War II.

Russia entered the war as opponents of the Germans in June 1941, only six months prior to the Americans, and in fact had no major impact in reducing the German war effort until late 1941, about the same time the US entered the conflict.

Without the contributions of the US, the outcome of the war would undoubtedly have been very different, and it is highly doubtful the Allied forces would have prevailed. To claim otherwise reveals a serious lack of knowledge of history.

Jimbob’s assertions minimising the contributions of the US in World War II are an insult to the country’s honour, and especially to the more than 400,000 US servicemen who sacrificed their lives during the conflict.

Samanea Saman