The Amelia Earhart foofarah

I noticed a story on how the History channel did a documentary showing Amelia Earhart was alive in the Marshall Islands in 1937 and probably captured by the Japanese Army. The main evidence was a photo showing her and her navigator on a dock in the Marshalls- although it was blurry and not clear it was them.

Fast forward a week, and it looks like that two hour special was BS, as a guy who researched the photo for 30 minutes (!) found it in a Japanese coffee table book published in 1935, before Earhart even started her flight.

Amelia Earhart mystery: Photo appears taken 2 years before pilot vanished - CNN.com

Money quote:

"Kota Yamano, a Japanese military history blogger, was skeptical about the photo as well. Shortly after learning about it, he searched the term "Jaluit" in the National Diet Library and quickly found the photo in a 1935 book. The whole thing took about 30 minutes, he said.

"I wonder why (the) History Channel did not have even one person who understand Japanese or the history between Japan and (the) US," he told CNN."



Seems to me we should be calling it the 'History' channel with quotations... much like the 'Science' channel.

It didn't make sense that she was captured by the Japanese in 1937....since we weren't at war with the Japanese until 1941.

Clearly neither one of you actually watched the presentation if you think the only evidence was a photograph, much more than that was presented. And for the record, there was more than one who understood Japanese and more than one who lived under Japanese control in the islands at the time and provided information in the presentation. Easier to condemn than actually know of where you speak I suppose.

Threegoofs said:

I noticed a story on how the History channel did a documentary showing Amelia Earhart was alive in the Marshall Islands in 1937 and probably captured by the Japanese Army. The main evidence was a photo showing her and her navigator on a dock in the Marshalls- although it was blurry and not clear it was them.

Fast forward a week, and it looks like that two hour special was BS, as a guy who researched the photo for 30 minutes (!) found it in a Japanese coffee table book published in 1935, before Earhart even started her flight.

Amelia Earhart mystery: Photo appears taken 2 years before pilot vanished - CNN.com

Money quote:

"Kota Yamano, a Japanese military history blogger, was skeptical about the photo as well. Shortly after learning about it, he searched the term "Jaluit" in the National Diet Library and quickly found the photo in a 1935 book. The whole thing took about 30 minutes, he said.

"I wonder why (the) History Channel did not have even one person who understand Japanese or the history between Japan and (the) US," he told CNN."



Seems to me we should be calling it the 'History' channel with quotations... much like the 'Science' channel.

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The History channel?

Oh, definitely. That's a complete ****ing joke.


Didn't they have the "I'm not saying it's aliens, but it's aliens" meme guy on?

Moot said:

It didn't make sense that she was captured by the Japanese in 1937....since we weren't at war with the Japanese until 1941.

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Not that I disagree with OP, but I could point out that we weren't at war with Japan in 1941 until they bombed Pearl Harbor.

I doubt that was some kind of drunken bet between Emperor and General

Sabre said:

Clearly neither one of you actually watched the presentation if you think the only evidence was a photograph, much more than that was presented. And for the record, there was more than one who understood Japanese and more than one who lived under Japanese control in the islands at the time and provided information in the presentation. Easier to condemn than actually know of where you speak I suppose.

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So you're going with the story, even though a guy with pretty minimal effort tracked down their photo as a fake?

I didnt see it... but I do recall when I read about it, the photo was pretty prominent in the coverage.

Mr Person said:

The History channel?

Oh, definitely. That's a complete ****ing joke.


Didn't they have the "I'm not saying it's aliens, but it's aliens" meme guy on?

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Is there no one at the history channel left to simply verify sources

It was a good story while it lasted....

Threegoofs said:

So you're going with the story, even though a guy with pretty minimal effort tracked down their photo as a fake?

I didnt see it... but I do recall when I read about it, the photo was pretty prominent in the coverage.

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You didn't see it but you recall you have read about it, that's good enough for me. Silly me, actually watching something before commenting on it. And CNN, wow, a bastion of real news coverage, how could I ever have doubted it was not fake. Well, judging from the replies here, knowledge about a subject is not a requirement to dis it.

Sabre said:

You didn't see it but you recall you have read about it, that's good enough for me. Silly me, actually watching something before commenting on it. And CNN, wow, a bastion of real news coverage, how could I ever have doubted it was not fake. Well, judging from the replies here, knowledge about a subject is not a requirement to dis it.

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Well, it was on the 'History' channel.. that well known bastion of accuracy!

Well that's two goofs, one to go.

Sabre said:

You didn't see it but you recall you have read about it, that's good enough for me. Silly me, actually watching something before commenting on it. And CNN, wow, a bastion of real news coverage, how could I ever have doubted it was not fake. Well, judging from the replies here, knowledge about a subject is not a requirement to dis it.

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Let see the history channel with it alien visitors and Hitler hiding out in South America after WW2 and other such nonsense on one hand and CNN [not FOX] on the other hand and you give equal standing to both of them?

BillRM said:

Let see the history channel with it alien visitors and Hitler hiding out in South America after WW2 and other such nonsense on one hand and CNN [not FOX] on the other hand and you give equal standing to both of them?

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Straw man, goof three, bye.

Sabre said:

Clearly neither one of you actually watched the presentation if you think the only evidence was a photograph, much more than that was presented. And for the record, there was more than one who understood Japanese and more than one who lived under Japanese control in the islands at the time and provided information in the presentation. Easier to condemn than actually know of where you speak I suppose.

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The fact that the picture was used at all shows a gross lack of effort in doing real research into this situation. That massive failure puts all the rest of the evidence at risk. It was also the key piece of the whole puzzle that the History Channel was trying to put together.

Mr Person said:

The History channel?

Oh, definitely. That's a complete ****ing joke.


Didn't they have the "I'm not saying it's aliens, but it's aliens" meme guy on?

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Used to be decent channel but I unsubscribed quite a while ago

Threegoofs said:

I noticed a story on how the History channel did a documentary showing Amelia Earhart was alive in the Marshall Islands in 1937 and probably captured by the Japanese Army.

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Like MTV, the History Channel is a fragment of what it once was. They are now more interested in speculation and nonsense then they are in real history.

Moot said:

It didn't make sense that she was captured by the Japanese in 1937....since we weren't at war with the Japanese until 1941.

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And, your point is?

Remember, you are talking about a paranoid and xenophobic culture, that assumed anybody in their territory was a spy.

Even earlier, in 1923, an American Marine named Earl Ellis was making a clandestine recon of Japanese territory in the Pacific, when he fell ill under mysterious circumstances and died. And the person who was sent from the US to collect his remains also fell ill and died.

Major Ellis had for years predicted the next US war would be in the Pacific against Japan, and that Pearl Harbor would be attacked from the air (at the time that the most advanced naval aircraft were wood and cloth biplanes). He was one of the major writers of War Plan Orange, which was the plan used in WWII to defeat Japan.

Just because it was before 1941, do not make the mistake that the Japanese were friendly. However, I do discount the beliefs of some that Ms. Earhart was captured.

Excellent series by WEB Griffin, "The Corps", starts with pre WW2 "China Marines." I believe there is a thread about a fictional Marine, who has travel passes to and from his base in China. He is tasked with "keeping his eyes open" regarding Japanese military troops and movements in the time before 11DEC41. His other books are well done as well. Prior post on Marine Major Ellis brought this to mind.....

PS When the History Channel first began broadcasting, I was living with a girlfriend and she told me more than once, "There is more to life than a six pack and the History Channel!" Not in those days!

Rexedgar said:

Excellent series by WEB Griffin, "The Corps", starts with pre WW2 "China Marines." I believe there is a thread about a fictional Marine, who has travel passes to and from his base in China. He is tasked with "keeping his eyes open" regarding Japanese military troops and movements in the time before 11DEC41. His other books are well done as well. Prior post on Marine Major Ellis brought this to mind.....

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That was a good series, that I enjoyed back then (other than having to put up with his placing Army terminology into the mouths of Marines). And it gave a lot of good info into the China Marines and what things were like in that area prior to the war. But by the 3rd book it had drastically become worse (as did all of his books, jumping huge sections in time, and becoming more of a "spy in uniform" series than his landmark series "The Brotherhood of War").

Being a huge researcher into the War in the Pacific, I actually place the starting date of that conflict way back in 1937, with the Second Sino-Japanese War.

And in 1937-1938 there were 2 incidents that show how bad relations had become. The first was the attack on the USS Panay by Japanese forces, the second was the attack on US Diplomat John Allison by Japanese soldiers.

By 1937-1938 anybody who said that there was no war coming between the US and Japan was fooling themselves. It must be remembered, that less than a century prior to the outbreak of WWII, the Japanese would routinely execute any foreigner found on their shores. This even included the survivors of shipwrecks off their shore in International Waters.

And even after 1859, foreigners were only allowed in 3 ports. And even there, there are incidents of foreign sailors being murdered under orders of the Shogunate. For another decade there were scores of incidents, with even diplomats and consuls being attacked and destroyed. This culminated when Emperor Komei (father of Emperor Meiji) giving the "Order to expel barbarians", which ultimately led to the downfall of the last of the Shogunate power, and the Meiji Restoration.

The Army series "The Officers" was good in the beginning as well. Believe it or not his books have caused me to learn some not so past history. Post WW2, US operations in Greece and also later in the Belgian Congo. As most mass market authors, they seem to peter out the more they write. WEB Griffin later books with his son are hit and miss for me. I've read a few and find them so so.
Back to 11DEC41, I think there was good intel that was smothered for the cause of uniting a fractured country into getting into the war. Maybe that belongs in the CT thread.