I read G Somerset's comments (Letters, October 11) regarding the forgiveness given to the kamikaze pilot Hichiro Naemura by Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Brooke and am still confused.

Evidently, the pilot did not succeed and both men lived to tell their experiences to those of us who have never had to kill.

What I find amazing is the high regard and compassion both men hold for each other and that they realise they were doing what they had to at the time.

By the sound of it, Mr Somerset is a conditioned Christian by default as he speaks of the war dead with such pride and the survivors with such hatred and even mentions forgiveness.

He clearly does not know how to forgive and would have all his previous enemies killed for what they did. He tells us only the dead can forgive.

I have this to say. Perhaps the lesson to be learned from our former enemies is, no matter what it was all about, we have all moved on and, remembering the futility of war, must ensure it never happens again.

This does not mean sitting on our hands and taking whatever is thrown at us. Surely Mr Somerset realises it was not the soldiers but the politicians who caused such horrors to occur?

And if he must carry such hatred, let it be directed towards the politicians, who will be cosy in bunkers while we are left to it.

Or is he saying we should destroy anyone who opposes us, even if it was during the previous century? We are the ones without religion in the developing conflict so who does he think will win that?

-James Whitfield, address supplied