Tokyo Rose has died.

[greatauntoftriplets]

Pardoned `Tokyo Rose' suspect dies

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who was convicted and later pardoned of being World War II propagandist "Tokyo Rose," died Tuesday of natural causes, said her nephew, William Toguri. She was 90.

Tokyo Rose was the name given by soldiers to a female radio broadcaster responsible for anti-American transmissions intended to demoralize soldiers in the Pacific theater. D'Aquino was convicted of treason in 1949.

After serving 6 years in prison, D'Aquino led a quiet life on Chicago's North Side.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0609270201sep27,1,2506421.story

She lived a couple blocks away from where I used to live in Chicago. I never knew her, but a friend did. Apparently, she was a good neighbor and well liked. Ironic, isn't it?

[Warpy]

1. They held a gun to her head and gave her lines to read

It's a little more forgiveable than paying millions of dollars to read the same sort of anti American propaganda on the air today.

[bluestateguy]

2. She was not Tokyo Rose. She was pardoned.

nt

[LostinVA]

3. She wasn't Tokyo Rose -- she was pardoned a long time ago

That poor woman was railroaded and imprisoned.

[trumad]

4. Shit--I thought you were talking about Nora O'Donnell

[Kingshakabobo]

5. My friend is her neighbor. He says they are really nice people. nt

[greatauntoftriplets]

7. A friend's parents live on that street.

The father is an ex-Marine and a Guadalcanal survivor. He also is mentally ill and hates his neighbors. Yet, even he liked Iva.

[meldroc]

6. Wasn't "Tokyo Rose" actually sympathetic to the U.S. and POWs during WW2?

IIRC, she would bring food & clothes & such to the POWs the Japanese brought to her radio station. She would make sure they were taken care of, and she actively tried to subvert the propaganda she was broadcasting, by sneaking pro-American messages into the broadcasts, and having the POWs who were being forced to record messages for broadcast record them in a sarcastic tone of voice & such.

I'm vaguely remembering a show on Tokyo Rose on the Discovery channel.