The idea of cruising along the remote Japanese islands in the South China Sea seemed like a good idea at first, a chance to see places that the average traveller wouldn't visit.  As it turned out, my on-board companions were anything but average.

My invitation to sail omitted to mention that this particular exploration was dedicated to the historic events of World War II. For two weeks we relived the details and significance of key events that had taken place over sixty years ago in the pacific theatre, on a ship filled with American tourists who saw travel as more of a hardship than a pleasure.

I’ll be honest, this was not the cultural experience I was hoping for, but it was a chance to expand my understanding of WWII. My only previous exposure to the war in the Pacific was through Hollywood renditions featuring John Wayne or Jack Lemon.

Even the infamous General MacArthur was more a character than a person to me, someone made famous in films by smoking a pipe and wearing sunglasses while ordering men to die on a beach.

It was our on-board historians, Don Miller and Hugh Ambrose, who presented a detailed and revealing picture of MacArthur while governing occupied Japan in the post-war era. Through the eyes of these two esteemed authors I saw MacArthur as a man committed to rebuilding a nation, not punishing it.

My ship-board companions were not as impressed by the reconstruction of a nation as I was. They had come to study death, not life.

Most of the passengers were staunched Republicans with more money than manners, bloated men who enjoyed their evenings smoking illicit Cuban cigars and swilling copious volumes of Cognac. Their conversations were directed at the glory of war rather than it's folly, and the obvious lessons from this horrific period in modern history seemed to drift away in the ships wake.

Of special note was an elderly gentleman who I simply called "The Commander". I never found out his real name, only that he was in charge of a training facility somewhere in the States, surviving the war without ever having fired a shot in combat.

His lack of respect for the tragedy of war made me wonder why he bothered paying good money to be on an educational cruise. He just plain hated the Japanese and never missed on opportunity to tell someone about it.

The Commander's contempt went beyond race however, and when jokingly asked by the ships Service Manager if he was planning to leave a tip after the cruise the response came, "I got your tip right here buddy", dropping his pants to the floor and mooning the room.

Three of our travellers stood out from the herd by virtue of their character, Harry, Glen and RV. These gentlemen had all fought in WWII, and lived to tell their stories.  They were patriots who loved their America, but knew what war was really about and why we should think twice before entering one.

Glen told me a little of his experience in Germany, where had been sent to fly a fighter but was shot down after only two weeks.  His parachute had caught in a tree and a German plane flew low over the terrain, lining up its machine-guns. Instead of firing, the pilot buzzed over the top and waved him farewell.

Once on the ground Glen had another problem, the village people in rural Germany would lynch and kill any Allied pilots they could get their hands on. For the second time in a single day it was the German military who spared his life and he served the remaining months of the war as a prisoner, being marched from camp to camp and watching many of his colleagues die.

It has taken Glen over fifty years to open up and tell his story. The reality of war is not always an easy subject to deal with.

Our visit to Okinawa brought RV and Harry full circle. Today the island is most famous for healthy eating and orchid farms, but in 1945 it was the scene of the last major battle in the war. Over 66,000 Japanese soldiers, 70,000 US Marines and 140,000 civilians died during 82 days of fighting.

Even back then Harry recognised the difference between war and humanity, and had such respect for the people of Okinawa that he married one.