Now that World War II has been over for almost 60 years, there’s bound to be some second-guessing.

Harry Truman’s decision to drop the atom bomb on Hiroshima, for example. Was that really necessary? Weren’t there other, less deadly ways to send the same message?

John “Buck” Newsom has heard the question. He knows the answer, too.

“I am convinced that I’m sitting here today because of Mr. Truman’s decision — because he had the courage to make the decision that he did,” said Newsom, a 1941 U.S. Naval Academy graduate who ultimately served as a lieutenant commander in the Pacific Theater.

“I’m convinced that it was the right thing to do.”

Newsom, who came to Lawrence in 1958 to take over the Navy ROTC program at Kansas University, took part in a Sunday panel discussion, “KU Goes to War,” at the Lied Center.

The discussion was part of the weekend activities tied to the dedication of the Dole Institute of Politics.

Joining Newsom on the panel, moderated by Kansas native and former CBS News anchor Bill Kurtis, were:

l Richard L. Schiefelbusch, a distinguished professor emeritus and director of the KU Institute for Life Span Studies. A navigator in the U.S. Army Air Corps, he spent two years in prisoner-of-war camps after his plane was shot down over the Baltic Sea.

Buck Newsom reflects on his World War II experiences as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy during a panel discussion titled KU

l Bill Tuttle, a KU professor of American studies who is well-versed in KU history and has written a book on World War II’s effect on the children of servicemen.

l Claudine “Scottie” Lingelbach, a retired teacher who served in the WAVES (Women Approved for Volunteer Emergency Service) after graduating from KU in 1944. She was assigned to the Joint and Combined British Chiefs of Staff and the Navy Logistics Department in Washington, D.C.

Lingelbach is profiled in Tom Brokaw’s best-selling book “The Greatest Generation.”

No doubt on Truman

Lingelbach said she, too, had grown weary of younger generations questioning Truman’s decision to bomb Hiroshima.

While working in the logistics department, Lingelbach said she was privy to then-secret reports on the prospects for invading Japan that predicted 1 million Japanese and American deaths.

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“In war, there’s a point where it comes down to you or them,” she said. “Mr. Truman would have been derelict in his duties if he had not made the decision that he did. And let us all pray to God we never have to use it (a nuclear weapon) again.”

Lingelbach’s comments drew applause from the 300 people in attendance.

Schiefelbusch shared several stories about his experiences in prisoner-of-war camps, including Stalag Luft III in Poland, which later became the subject of the 1963 movie “The Great Escape,” starring a motorcycle-riding, fence-jumping Steve McQueen.

Schiefelbusch said he was struck by how much depression he encountered among his comrades and how often he found himself in the role of “a helper.”

Adjustments at home

After the war, when he arrived at KU, Schiefelbusch said, “I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to learn how to help people.”

He started the university’s Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic in 1949.

Tuttle asked the audience to realize that while World War II was “a good war,” it also had its down sides, noting that many returning soldiers suffered from what’s now called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Many of these men returned to children who, at the time, were two and three years old and until then had not had a father in the house.

“Many of these children had trouble bonding with their fathers,” Tuttle said.

Lingelbach recalled that before the war, her first husband, Dale, was an avid hunter.

“But after the war,” Lingelbach said, “he said he never wanted to go hunting again — he’d shoot targets because he loved to shoot, but he wouldn’t go hunting. He said ‘Once you’ve hunted (another human) you don’t ever go hunting again.'”

On stage at the Lied Center, the panel was surrounded by more KU alumni — most of whom had spent their careers at the university — who served in World War II.

“This is one of KU’s finest hours,” said KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway.