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In reply to the discussion: 18 Color Photos Of Female WWII Workers That Will Make You Proud(er) To Be A Woman [View all]amandabeech
(9,893 posts)Your Mom was an original. Many people here on DU believe that those bombs should not have been dropped. But I'm someone who thinks that hind sight really is 20-20, particularly when it comes to war. The Japanese people were fed all kinds of extreme propaganda by their government about the dishonor of surrendering when there was no realistic chance of prevailing. What that meant was obvious the closer the US forces came to the home islands. The kamikaze plane and torpedo attacks on our ships ended up killing so many of our sailor and marines in what, for the Japanese, was a lost cause. Our marines and army troops could not convince civilians on Okinawa to surrender, and on Saipan, Japanese troops practically shoved civilians over high cliffs to their deaths to avoid being taken alive by US troops who then tried to lure the natives out of the brush with offers, in Japanese, of food and water, thankfully with some success. Taking the Japanese home islands would have resulted in enormous death and bloodshed on all sides, and a blockade--well, just read stories about siege of Leningrad and get back to me with how that would have been a better option.
And don't talk to me about the Russians. Would Japan have been better off if it had been divided like Korea? Please.
I think that our Democratic President, Harry Truman, made the best decision he could have made at the time with the information that he had, which was imperfect, and which was speculative with respect to the bomb.
The War in the Pacific finally ended, and your Mom was a part of that. I hope that your Mom was proud of what she contributed to the war effort. And that you are proud of her.