The Bombs of August - Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Lest we forget

[veracity]

Today is the anniversary of the first use of weapons of mass destruction by any nation in the world. On Aug.6,1945, the Enola Gay dropped the first Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, - a city of civilians.

It's a day we don't etch into our history. In memory of the two most devastating bombings ever:

The Bombs of August

In Remembrance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

When the bombs were dropped I was very happy. The war would be over now, they said, and I was very happy. The boys would be coming home very soon they said, and I was very happy. We showed ‘em, they said, and I was very happy. They told us that the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been destroyed, and I was very happy. But in August of 1945 I was only ten years old, and I was very, very happy.

The crew of the B-29 was so young and heroic, and in the photo they also looked very happy. For some reason, I clearly remember the name of the pilot, Paul Tibbets. Of course I remember the name of the plane, the Enola Gay. And oh yes, I remember the name of the bomb. It was called “Little Boy." That made me smile.

I was so proud to be an American that day because we had done something so remarkable. They said we were the first. We were Americans. We were powerful. But they didn’t say that Little Boy had killed 66,000 people with its huge fireball that fateful day in August. They didn’t say that Hiroshima was not a military target, but a city filled with men and women and children and animals who had no idea they were about to die so horribly. When you’re ten, they don’t always tell you everything.

More: http://tvnewslies.org/html/bombs_of_august.html

[oneighty]

1. You are very brave Veracity to bring up the bombs.

I was 11 years old that day. On my paper route I delivered my paper to 125 very happy house holds. In later years when my war came I spent several years in Japan.

Now I am torn, betwixt and between the right and the wrong forever.

180

[dbt]

2. And now a madman has his finger on the button.

Thanks for your post, veracity!

:freak:
dbt

[Parche]

3. A-bomb

I know it had to be, it was as I call it a necessary evil
The Japanese were not going to surrender
We had thousands of POW's that were going to die very soon
So it had to be done
We hope that it will be the last

[bpilgrim]

10. the evil that 'had to be'

none of the military leaders in theater at that time agree with you.

* In his memoirs Admiral William D. Leahy, the President's Chief of Staff--and the top official who presided over meetings of both the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combined U.S.-U.K. Chiefs of Staff--minced few words:

The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender. . . .

In being the first to use it, we . . . adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children. THE DECISION, p. 3.

* The commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Forces, Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, gave a strong indication of his views in a public statement only eleven days after Hiroshima was attacked. Asked on August 17 by a NEW YORK TIMES reporter whether the atomic bomb caused Japan to surrender, Arnold said:

The Japanese position was hopeless even before the first atomic bomb fell, because the Japanese had lost control of their own air. THE DECISION, p. 334.

In his 1949 memoirs Arnold observed that "it always appeared to us that, atomic bomb or no atomic bomb, the Japanese were already on the verge of collapse." THE DECISION, p. 334.

* Arnold's deputy, Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker, summed up his understanding this way in an internal military history interview:

Arnold's view was that it (the dropping of the atomic bomb) was unnecessary. He said that he knew the Japanese wanted peace. There were political implications in the decision and Arnold did not feel it was the military's job to question it. THE DECISION, p. 335.

Eaker reported that Arnold told him:

When the question comes up of whether we use the atomic bomb or not, my view is that the Air Force will not oppose the use of the bomb, and they will deliver it effectively if the Commander in Chief decides to use it. But it is not necessary to use it in order to conquer the Japanese without the necessity of a land invasion. THE DECISION, p. 335.

more...
http://www.doug-long.com/ga1.htm

psst... pass the word

peace

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2168849

[UdoKier]

5. It was a horrible act of terrorism

It boggles my mind that people can still rationalize it.

[veracity]

6. and yet... the day passed without notice.

Sadly, I saw no reference to the date anywhere in the news. It really upset me that there has never been any acknowledgement by our country of the horror of that day, and the bombing of Nagasaki. There were other ways to accomplish the same thing. So many people died so horribly......

[struggle4progress]

17. Ya gotta poke around ...

http://news.google.com/news?num=30&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&edition=us&tab=nn&q=Hiroshima+bomb&btnG=Search+News

[Curious Dave]

7. You are so right!

And having committed this act of mass murder against Japan, we have permanently undermined any moral authority we may have otherwise had about this subject. North Korea shouldn't have nukes, Iran shouldn't have nukes... What gall, what effrontery! As the country that unleashed this horror on the world, how dare we tell anyone else they can't be trusted with nuclear weapons.

[hunter]

8. I'll post this picture again...

Remember.

[American liberal]

9. I grew up under the shadow of the Cold War...

In a way, it's been a nice little run since the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Living with nuclear threat is like living with the covert discrimination that exists to this day for people of color in this society. It's always there, just under the surface, that insidious menace. I've been feeling it again these past few years: North Korea, Pakistan, the U.S. ... No one wins, so why play the game?

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their kin. Never again...

[pifflePill]

13. My thoughts and prayers also go out to the American soldiers lost to WW2

Way too many good people died because we let a dictator run amok. Never again.

[pifflePill]

11. I know it's been asked before...

But how many more American soldiers would have died if we invaded Japan?

[bpilgrim]

12. how many would have

SURVIVED if we had accepted thier offer to surrender in the SPRING of 45 as recommended by ALL of our military leaders in theater at the time in order to 'SAVE LIVES'

* Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, in a public address at the Washington Monument two months after the bombings stated:

The Japanese had, in fact, already sued for peace before the atomic age was announced to the world with the destruction of Hiroshima and before the Russian entry into the war. . . .The atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military standpoint, in the defeat of Japan. . . . THE DECISION, p. 329; see additionally THE NEW YORK TIMES, October 6, 1945.

more...
http://www.doug-long.com/ga1.htm

peace

[pifflePill]

14. Even more would have lived if Pearl Harbor was not attacked

Shame on them.

[bpilgrim]

15. that wasn't the question

r u ready to NUKE afghanistan or iraq?

peace

[the_outsider]

16. You may find McCollum memo interesting

declassified in 1994.

http://www.rationalrevolution.net/fdr_provoked_the_japanese_attack.htm

[Pepperbelly]

18. I totally support Truman's decision to drop the bombs on Japan.

Whether or not the Japanese Empire had "sued" for peace, a negotiated end to the conflict was not sufficient. The fascists HAD to surrender unconditionally or it simply would not have satisfied either history or the populace.

I spent a lot of time at Pearl Harbor and still, to this day, am infuriated that the Japanese would pull a sucker-punch, sneak attack on OUR guys and OUR ships when they were doing nothing more than enjoying a peaceful Sunday morning. One of my uncles was involved in the battle for Okinawa, the first assault of what the Japanese considered their homeland. And it was brutal.

Despite the toll on their navy, their air forces, their soldiers, it was a dreadful, bloody, slogging horror of an invasion.

No ... they had it coming.

And yes, I fear for US for the same reason.

[OneTwentyoNine]

19. Behind you on this one.....

My father was in WWII and like you I've spent time at Pearl and the memorial. They sailors on top listened to entombed sailors pound on the inside of the hull till about Christmas and then the sounds stopped.

The Japanese were not going to give up,they didn't surrender after the first A-Bomb. After killing thousands of Americans the terms of surrender were not up to THEM it was up to us. Unlike Iraq,we didn't start the War with Japan but we sure as hell finished it.

I support Truman and his actions 100%. Ask ANY WWII vet like my dad who'd been overseas for YEARS and see if their glad it ended,no mater how it ended.

David

[ulysses]

20. ?

No ... they had it coming.

The regular folks going to work, cooking food, going about their daily business had a nuclear attack coming? Did *they* plan Pearl Harbor?

I'm quite aware of the history of the war, of the bloodiness of Okinawa and what an invasion of the home islands would likely have meant for US servicemen. Of course, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were hardly the first bombings of civilian populations during the war. You couldn't pay me enough to have been Harry Truman that summer.

Still, I think it's incumbent on us to recognize that it remains a problematic and dire act.

[Pepperbelly]

21. I do.

And I have actually considered the question quite seriously and my position is neither jingoistic nor knee-jerk. As a sailor, emotions enter into the picture though when sitting in a ship at Pearl Harbor on a lazy Sunday morning and then remembering what had happened at the very spot in December, 1941.

I remember working on a hillside at the edge of the base toward Pearl City and when getting a break, looking across at Battleship Row and Ford Island and imagining the Japanese planes at that very spot. I also did some work there, while in transit awaiting another ship, on the AZ memorial.

But yes, I readily admit that emotion ... specifically anger and grief, sways my judgement a tad but in the final analysis, even considering the fact that few of the people at either city had anything to do with Pearl Harbor, I do know that as a people, they supported not just that but the atrocities in China and Korea as well.

It is indeed a close call and I, too, would not have taken Truman's circumstance in making that choice for anything but I do finally come down on Harry's side in the decision.

[ulysses]

23. re: the culpability of the populace

I suppose it's facile to point out that the Japanese were under a military dictatorship, a situation which surely influences civilian support for events like the ones you mention.

I think a lot of what went into the decisions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki had to do with revenge for Pearl Harbor, not Japanese atrocities on the mainland. The German people were just as guilty of support for the crimes of their government and military, yet it seems an open question to me whether or not we'd have nuked Berlin had Overlord failed and the European war dragged on into that summer.

[PsN2Wind]

25. Hi Pepper

I think those like you and I that in pulling in to Pearl and rendering "passing colors" to those entombed in the hulk of the Arizona, for the most part, share a common view on this.
I think we can in retrospect realize the horror of the action of our nation but it is in retrospect. Having relatives that were facing the prospect of being part of the invasion force might also change ones perspective.
However you, as I have, will have to listen to certain Japan apologists here that now claim that Roosevelt baited the Japanese, forcing them into a war, just so we would have the excuse to use those primitive nukes and scare the rest of the world into allowing us to dominate them.
It's easy to be an idealist sitting in front of a computer screen in an air-conditioned room almost sixty years after the fact. That idealism wasn't there for guys like my brother-in-law that had fought in the bloody island campaigns from Guadalcanal to New Guinea and certainly didn't want to have to try an invasion of the Japanese homeland.
The Japanese could have stopped the war at any time simply by surrendering but after initiating the war by their shameless attack in 1941 they have to bear the responsibility for the horrible way in which it was concluded in 1945.
Just one squid talking to another.

[sweetheart]

22. terror weapons, to terrorize us all

Like many of us except the very young, i've also grown up under the
cold war blanket of american terror. It left a scar on my personality
as when i should have been an optimistic youth, i believed the
cold war rhetoric, that i could be vaporized today or tomorrow but
would never live to see 30.

Then it turns out that we were flying bomber wings over russian
airspace to provoke them in to a nuclear war... and that the USA has
been the world terrorist all this time, terrorizing people inside and
outside... how ironic that terrorists claim to be fighting a war on
terror.

Japan would have surrendered anyways.

Also, the nuclear attacks on nagasaki and hiroshima must also
mention the other mass murders like the tokyo firebombing and dresden,
all of them war crimes.. indeed.

[Hidebo]

24. yeah like

Japanese had nothing to do with the Kwantung Army's Unit 731......
The Japanese Imperial Army used chemical & biological warfare agaist
innocent Chinese women and children, killing tens of thousands of them if not hundreds of thousands.....