At Hiroshima’s 70th Anniversary, Japan Again Mourns Dawn of Atomic Age

[augolf1716 21,096]

Sorry one day late but I think its something we should all remember. Lets all hope this never has to happen again. I do believe President Truman made the right decision because it was projected to cost over 250,000/500,000 American casualties. Can not imagine the stress he was under to make such a huge decision..."The Buck Stops Here" kind of guy.

On a side note I have two story's concerning this terrible anniversary. My Dad was in the Philippines, with the Air Force, when this happen. All he ever said about it when he found out it happen was "Thank God" and broke down in tears you need to understand fighting the Japanese was completely different then fighting the Germans.....think Kamikaze and Banzai charges. That's all he would ever say about it plus my Dad was 100% disabled from the war so he hated most thinks that had Jap's, yep he called them Jap's, attached to it.

Now the second story is concerning the Enola Gay which Paul Tibbits was the pilot. The plane was named after his mom by the way. Paul Tibbets III graduated from Auburn. I did not know him at Auburn but met him thru my work and became close.

Back to "Little Boy" name for the atomic bomb. Pray its never ever used again.

http://www.nytimes.c...mbing.html?_r=0

[aujeff11 6,243]

I don't think man should have the right to sacrifice another to save two but it's just whatever. I saw some chilling pics of survivors of the bombs. Men, Grandmothers and children walking around the debris and ashes surveying the damage not knowing they would soon be dead themselves for radiation poisoning.

[WarTim 3,456]

President Truman made the right decision. He decided to Save lives. War is horrible. Should always be avoided IF possible. The U.S. did not start this war. We DID end it. Far too many paid the ultimate price. I pray we never see a nuke in battle again.

[augolf1716 21,096]

I don't think man should have the right to sacrifice another to save two but it's just whatever. I saw some chilling pics of survivors of the bombs. Men, Grandmothers and children walking around the debris and ashes surveying the damage not knowing they would soon be dead themselves for radiation poisoning.

Your right its awful especially seeing the videos of the aftermath of the bomb but was the death of 300,000 Japanese better then the potential death of 500,000 Americans and another 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 Japanese better. War is horrible beyond believe but it save America as well as Japanese lives. I really want this to be about never seeing this again don't know how we get there but I hope we can agree to not happen again.

Once again we all need to put ourselves facing the Japanese. The Emperor is God follow him to the death.

What would you have done instead?

[cptau 169]

I don't think man should have the right to sacrifice another to save two but it's just whatever. I saw some chilling pics of survivors of the bombs. Men, Grandmothers and children walking around the debris and ashes surveying the damage not knowing they would soon be dead themselves for radiation poisoning.

Your right its awful especially seeing the videos of the aftermath of the bomb but was the death of 300,000 Japanese better then the potential death of 500,000 Americans and another 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 Japanese better. War is horrible beyond believe but it save America as well as Japanese lives. I really want this to be about never seeing this again don't know how we get there but I hope we can agree to not happen again.

Once again we all need to put ourselves facing the Japanese. The Emperor is God follow him to the death.

What would you have done instead?

My father was a rifleman in the US 35th Infantry Division surviving the fighting in France, the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, and getting to within 60 miles of Berlin when Germany surrendered. The thing that weighed most on them was the fact they would be sent to fight in the invasion of Japan. While waiting for transport from France to England to prepare for the trip to the US and redeployment, they got the word that the bombs and been dropped and Japan had surrendered. There was massive cheering in that camp. They were going home.

[AUDub 11,131]

It was the best in a list of bad options. This was a country whose leadership was willing to kill their women and children rather than face the shame of surrender,

[cptau 169]

I don't think man should have the right to sacrifice another to save two but it's just whatever. I saw some chilling pics of survivors of the bombs. Men, Grandmothers and children walking around the debris and ashes surveying the damage not knowing they would soon be dead themselves for radiation poisoning.

Your right its awful especially seeing the videos of the aftermath of the bomb but was the death of 300,000 Japanese better then the potential death of 500,000 Americans and another 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 Japanese better. War is horrible beyond believe but it save America as well as Japanese lives. I really want this to be about never seeing this again don't know how we get there but I hope we can agree to not happen again.

Once again we all need to put ourselves facing the Japanese. The Emperor is God follow him to the death.

What would you have done instead?

The options with Japan were limited. We could have isolated the Japanese home islands to try and starve them into surrender, but that was not realistic. The biggest problem was the Japanese military's culture, particularity their army. The army had often taken war actions without authorization. They almost started a border war with the Soviet Union in China at the beginning of WWII. Some army officers attempted a coup to stop the emperor's surrender.

We bombed and firebombed just about all the major Japanese cities and they still would not surrender. The many difference between the conventional bombing and the atomic bombing is that atomic bombing needed 250 fewer B29s. We used many bombing raids on Japan and a great number of them had more than 250 B29 bombers sent to bomb one city. After the atomic bombings we actually sent 143 B29s to conventionally bomb Japan the day before Japan announced it's surrender. Those B29s carried a maximum bomb load and had been stripped of all armament to allow more bomb load.

We had made numerous offers to stop the B29 bombing raids if Japan would surrender. The B29s flew so high that what was left of the Japanese air force could not easily fly up high enough to attack the US bombers. We dropped 60 million leaflets telling the Japanese civilians of the offer. Any Japanese found with a US warning leaflet was arrested by the police.

When Japan did announce surrender on August 15th, many Japanese officers committed suicide and many allied prisoners were killed by their Japanese guards.

[Mikey 16,550]

I had the honor of meeting Paul Tibbets the pilot, and thanked him for saving so many lives, both American and Japanese. He retired to a farm near Montgomery and I met him while I was working for the U.S. Dept of Agriculture.

My own father was killed in action, his plane shot down by Japanese forces so I have some interest in the Pacific conflict.

[aujeff11 6,243]

It was the best in a list of bad options. This was a country whose leadership was willing to kill their women and children rather than face the shame of surrender,

If we really saved more Jap lives by dropping the bombs then I'm closer to agreeing that the bombs were necessary to end the war. War fatigue on our own part wont cut it though.

[AFTiger 282]

AUJeff11, It seems the further we get from an event the more we try to revise the history of it. The samurai culture had been deeply ingrained into the Japanese military and were quite willing to fight to the death. As the Japanese emperor prepared to surrender, Japanese military leaders tried to assassinate the emperor and stop the surrender.

Millions of lives were saved by the bomb and speculation on events that might have prevented dropping the bomb are just that. History is history and trying to reinterpret it doesn't change it.

[aujeff11 6,243]

AUJeff11, It seems the further we get from an event the more we try to revise the history of it. The samurai culture had been deeply ingrained into the Japanese military and were quite willing to fight to the death. As the Japanese emperor prepared to surrender, Japanese military leaders tried to assassinate the emperor and stop the surrender.

Millions of lives were saved by the bomb and speculation on events that might have prevented dropping the bomb are just that. History is history and trying to reinterpret it doesn't change it.

AFTiger, stay in your lane.

[AFTiger 282]

AUJeff11, It seems the further we get from an event the more we try to revise the history of it. The samurai culture had been deeply ingrained into the Japanese military and were quite willing to fight to the death. As the Japanese emperor prepared to surrender, Japanese military leaders tried to assassinate the emperor and stop the surrender.

Millions of lives were saved by the bomb and speculation on events that might have prevented dropping the bomb are just that. History is history and trying to reinterpret it doesn't change it.

AFTiger, stay in your lane.

What lane would that be?

[aujeff11 6,243]

AUJeff11, It seems the further we get from an event the more we try to revise the history of it. The samurai culture had been deeply ingrained into the Japanese military and were quite willing to fight to the death. As the Japanese emperor prepared to surrender, Japanese military leaders tried to assassinate the emperor and stop the surrender.

Millions of lives were saved by the bomb and speculation on events that might have prevented dropping the bomb are just that. History is history and trying to reinterpret it doesn't change it.

AFTiger, stay in your lane.

What lane would that be?

The unassuming lane that doesn't collide with my beliefs I suppose. I can form my own dissenting opinions without trying to change history.

[AFTiger 282]

AUJeff11, It seems the further we get from an event the more we try to revise the history of it. The samurai culture had been deeply ingrained into the Japanese military and were quite willing to fight to the death. As the Japanese emperor prepared to surrender, Japanese military leaders tried to assassinate the emperor and stop the surrender.

Millions of lives were saved by the bomb and speculation on events that might have prevented dropping the bomb are just that. History is history and trying to reinterpret it doesn't change it.

AFTiger, stay in your lane.

What lane would that be?

The unassuming lane that doesn't collide with my beliefs I suppose. I can form my own dissenting opinions without trying to change history.

So you don't want your beliefs challenged. There only one way to do that.

[aujeff11 6,243]

AUJeff11, It seems the further we get from an event the more we try to revise the history of it. The samurai culture had been deeply ingrained into the Japanese military and were quite willing to fight to the death. As the Japanese emperor prepared to surrender, Japanese military leaders tried to assassinate the emperor and stop the surrender.

Millions of lives were saved by the bomb and speculation on events that might have prevented dropping the bomb are just that. History is history and trying to reinterpret it doesn't change it.

AFTiger, stay in your lane.

What lane would that be?

The unassuming lane that doesn't collide with my beliefs I suppose. I can form my own dissenting opinions without trying to change history.

So you don't want your beliefs challenged. There only one way to do that.

It's either that or you don't want your historical perspective to be challenged so which is it? You are accusing me of being a revisionist just because I said I don't think man has the right to sacrifice another man to save two men.

[quietfan 233]

Historians will probably debate the details as long as there are historians.

For myself, I think a number of factors contributed to Japan's final surrender: Not only the nuclear bombs, but also our obvious ability to destroy Japanese cities at will with conventional bombs (although being able to do so with one plane/one bomb certainly had its shock value), the inevitability of a ultimately victorious invasion of the Japanese homeland if the war continued, and the Soviet entry into the Pacific war and its rapid destruction of Japan's mainland Asian army. But I don't belittle the effect of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the Japanese leadership's mindset. I also accept the idea that use of the A-bombs was a message to Stalin as much as to the Japanese.

I have no pangs of conscience about the morality/ethics of using the nukes. I don't see any significant ethical distinction between them and the conventional firebombings of Japanese or German cities. War is terrible, war is evil. But if attacked, I don't begrudge the use of any weapon available in the defense of one's country against an armed aggressor.

I think the main thing to take from this 70th anniversary is to celebrate the fact that we as a species have managed to make it seventy years without using such weapons in anger again.

[AFTiger 282]

AUJeff, Do you even understand what war is?

[aujeff11 6,243]

AUJeff, Do you even understand what war is?

LOL. Please tell me all about it!

[WarTim 3,456]

AUJeff11, It seems the further we get from an event the more we try to revise the history of it. The samurai culture had been deeply ingrained into the Japanese military and were quite willing to fight to the death. As the Japanese emperor prepared to surrender, Japanese military leaders tried to assassinate the emperor and stop the surrender.

Millions of lives were saved by the bomb and speculation on events that might have prevented dropping the bomb are just that. History is history and trying to reinterpret it doesn't change it.

If progressive libs are not allowed to re-write history , how are they to make it through the day???

[AUDub 11,131]

AUJeff11, It seems the further we get from an event the more we try to revise the history of it. The samurai culture had been deeply ingrained into the Japanese military and were quite willing to fight to the death. As the Japanese emperor prepared to surrender, Japanese military leaders tried to assassinate the emperor and stop the surrender.

Millions of lives were saved by the bomb and speculation on events that might have prevented dropping the bomb are just that. History is history and trying to reinterpret it doesn't change it.

If progressive libs are not allowed to re-write history , how are they to make it through the day???

Bleeding hearts aren't uniquely liberal.

[augolf1716 21,096]

Well today was Nagasaki 70th anniversary 70,000 people were killed but they were lucky because the bomb was off target by miles. It was a plutonium bomb which was much stronger then a uranium bomb

[WarTim 3,456]

AUJeff11, It seems the further we get from an event the more we try to revise the history of it. The samurai culture had been deeply ingrained into the Japanese military and were quite willing to fight to the death. As the Japanese emperor prepared to surrender, Japanese military leaders tried to assassinate the emperor and stop the surrender.

Millions of lives were saved by the bomb and speculation on events that might have prevented dropping the bomb are just that. History is history and trying to reinterpret it doesn't change it.

If progressive libs are not allowed to re-write history , how are they to make it through the day???

Bleeding hearts aren't uniquely liberal.

Example??

[aujeff11 6,243]

AUJeff11, It seems the further we get from an event the more we try to revise the history of it. The samurai culture had been deeply ingrained into the Japanese military and were quite willing to fight to the death. As the Japanese emperor prepared to surrender, Japanese military leaders tried to assassinate the emperor and stop the surrender.

Millions of lives were saved by the bomb and speculation on events that might have prevented dropping the bomb are just that. History is history and trying to reinterpret it doesn't change it.

If progressive libs are not allowed to re-write history , how are they to make it through the day???

Bleeding hearts aren't uniquely liberal.

Bleeding hearts?

[homersapien 11,353]

AUJeff11, It seems the further we get from an event the more we try to revise the history of it. The samurai culture had been deeply ingrained into the Japanese military and were quite willing to fight to the death. As the Japanese emperor prepared to surrender, Japanese military leaders tried to assassinate the emperor and stop the surrender.

Millions of lives were saved by the bomb and speculation on events that might have prevented dropping the bomb are just that. History is history and trying to reinterpret it doesn't change it.

If progressive libs are not allowed to re-write history , how are they to make it through the day???

It would take a idiot to write something like that. Oh, wait... :-\

[AUDub 11,131]

AUJeff11, It seems the further we get from an event the more we try to revise the history of it. The samurai culture had been deeply ingrained into the Japanese military and were quite willing to fight to the death. As the Japanese emperor prepared to surrender, Japanese military leaders tried to assassinate the emperor and stop the surrender.

Millions of lives were saved by the bomb and speculation on events that might have prevented dropping the bomb are just that. History is history and trying to reinterpret it doesn't change it.

If progressive libs are not allowed to re-write history , how are they to make it through the day???

Bleeding hearts aren't uniquely liberal.

Bleeding hearts?

Right. It's funny watching all of the Monday morning QB's seventy years later cry tears for a nation which committed gross atrocities and continued to do so right up until the end.