Sunday, August 1, 2010

65th Anniversary of Victory Over Japan Is August 15

This may seem an early reminder but two related cataclysmic events took place earlier in that  month, the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima August 6 followed by an atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki August 9.  Japan's leaders rejected a call to surrender after the first bomb, preferring to commit suicide as a nation, finally agreeing  to surrender after the second bomb.  For most people today, World II seems as far away as  World War I, but the generation that lived through the depression, the second world war,  and everything that has happened since,  is fast leaving us.  With them goes much experience, wisdom, courage and compassion.

(August 2.  I posted the above on Political Talk on the Tiger Droppings site and got many times the response I expected although it became  a discussion on  whether the dropping of the atom bomb was justified.  I think I made the case that while the bomb killed thousands, it ended the war and thus saved millions.  I try not to get upset at those who call the US wrong for using the bomb, but unless they fought in the South Pacific, especially at Okinawa, their opinions have no validity.)

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