Seventy-seven years ago, on August 6, 1945, the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and the world has not been the same since. When the Japanese refused to surrender, a bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Japan surrendered a few days later.
At the time I was in San Francisco on the USS Pickens which was taking on troops in preparation for the invasion of the Japanese mainland. I do not have a clear memory of our attitude after the first bomb; did we think that possibly Japan would surrender and we would not have to face those suicide plane attacks which did so much damage at Okinawa?
The bombs took a lot of lives but they saved more. Many a veteran has said of the decision to use the bomb, "Mr Truman saved my life."
At the time I was in San Francisco on the USS Pickens which was taking on troops in preparation for the invasion of the Japanese mainland. I do not have a clear memory of our attitude after the first bomb; did we think that possibly Japan would surrender and we would not have to face those suicide plane attacks which did so much damage at Okinawa?
The bombs took a lot of lives but they saved more. Many a veteran has said of the decision to use the bomb, "Mr Truman saved my life."
Aug. 7, 4 p.m. I posted this on Political Talk and got 100 comments. Most of the discussion was whether the bomb was needed to end the war and make an invasion unnecessary. The army brass wanted to invade; navy did not. Navy wanted a blockade and to continue bombing raids.
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