Atom bomb is dropped on Hiroshima

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."

My saddest time in the navy

Never had I felt so helpless, so sad and depressed.  We were in San Francisco to take on troops and then to invade the Japanese mainland.  But first,  leaves were to be granted, either 6 days or 12 days, depending upon several factors including distance.  I had been informed that I would be among a few who would not get even six days of leave.  The division officer had the authority to grant me a leave but he said I did not qualify for l2 days and could not make it home and back in 6 days.  I begged that I get the 6 days, promising that I wanted to go home even if I saw my family for just an hour.

From the time I entered the navy, I never had a leave, not when I finished boot camp because I went to radar school; not after radar school because I was in the hospital, and not after that because I joined the ship's crew.  We of the Pickens were to be in the first military unit to invade Japan where the navy expected 50 per cent casualties, and I couldn't see my family first. I had been hospitalized with meningitis, and I had fallen and thought I would never walk again, but nothing compared to the frustration and unhappiness I felt when I was not permitted to go home.

Whatever it is, it ain't working

Nor are millions of people who are looking for jobs.  Unemployment (officially) has exceeded eight per cent for 41 months.  If Obama and his advisers have a plan to get the economy moving, that plan has failed and failed again.

Obama seems to have a philosophy of  government control of every facet of our lives.  He doesn't understand that government does not create wealth; it can only take from the producer and re-distribute. If we are going to get the economy going, the private sector will have to do it.

Whether it is a nation, a corporation or an individual, some good must be produced and marketed.  The base for our wealth is composed of agriculture, mining and manufacturing.  That last one -- manufacturing -- has been declining for years, especially recently.  This country must learn how to manufacture competitively again. Mining can make a greater contribution to the economy if the government will allow it; we can and should develop our vast fossil fuel resources to the point that we are energy  self-sufficient.

Where have the Bluebirds gone?

Other song birds are scarce, also, but the Eastern Bluebird has been in decline for many years -- this is in spite of efforts to bring them back.  Nests were built along I-49 as one way to attract the birds.  I have never seen any results.

The Bluebird was common in meadows and near wooded areas when I was a child on the farm.  One time a pair of Bluebirds built their nest in our mail box.  You can see that we seldom got mail. When we discovered the nest it had four beautiful eggs.  Although we tried not to disturb it, just the fact that a human hand had touched the eggs caused the birds to abandon their nest.

Now to see a Bluebird I resort to bird calendars sent out by organizations seeking donations.

Pickens arrives at San Francisco

Visibility in the fog was as near zero as possible as we entered San Francisco bay before dawn on
August 3, 1945.  It was my misfortune to be operating the radar and guiding the ship in to her anchorage. The navigator rushed in every minute calling for the range and bearing on a fixed site while I tried to tell which blips on the radar screen were buoys and which were fishing vessels headed for sea.

That was the beginning of a momentous August that would see the dropping of the atom bomb on Japan and the resulting surrender by the nation that had begun the war with an attack on Hawaii December 7, 1941.
We had served in the South Pacific for more than 10 months, taking part in the battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa.  We had returned to the states to take on board the Blackhawk Division who would take part in the planned invasion of the Japanese mainland.  Naval casualties, mostly from suicide plane attacks, were projected to be 50 per cent but would have been greater had we been forced to carry out the invasion.

67 years ago Pickens returns

Sixty-seven years ago, August 3, 1945, the USS Pickens returned to San Francisco after a year in the South Pacific, including taking part in battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa.  I will talk about my personal experience and how I remember the events that followed tomorrow.

But I would like to hear from former shipmates, and from their family members, how they remember that time or any other happenings on the Pickens.  What about the briefing we received a few days before we reached Frisco. As I remember it, we were told the Navy expected 50 per cent causalities during the invasion of the Japanese mainland.  We know now our casualties would have been much greater.

I do look forward to hearing from you.

So those are Chicago values

Rahm Emanuel said the Christian values of Chick-FILA are not the values of Chicago.  He further said he would block the location of a Chick-FILA place in Chicago.  What are Chicago values -- political corruption?

Three Chicago thugs beat and robbed a World War II veteran.  As far as I know Emanuel has not been heard from about this.  But is that what Emanuel means when he defines Chicago values?