[Retain Mike]

In retirement I am always motivated to study WW II history by the men I grew up around and admired. At about nine my father began taking me out golfing with him on the weekends and most everyone we played with was a veteran. I remember there was a man who used the first golf cart I ever saw, because as a brigade commander in New Guinea he was permanently debilitated by sickness. One fairly good golfer had a weird back swing, because he was crippled while serving with the Big Red One in Sicily. Later I often ended up as a dishwasher at our club. The chef noticed my puzzled look as he limped around the kitchen. He said he got the limp from a wound received when he was with the Rangers at Pointe De Hoc.

There are many other stories I overheard and could relate, but one consistently repeated theme was how their unit or ship was scheduled for the Japan invasion. They always thanked God they didn’t have to become fodder for that killing machine. Therefore I developed and now rework from suggestions I receive and from additional sources this narrative about dropping the atomic bombs. I also break it into four letters I send to papers.

The partial biography of the sources I used contains a lot of helpful insights and perspectives I didn’t emphasize. The recently published book Hell to Pay by D. M. Giangreco is especially valuable. I was able to find confirmation of so many of my other sources in his book. About 30% of the book is bibliography, appendices, and notes.

[dfwgator]

I really don’t care what a bunch of pussies with the benefit of 70 years of hindsight think.

It was the right thing to do.

[cloudmountain]

One doesn't "go golfing." One PLAYS GOLF.

OR, you're from the Midwest. They DO say things differently.
If THAT's the case, I apologize.

[dirtboy]

One has to look at the Allied mindset after the horrific Battle of Okinawa to realize they saw the A-bomb as a way to avoid invading the Japanese home islands.

[mmichaels1970]

I believe I may well owe my existence to the bomb. My grandfather would have been in the invasion force. Unlike a lot of guys, he speaks quite freely about removing a rifle from a burning dead Japanese soldier on the battlefield.

I really need to nail down the specifics of his company and battles before he leaves us.

[bassmaner]

Damn it, we're the GOOD GUYS! Those bombs saved millions of American *AND* Japanese lives that would have been squandered with a full-scale invasion. The fact that we have to keep re-teaching this every year at this time speaks volumes about how corrupt the education system in this country (from pre-K to grad school) has become.

FAD, FUBO, and F all leftists for the anti-American crap they've been marinating impressionable young minds with for the last 50 years!!

[Gay State Conservative]

If the projections indicating that dropping the bomb could save hundreds of thousands of *our* troops or *their* soldiers/civilians then it was the right thing to do.Those projections...both regarding ours *and* theirs...seem absolutely plausible.So unless I see *very* compelling evidence to the contrary I say “well done,Mr Truman”.

[Fiji Hill]

And now, for a musical interlude.

• Win the War Blues--Sunny Boy Williamson (1945)

• Smoke on with Rthe Water--Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys (1945)

• When the Atom Bomb Fell--Karl & Harty (1945)

• Atomic Power--Ref Foley (with Roy Ross & His Ramblers) (1946)

• Fujiyama Mama--Annisteen Allen (with the Five Keys) (1955)

[Paco]

The fact is those bombs and civilian deaths saved millions of lives. We directly attacked civilians to end the war even when we knew where Japan's military was stationed.

Israel isn't fighting a "Japan" they're fighting a terrorist organization sanctioned and voted in by their people. If they want to launch rockets from civilian locations then bombs away! They need to reap what they sow. If Israel doesn't finish off Hamas now they're only delaying the inevitable. Go Israel!!!!!

[TigersEye]

You can’t get liberal feel-gooders to care that it might have cost a half million American lives or more. For them it’s all about the poor Japanese. What the idiots can’t fathom or won’t admit is that there would barely be a Japanese people now if we had fought a ground invasion instead. One that the Soviets would have probably joined in on.

[rfreedom4u]

The wife of a man my dad used to work for was a survivor of the Hiroshima bomb. She was a child when it was dropped but said that she is glad it was done. She had scars and such and various other health issues. She said she realized afterward that it was better that it was dropped than to invade Japan. Her parents talked about what would have happened had we invaded and she said it gave her nightmares for years.

[RedMDer]

There was a good show on The Smithsonian chanel the other night about the Manhattan Project, the delivery and dropping of the bombs on Japan and the end of the war.

It justified the drops as they spared the US and Allies along with the Japanese from many more casualties had the invasion of Japan been needed.

[353FMG]

>In support of dropping the atomic bombs, historians often cite the inevitability of horrifying casualties if troops had landed on the home islands.<

.
Little is being said about all the POWs and European civilians in Japanese prisoner camps in Indonesia and Philippines who were targeted for execution if the Japanese Army had to leave to defend the homeland.

God Bless Paul Tibbets and the Enola Gay!!

[pikachu]

My father was an officer in the Merchant Marine. When the bombs were dropped, he was preparing a ship for the invasion of the Japanese mainland. His orders were 1) run a ship packed with troops hard aground, 2) help troops disembark, 3) find his own way back to San Francisco to repeat steps 1 and 2. I asked if there would be anyway to re float the grounded ship after the troops were off and he said it would be nearly impossible the way there were going to place the ships. Very glad the bombs were dropped.

[MasterGunner01]

One of my friends was a Navy vet from WW2. He was a motor machinist 2nd class assigned to an LCVP aboard an Attack Transport (APA). His ship was designated for the invasion of Japan in November of 1945. All of the crew and Marines aboard ship felt they were under a certain death sentence. The ship's company had gone through the kamikaze attacks off Okinawa and knew the Japanese were just itching to send these human controlled suicide planes against them during the invasion. The Marines understood that they would have to kill the Japanese soldiers because they would die rather than surrender. Even worse, the Marines would have to kill propagandized civilians who were trying to kill them.

After the second A-bomb was dropped, the Emperor of Japan announced that Japan would surrender. On confirmation, the entire ship's company and Marines felt as if their death sentence had been commuted. They were positively delirious in their joy.

[kidd]

Revisionists claim Japan was seeking surrender...

Japan didn't surrender AFTER the first bomb was dropped. It seems very clear to me that Japan had no intentions of surrendering BEFORE the first bomb was dropped.

How do revisionists address the fact that Japan's irresponsible stubbornness (to not surrender) was a direct contributor of the Nagasaki bomb?

[trisham]

"Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes,
they just don't know where to look."

~Ronald Reagan

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[kidd]

Furthermore, how could anyone claim that Japan was about to surrender after 200,000-900,000 Japanese lost their lives from firebombing raids conducted before the atomic bombs were dropped?

[Hebrews 11:6]

My father was in the 20th Armored Division, which was scheduled to be in the first wave invading Tokyo. 100% casualties were expected. Instead, he lived to 75.

I was born in 1949, and I expect I wouldn't be here today without the A-bombs.

[ex-snook]

"There are many other stories I overheard and could relate, but one consistently repeated theme was how their unit or ship was scheduled for the Japan invasion. They always thanked God they didn’t have to become fodder for that killing machine."

Indeed we did not even celebrate VE day. The Nazis had pretty much folded on our front a week earlier when Hitler killed himself but were active against the Russians. The Japanese awaited us then the bombs sent us home. Yes, we thanked God but also Truman who made the decision to save American lives.

[publius911]

Dropping Atomic Bombs on Japan Was [NOT A PROPORTIONATE RESPONSE!] Imperative

There.
Fixed it for somebody.