If we didn't drop the bombs, I probably wouldn't be here. He was a Navy Seabee during WWII. My mom was born Dec 7 of 1946.
Posted on 08/06/2023 10:17:26 AM PDT by McGruff
“It saved my Pop’s life.”
Same with many of us.
My father was a Navy Corpsman with the Marines on Okinawa.
Had nightmares most of his life about the Japanese. The nukes certainly spared his life. He once said he did not expect to survive the invasion of Jaoan after surviving Okninawa.
There may or may not have been military targets in these cities; if, for the sake of discussion we assume that there were, we are still bound by the rules of proportionality. (We can't burn Tokyo to the ground because somewhere inside Tokyo there is a factory that makes Mitsubishi Zeros.)
But the plan to target the population centers was in place before the B-29s even began their raids. At the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, the US Army constructed a German and Japanese village in order to determine what incendiary bombs would be most effective in burning down a house. (This was in 1942.)
https://apjjf.org/2018/08/Plung.html
The year was 1943 (and not 1942); my bad.
Amen.
*Through Okinawa, the number of Japanese troops who surrendered, despite obvious evidence their units were destroyed and they had no hope of winning, was almost ZERO. On Iwo Jima, fewer than 2,000 prisoners (almost all wounded) were taken out of a garrison of 20,000. There was no evidence, anywhere, that the Japanese civilians on Hokkaido or any other island would actually surrender.
Part of that was because of the Japanese treatment of POW’s. They figured that we treat POW’s the same way, and did NOT want that “embarrassment”, or “shame”.
Not saying we didn’t, but we didn’t as de rigeur, for them, it was a Tuesday.
A couple of points that one rarely hears:
1.) The arguments one hears about Japan having already lost are specious. While their loss was inevitable, they wouldn’t quit as evidenced by the island fighting throughout the Pacific. Hirohito could have called it at any time before Hiroshima and the war council would have done so. The fact that he didn’t until six days AFTER THE SECOND BOMB is telling. He died peacefully in his sleep 44 years later while Hitler and Mussolini died in their own rubble, as it were. Stalin SHOULD have died in WWII since he was pivotal in getting the dance started.
2.) The use of the two bombs, as horrible as they were, in all likelihood prevented the use of much more powerful weapons in the years since.
The civilians on Okinawa were also told that we would rape the women, kill and eat the children, etc. Lots of civilians killed themselves rather than getting captured.
I recall some Japanese person (a child at the time?) talking about it, and how surprised they were when the GI’s came through afterwards and bringing food and medical help instead.
If not for us, China would still be Japan's comfort woman.
Wasn’t Hiroshima selected as the primary target because it was the center of Japan’s atomic bomb program????
And how they treated the areas they conquered. Talk about racial superiority.
I wonder where the three hour blockbuster Christopher Nolan movie about Nanking is? It would be difficult to watch such butchery for a few minutes, let alone hours.
I had my kids read that book during the summer of their JR year in high school. It made their teacher’s a little uneasy the next fall when WWII was covered for three days in history class.
To quote Archie Bunker, “Would you have felt better if they was pushed out of windows?”
> It made their teacher’s a little uneasy the next fall when WWII was covered for three days in history class.
Good, nicely done dad.
We did not bomb Tokyo during the night in a sneak attack, I think it was the japs that bombed Pearl Harbor, but that was a long time ago, maybe I’m wrong.
To be fair, it wasn’t “during the night”.
It was around 7 AM.
Now, they LAUNCHED the attack in the night, yes, but the bombs and strafing was during the wake-up morning time. (or for the military folks, about lunchtime, lol)
My MIL lived with us. Her husband was a wWII vet. Her brother lost a leg in the South Pacific. When the kids came home talking about how “horrible” Hiroshima was…she laid into them in a way I had never seen her talk.
She pointed out how easy it was for a 30 year old teacher to teach about when they didn’t have a clue.
It’s was funny.
For all our government faults, the majority of the people in this country are decent people who want to help others and themselves.
The longer I live, the more I see that the government is nothing but liars, cheaters and thieves. Grifters fall under all of that.
The average American will literally give you the shirt off their back, in an emergency. Hell, I’ve done it, but I’m not average :-)
Btt!!
I figure we owe them at least one more for Yoko Ono.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.