[stylin19a]

including civilians, more people died in the battle for Okinawa

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

More people, including civilians, died in the fire bombing of Tokyo.

But it was a drop in the bucket compared to the number of civilians killed by the Japanese in the sixty years prior in their war to make the Pacific a Japanese lake.

[napscoordinator]

It’s pretty even. They estimate 150K died in Okinawa and 126K during the bomb drop. They don’t count people who died of cancer and other problems due to the bomb drop though. So you’re right. But it was pretty even.

[dfwgator]

And it was precisely how the Japs fought at Okinawa, that made the decisions extrapolate that out to what an invasion of Japan would require, and made it an easy decision.

Also of course, it was also meant as a message to the Soviets, that we weren’t just going to let them walk in and take their half of Japan.

[ro_dreaming]

I've got pictures of my grandfather on Okinawa, Christmas of 1945.




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.