HAPPY HIROSHIMA DAY!

My Fetid Brain ^ | August 6, 2010 | Shameless Vanity

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

On December 7, 1941 my father was asleep in his barracks, his National Guard active duty commitment almost finished, he looked forward to returning to civilian life. Events that morning in Haiwaii dramatically changed his prospects.

If not for the events of August 6, 1945 in Japan the chances that he would ever be returned to civilian life would have decreased significantly. Even had he survived the War, the chances that he would have returned when he did, pursue the career he did and met my mother and married her in 1948 and had a son in 1950 would have been effectively zero.

It took a thousand miracles, a million inprobable coincidences, a billion happenstances for me to come into existance. Of all these odd events, no single event stands out like Hiroshima. Without it, I almost certainly would not be here today. The same is true for most of the people living in the United States today.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Thank God for the atomic bomb.

[skeeter]

It was a brutal war of annihilation not of our choosing.

[ExTexasRedhead]

Enjoy and share with your elected member of the Ruling Class:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWpOcZVnBrc

[Gaffer]

I remember as a very young toddler getting packages from my dad in someplace called Aniwetok (sp) with local native carved boats etc. I also remember seeing a lot black small hockey puck sized disks on chains. I found out later these were radiation exposure disks. He died in 1971 from a myriad of heart problems and other conditions that never were really adequately explained. I eventually figured out he was part of the H-bomb testing......

[Bosco]

My great uncle was on the U.S.S. Maryland on 12/7/41.

We did the right thing with ending the war as soon as possible.

[rfreedom4u]

I think I’ll call my local radio station and request that song. I’ll bet they don’t even have it.

[Redleg Duke]

After a couple of years on the North Atlantic Convoy run in a can and having two shot out from under him in the Med, my Dad spent the remainder of the war on Guam...however, who knows where he would have been if President Truman hadn't had the guts and foresight to pull the trigger on Japan!

All these years later, it was still the right call for all involved. I don't give a damn what the limp-wristed, panty-waisted pacifists have to say.

[ExTexasRedhead]

Awesome idea. I will send it to mine as well.

[dfwgator]

Thank God for the Bomb - Ozzy Osbourne

Like moths to a flame
Is man never gonna change?
Time’s seen untold aggression
And infliction of pain
If that’s the only thing that keeps the peace

Then thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb

Nuke ya, nuke ya

War is just another game
Tailor made for the insane
But make a threat of their annihilation
And nobody wants to play
If that’s the only thing that keeps the peace

Then thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb

Nuke ya, nuke ya

Today was tomorrow, yesterday
It’s funny how time can slip away
The face of the doomsday clock
Has launched a thousand wars
As we reach the final hour
Time is the only foe we have

When war is obsolete
I’ll thank God for war’s defeat
But any talk about hell freezing over
Is all said with tongue in cheek
Until the day the war drums beat no more

I thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb

Nuke ya, nuke ya

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

who knows where [my dad] would have been if President Truman hadn't had the guts and foresight to pull the trigger on Japan!

Most likely his destroyer would have pulled invasion support duty in Operation Olympic. The Japanese had about 10,000 kamikazes ready for the invasion of Kyūshū (only 2,000 had been used during the invasion of Okinawa, only about one in nine scoring hits on American ships) and destroyers would have been the front line of defense. Operating much closer to home bases, not having to fly out long distances over water, they probably would have been much more successful this time. It's likely they would have sunk 400 American ships (realistic Japanese estimate).

[BenLurkin]

They asked for it.
They got it.

[a fool in paradise]

The peanut gallery said that GW Bush took longer to fight the Iraq war than it took to win WWII.

Except they neglect to mention the war had been raging for years before we entered WWII and it took 2 atomic bombs to win it.

Those same chowderheads boasted that at least Saddam kept act of terrorism down in Iraq.

But if you try to USE THE METHODS that did these things, you will hear such an outcry.

[Mr. Blonde]

Just learned that in anticipation of invading Japan the government had 500,000 purple hearts minted. We are still using that supply today.

I am one of many who would most likely not be here if not for the bomb.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

AT a minimum, the A-bomb probably saved 10,000,000 Japanese lives.

[dfwgator]

It also saved Japan from a civil war since most likely the Reds would have controlled half of the country, when the Soviets got into the fight.

[Captain Kirk]

AT a minimum, the A-bomb probably saved 10,000,000 Japanese lives.

An invasiion was not necessary thus your (highly dubious) million dollar figure could have been reduced to zero AND the bombs could have been avoided.. We could have agreed to a conditional surrender at the outset (as Truman finally did) to let the Japanese keep the emperor. Sorry to burst your bubble but it was not necessary to INTENTIONALLY kill thousands of babies, Christians (Nagasaki was the heart of Japanese Christianity), and little old ladies to promote terror.

[Captain Kirk]

I am one of many who would most likely not be here if not for the bomb.

Not true. We could have avoided INTENTIONALLY killing thousands of babies and little old ladies (thus violating the ancient rules of war) AND avoided an invasion had Truman agreed at the outset to a conditional surrender in which the Japanese could keep the emperor. That was the sticking point prior to the bombs. Ironically, despite the A Bombs the Japanese held out for keeping the emperor and Truman finally agreed (thus overruling his hardline New Deal advisors).

[Mr. Blonde]

So at the time, the US saw two viable options 1) invasion or 2) dropping the bomb. I’m glad they went with two. Hindsight is 20/20.

[kidd]

A necesary evil. And a far better choice than not using it. And in the end, a bomb that saved a lot of lives. I’ll be p!ssed off at the Japanese for starting the whole mess to begin with and their willingness to continue to fight a war that they’d clearly lost. But I’m not going to be ‘happy’ about it, nor will I thank God for the bomb.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

The bombing of cities horse left the barn long before Hiroshima. Probably the first one to try terror bombing to induce a negotiated settlement was Hitler against London. How did that work out? Are you maintaining that the Japanese had far less resolve than the British, so much so that the mere threat of bombing would have induced their surrender? In fact more people died in the fire-bombing of Tokyo than in Hiroshima.

The Japanese were, in fact, sending out feelers for a negotiated surrender through their ambassador in Japan. Stalin, unbeknowst to the Japanese, was not forwarding these feelers on to the Western Allies. Since the U.S. was reading Japanese codes, Truman was aware of them nonetheless.

The Japanese offer was cession of hostilities, no occupation of the Japanese home islands and continuation of the Japanese occupation of Korea, Formosa and Manchuria. To say that such a position was a non-starter would be an understatement.

Hiroshima was the headquarters of the Japanese Second Army (the aim point, btw), which would have taken the lead in defense of Kyushu, making it a legitimate target.

Contrafactuals can be fun, but in August 1945 there were no good options and Hiroshima seems to me to have been the least worse. No one can ever know how a "what-if" would have turned out and seconding guessing is America's favorite spectator sport. Truman did not have the luxury of being a spectator or engaging in contrafactuals. You are entitled to your opinion, but it seems to me that it is based not only on lack of evidence, but held in the face of mountains of countervailing facts.