[Pelham]

Originally published by The New Republic in 1981.

An essay by Paul Fussell, a wounded combat veteran of the war in Europe, who in August of 1945 was expecting to be hurled into the coming invasion of the Japanese Home Islands.

[EEGator]

“I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

[EEGator]

“I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

[freedumb2003]

Who needs an A bomb?

A shipload of fertilizer will do it.

Not a joke — what I am seeing in Beirut is unbelievable. Reminiscent of 9/11 and Hiroshima.

[dainbramaged]

I believe one million casualties for our side was the prediction for an invasion of Japan.

[PGalt]

Why is Wuhan L4 still around? It should have been incinerated weeks ago for the damage it caused to CIVILIZATION. What the heck did we bomb Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden for?

Who is running this crapshow, WHO?

[RedStateRocker]

Or we could have just blockaded and slowly starved millions to death without much risk to any Americans.

Not that I have any moral qualms about what we did, but there WAS an alternative besides dropping it on a city.

Might have taken a few years or a decade, but simply starving them with a blocade.

[tet68]

Something the world has forgotten, we invented the first
bomb...and then we used it. Don’t make us use it again!

[PGalt]

(forgot the music)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkuu0Lwb5EM

[BigEdLB]

I thought this was about Portland and Seattle

[\/\/ayne]

The question is would Japan have used the bomb on us? The answer is yes, they would.

Check out Japan's Unit 731 that committed horrific atrocities in preparation for germ warfare.

[edwinland]

Nice but not that simple. There’s plenty of evidence to support what this author is arguing and there’s plenty of evidence to support alternative outcomes.

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-05-27/its-time-to-confront-painful-truths-about-using-the-atomic-bombs-on-japan

This article is reasonably good overview. There’s also an excellent in depth analysis (which I couldn’t find right now) on MacArthur’s view that the Japanese would have accepted peace but for the US refusal to consider a negotiated surrender. Little did he know (but Truman knew it) that the Japanese had contacted the British to discuss surrender.

[dfwgator]

Thank God For The Bomb - Ozzy Osbourne

[Verse 1]
Like moths to a flame
Is man ever going to change?
Time’s seen untold aggression
And infliction of pain
If that’s the only thing that’s stopping war

[Chorus]
Then thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb [x3]
Nuke you, nuke you

[Verse 2]
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

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]
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 near 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

[Chorus]
I’ll thank God for the bomb [x3]
Nuke you, nuke you

[AppyPappy]

Fred Kirby - Atomic Power
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIO-oa39WAo

[jonascord]

My father was in Hawaii, healing after Okinawa, and training with replacement elements of the 1st Marine Division. There was a standing joke going around that the next invasion, of Japan, would be a short operation.

The planning for the landing assumed that the 1st Mar Div would not exist after D+10...

[pfflier]

The title is an exact quote from both my father and father-in-law.

My mom and dad got married on this day in 1947. The date was no accident.

[BluH2o]

I have a signed copy of the Paul Tibbets's Enola Gay book. Met him at an air show at Lunken airport in Cincinnati, Ohio. His book signing was well attended this was 9-11-04, he died a few years later. Every year around the anniversary of Hiroshima he would get a great deal of attention from the press asking questions along the line of did he have any regrets or second thoughts about dropping the first atomic bomb. He never waivered once in his response which was no, explaining that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought the war to an end quickly. Many more lives were saved than taken by ending the war abruptly.

[Kickass Conservative]

The Japanese were warned that they would face annihilation and Tojo refused to surrender.

We already controlled the Skies over Japan and we could Bomb them day and night until Kingdom Come. Well, Kingdom Come came early.

[Retain Mike]

I have an essay covering the necessity of dropping the bombs of over 2,800 words, which I will not post again. I posted it on July 17. But out of 25 plus references I listed, probably the best one is Hell to Pay, by D. M. Giangreco.

[al baby]

They asked us to the dance never forget that one fact

[mrsmith]

My Dad was on an escort vehicle for amphibious attacks.
Without the Abomb this Freeper likely wouldn’t be here.