Tsutomu Yamaguchi: The Man Who Survived Both Atomic Bombs

ABC (Australia) ^ | James Oaten

[DAC21]

“My father would likely have taken part in the invasion of Japan if the bombs had not been dropped. I wouldn’t be alive”

I believe that could have been my case, although my Dad was 17 when the war ended. He enlisted a year after high school. Invading Japan would have been a meat grinder. Allied estimated casualties were minimum 250,000, and as high as 4 million. His older brother was vaporized when his Ammo ship the USS Mount Hood went up during unloading in New Guinea. He had previously survived Pearl Harbor.

[Verginius Rufus]

I heard a very good talk today about the atomic bombs by a local historian (who 100% supports their having been used). He said that the Nov. 1, 1945, invasion was for the two islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, with an invasion of Honshu to begin in March 1946. Without the bombs the war could have gone on quite a while longer. By the time of the invasion the Japanese planned to have 10,500 kamikaze pilots ready.

Even after Nagasaki the emperor’s 6 closest advisors were split 3-3 on whether to surrender, and some junior officers chased the emperor around the palace for 3 days trying to seize and destroy his surrender document.

Someone in the audience raised the possibility that some kamikaze pilot might have taken it on himself to attack the USS Missouri during the surrender ceremony on Sept. 2. Of course that did not happen but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility some Japanese pilot might have gotten the idea.