Japanese Join American Nay-Sayers in Protesting Enola Gay Exhibit

CNSNews.com ^ | Dec 11, 2003 | Susan Jones

[microgood]

CNSNews.com) - Survivors of the U.S. atomic bomb attack on Japan plan to protest the Smithsonian Institution's new aircraft museum in suburban Virginia, because the exhibit includes the Enola Gay -- the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima.

The Japanese will be joined by Americans who strongly oppose the Bush administration's nuclear policies.

The Smithsonian Institution's new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center - an annex of the Air and Space Museum -- is scheduled to open on Monday in a huge new building near Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va.

In anticipation of that event, several delegations of atomic bomb survivors were arriving in the Washington area on Thursday.

The survivors say they strongly object to the way the Enola Gay is being exhibited -- "without mention of the human suffering caused by the bomb it dropped in the city of Hiroshima," as they said in a press release.

They plan to present a petition of grievance to Smithsonian officials.

The survivors said they "are also hoping to generate a discussion of the Bush administration's below-the-radar drive to put the U.S. back in the nuclear bomb-making business."

Japanese survivors of the atomic bomb aren't the only ones urging the Smithsonian to rethink its exhibit.

Another group, The Committee for a National Discussion of Nuclear History and Current Policy," headed by an American University professor, said it has collected over 400 signatures, including those of Nobel laureates, urging the Smithsonian to present a "balanced discussion" of the atomic bombings in 1945 and of current U.S. nuclear policy.

The anti-nuke committee said the Air and Space Museum's exhibition of the Enola Gay "dishonors the museum and the nation and serves the purposes of those who seek to normalize nuclear weapons and facilitate their future use."

"The celebration of a weapon that delivered an atomic attack, in the context of the administration's pursuit of new nukes and its 'do as we say, not as we do' non-proliferation policy, sends the world the wrong message," said Kevin Martin, a member of the anti-nuke committee.

"America's credibility in the international community, particularly on the issue of weapons of mass destruction, is low enough already," Martin added. "We must have an honest conversation about what it means to have used nuclear weapons and the implications of designing new nuclear weapons while maintaining a stockpile of over 10,000 nuclear warheads."

On Monday, Dec. 15, the Japanese survivors and American protestors plan to hold what they call a "solemn, dignified demonstration" in front of the Enola Gay, at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.

Protesters said they will carry full-size photos of the damage and suffering inflicted by the atomic bombs.

History speaks for itself, veterans say

On the other side of the argument stands the pilot of the Enola Gay -- retired Brig.-Gen. Paul W. Tibbets, now 88 years old.

Tibbets recently visited the Smithsonian's new aircraft museum annex, and he was quoted as saying that the protestors are ignoring the reason the atomic bomb was dropped. "Casualties are part of war ... but this is not the ground on which you argue those facts," Tibbets was quoted as telling a Japanese television crew.

He and other American veterans note that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki forced a quicker end to World War II, saving many American -- and Japanese -- lives.

The Smithsonian exhibit includes about 80 planes and more than 2,000 artifacts.

It is expected to be one of the Washington area's major tourist attractions.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The Japanese government underwrites the cost of American bases.

[Little Ray]

Nanking, Pearl Harbor, Bataan Death March, Manila, Unit 751, how many atrocities have I missed? The Japs were murderous barbarians, with a racist (in the real meaning of the word) ethos that the Nazis never matched. Simply stated, if you were not Japanese, you were not entirely human... I am sure this has changed, but I don't think they should be allowed to forget their misdeeds.

The Japanese deserved everything they suffered in WWII. I am proud of the submariners that mercilessly destroyed their shipping, the pilots that drove them from the air and laid waste their cities, the sailors that shattered their fleets, and soldiers that outfought them in the most hostile environments on Earth, from equatorial jungles to arctic tundra.

I wish I would could be in DC for this. It would be fun to burn a Rising Sun (Imperial Japanese) flag at a counter-protest.

[microgood]

I am proud of the submariners that mercilessly destroyed their shipping, the pilots that drove them from the air and laid waste their cities, the sailors that shattered their fleets, and soldiers that outfought them in the most hostile environments on Earth, from equatorial jungles to arctic tundra.

I am proud as well. One of the biggest examples of good versus evil that ever happened. Thank God the good guys won.

[Onelifetogive]

japanese ought to thank the Enola Gay AND BOcks Car for helping their leadership capitulate - an island invasion would have destroyed far more of their culture than they lost. There wouldn't have been much left of Japan had we been forced to invade - they ought to be grateful.

BUMP!

[Onelifetogive]

Nanking, Pearl Harbor, Bataan Death March, Manila, Unit 751, how many atrocities have I missed? The Japs were murderous barbarians...

I rather judge nations and be judged by CURRENT actions. We have a few skeletons in our closet as well. Japan is reasonably free and honorable as a nation now. That is all the current Japanese can be held accountable for.

As for this group of Japanese protesters...leftists are leftists! We have our share as well. I wouldn't want America to be judged as if we were ALL Baldwins...

[reed_inthe_wind]

I respect both sides in this debate. It is very probable that my siblings and I owe our existence and the life of our father to the quick end of the conflict with Japan. While the opposite is true for those in Japan, I don't feel guilt. The proper response to this reality is a real commitment to first manage and maybe eliminate the threat from WMD. George Bush and Tony Blair are the only world leaders that have the credentials for this job.

[ArrogantBustard]

Great. I'm going to have a boatload of 'pacifist' anti-nuke-kook pukes in my "back yard". I can't wait ...

Bastards better stay peaceful.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We lived in Japan in the 1950s...
Our maid, Masako, told us when she was a child, she was forced to work in a munitions factory that had a large red cross painted on its roof. When the factory was hit by bombs in '45, some of the machinery was moved into caves where production resumed. She said the militarists had no plans to surrender, even after the second atomic bomb.

[Prime Choice]

I think this pretty much sums it up:

[Willie Green]

Hiroshima Prefecture is a thriving metropolis with a current population exceeding 2.8 million people.
Nagasaki Prefecture, at 1.5 million population, is only slightly smaller.

Neither is the uninhabitable, radioactive moonscape that anti-nuke activists want the world to believe.

[Prime Choice]

Every city in Japan would have been totally destroyed if the Japanese had not surrendered in August.

Minor correction: Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed in August, but Japan didn't surrender until September 2nd, 1945.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

You are correct, sir.

[tbpiper]

How 'bout, just for the sake of balance, the set up a display on Nanking right next to Enola Gay?

[ShadowDancer]

If you don't mind my asking, how old were you when you lived in Japan in the '50's?

[Oztrich Boy]

Another group, The Committee for a National Discussion of Nuclear History and Current Policy," headed by an American University professor, said it has collected over 400 signatures, including those of Nobel laureates, urging the Smithsonian to present a "balanced discussion" of the atomic bombings in 1945 and of current U.S. nuclear policy.

Seems reasonable. A fair statement might be:
The decision to use the A-bomb on Japanese cities may have seemed like the right decision to people at the time. But in retrospect we can see that: You had it coming"

[norton]

I presume they all stopped over in Hawaii to protest the Arizona Memorial as well.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I was a little kid in Japan 1951-1961, with three brief return trips back Stateside during that time. Each trip was 14 days via MSTS ship from Yokohama to Seattle or Oakland, with troops on the fantail and bow and us military dependents in five floors of tiny staterooms mid-ship. My sixth crossing was on my 13th birthday.
My dad was an old China hand, had been in Asia with his dad in the 1920s, installing Otis elevators in China's first hotels. My dad learned to fly and was a pilot for China National Airlines Company (owned by American Airlines), then was in the CBI as a civilian C-46 pilot for the Army Aircorps in WW II. He was 42 when I came into the world.

[ShadowDancer]

The reason I had asked is I just finished reading a MacArthur biography and was wondering if the sentiment of the Japanese people toward MacArthur really matched what the author had stated. However, reading what you wrote was much more interesting. What fantastic lives you and your family have led.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The Japanese we got to know thought MacArthur was God. You can debate over the general's Hirohito decision but the survivors of the war (civilians still at home and parents of war dead) were glad he got rid of the militarists.

[hasegawasama]

I dont' disagree with most of you, Japanese GOVERNMENT did terrible things in the past, and the atomic bomb was preferable to having American invade Japan by land, but that doesn't mean there weren't casualties in the bombing of Japan, just like there were German casulaties. it's always good to have respect for human life, it's the imperial Japanese and German nazis and Iraqi baathists LEADERS who force these innocent people to be victims