5.56mm
RIP Charles W. Sweeney.
bump
I always wondered how much residual radiation was left on it.
War is too serious to let sentiment guide action.
I have studied the Japanese decision to surrender in 1945. I have lived in Japan after the war and am to an extent socialized to the Japanese people. I am convinced that the atomic bombings were necessary to avoid invasion.
The Japanese Army was the center of national life in those days and was resolved upon death. Also remember that the Red Army going to invade as well as Americans.
Even today, it is tough to remember the devastation of those two bombs but, to end a war that had already gone on too long and taken too many lives, it was the best . . . and only . . . acceptable choice.
Japan would never have capitulated had it not been for these two bombs and the US and the USSR would, jointly, have shared control of Japan - something for which the Japanese should be extremely grateful never occured.
Gen. Sweeney was a brave soldier who performed his duty with pride, honor and dignity; saving thousands of American AND Japanese lives in the process. Rest well, brave soldier, you earned it.
I just watched 'The Last Mission' on the History Channel last night. It was about the bombing of the Akita oil refinery north of Tokyo 5 days after the Nagasaki bombing. Great story.
There was a military coup underway, as the emperor wanted to surrender, but it was considered a betrayal of Bushido honor by elements of the army. The events surrounding the Akita bombing mission actually directly led to the surrender. No nukes were involved, of course, but the threat of more nuke strikes was looming.
The passing of another member of the finest generation. Sweaney's flight had several difficulties and he barely made it back for landing.
I just spent a half hour Googling through a bunch of your B/S.
Check out some of the witless comments [bold my emphasis]:
1. Despite Truman’s calculations, new studies quickly dismiss Truman’s account of saving half a million or more Allied lives as being grossly inflated. By the time historians were given access to the secret files necessary to review the situation, it was clear that estimates ranged from 20,000 to 46,000 American lives4 (Selden, 1989, xxxi). The official report prepared by the Joint War Plans Committee on 15 June 1945 presented the following calculations to the Chiefs of Staff: Killed – 40,000; Wounded – 150,000; Missing – 3,500; Total – 193,500.
So, our casualties would have been ONLY 193,000. I dare any of these revisionists, let alone a sitting president, to face 193,000 families and tell them that their fathers and brothers would have to become causalties because using the atomic bomb was too inhumane.
2. [from an AOL board] "When, in the spring of 1945, the island nation's lifeline to oil was severed, the war was over except for the fighting." ?????
3. Leon Sigal writes, "At worst, withholding force might have prolonged the war for a while at a time when little combat was taking place; it would not have altered the final result. Yet restraint could have significantly reduced the gratuitous suffering on both sides, especially for noncombatants."
and
The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, was issued in July 1946. It declared, "Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey's opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945 and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated."
Allied prisoners of the Japs, in all camps, were dying at over 1,000 a day, so, delaying surrender by how many days was acceptable? Even it was "only" 100, tell that to the prisoners' famiiles.
Japanese Document No. 2710 was widely interpreted by Jap prison commandants as a "What to do" upon invasion of Japan. Daws' Japan's Prisoner of War Camps (p. 324-325) says Tokyo had issued orders to kill all prisoners-of-war by 1945. I believe him.
I wish I had the sources, so these remain anecdotal:
A Jap general issued words to the effect that "While thing looks bad now, there is still chance for victory". He said this AFTER the SECOND BOMB was dropped.
A Jap diplomat, when told we only had two bombs, is quoted to have said, "If we had known you had only two . . ." and then stopped.
"Long Days Journey Into War" has a chapter on a Jap pilot who was ordered to search for the "dud" bomb seen floating down near Nagasaki (it was a scientific device transmitting data back to the plane). The Japs thought was they could fix it (!!!) and use it against the Americans. To this day that pilot is lionized as a hero.
Finally, Hiroshima: The Decision to Drop the Bomb posted earlier on FR also beats this dead horse.
Message to the revisionists and professional victims - LET IT GO - all your whining and hand-wringing are not going to bring anybody back nor make anyone feel guilty. In the final analysis the message is: "Don't screw around with the U.S."
He became an outspoken defender of the bombing, appearing on the television show Larry King and speaking at colleges and universities.
A double hero! First he risked his life fighting the Japanese in WWII. Then, he fought the Communists and Socialists back home.
As the son of someone who served with the 509th Composite Air Group on Tinian (and who knew Sweeney), my thoughts and prayers go out to the General and his family.
My father was an aviation mechanic in the 509th. He passed away late last year.
One by one, the unit is once again reuniting.
Rest in Peace General.
Tearful bump... and a salute from an Allied nation that is eternally grateful.
The Japanese had to be stopped, and this stopped them...
Only by those who don't know their history.
I've heard Sweeney make this claim before, and he was wrong.
Lt. Jacob "Jake" Beser was on both the Enola Gay, when it dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, and Bock's Car, when it dropped the bomb on Nagasaki. He was a lot closer to both bombings than was Sweeney.
Jake was a special electronics officer, not a regular member of the crew. His job on both missions was to monitor a spectrum analyzer to make sure that the bomb frequency was clear before they armed the bombs.
I knew and worked with Jake for years. He was an engineer. And he had absolutely no regrets about participating in the bombings. Unfortunately, Jake died of cancer several years ago.
Billy Crystal played the part of Jake Beser in the TV movie "Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb" in about 1980.
Bump