Many thanks for your service to our country.
Americans and Japanese weren't the only ones, of course, who were spared by what one observer has aptly called a " miracle of deliverance", the atomic bombs.
My dad, God rest his soul, was RAF aircrew, and had survived his 30 mission tour on Lancasters (one of the few to do so).
On 6 August 1945, he was preparing to move with his squadron to the Far East, as part of the UK's "Tiger Force", a heavy bomber element that was supposed to join the war against Japan. Their initial base would have been in India and they had just re-equipped with the Avro Lincoln (a kind of souped-up Lancaster, a good plane but still primitive compared to the B-29).
He and his mates knew that they had beaten the odds once and they were apprehensive about their chances of doing it again, even though Japanese defenses were said to be weaker than those of the Luftwaffe.
He actually knew a little about nuclear energy, having been a science fiction fan before and sometimes during the war. He had read HG Wells' "The World Set Free," in which Wells had coined the actual term "atomic bomb." He was therefore not as surprised or as incredulous as some. His first reaction upon hearing about the bomb was simply to reassure his mates that, yes, it was possible and that it was probably everything the BBC said it was. "Even the bloody Japs can't stand against that," he told them, "the Yanks have called the match and we're on the winning team."
Dad died peacefully in 2001 at the age of 83, he had been an American citizen for 18 years by then.
> 2) Was the Japanese leadership ignorant of the American atom bomb's > existence? No! In fact, an Axis spy incorrectly reported as fact the false rumors heard in the American Southwest of a successful American test of an atom bomb in "1943"! However, most Japanese officers believed the Americans would be unable to build the atomic bomb for several more years. This belief was due in part to the fact the Japanese research and development began many years earlier than the American projects. The Japanese didn't believe the Americans could overtake the Japanese lead in the research. The Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy were in a race to be the first to develop the Japanese atomic bomb. Both of these research and development programs and a world renowned Japanese physicist, Dr. Nishina, relied upon uranium mines and hydroelectric power facilities in Korea to provide the necessary infrastructure for their projects. These are some of the same facilities North Korea uses for its own nuclear weapons research and development in the present day. Although conventional reports claim the Japanese nuclear weapons research was primitive and not close to completing an atomic bomb, there are other reports that dispute such claims. A contemporary reporter from the Atlanta Constitution interviewed a Japanese officer who reported he witnessed a Japanese test of its first atomic bomb off the coast of Korea at the end of the war while he was the project's security officer. One book author has traced the American post-war investigations of the Japanese nuclear research, and he reports on evidence indicating the Japanese were no more than a matter of weeks or a few months behind the Americans in producing their own atomic bombs for use against the Allies. Such reports are vigorously denied and disputed by other authorities.
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The Japs exploded an atomic bomb shortly after the Nagasaki attack. The device was in a barge tied up to some little islet in the Sea of Japan safely out ot range of US recon aircraft. If we had continued with the invasion plans they may have gotten one or two more ready in time to hit the invasion fleet.
And thank you (and your dad) for your service to our country. You have an impressive bio, Colonel. I'm glad you're on our side (Republican).