Posted on 07/23/2005 5:58:17 PM PDT by T-Bird45
Sixty years later, the debate still rages. Was America right to drop the atomic bomb - both bombs? Did it truly face the prospect of a full-scale invasion of Japan which some estimated would result in a million casualties? Or was Japan's imperial army, despite its astonishing savagery and unwillingness to surrender, on the brink of capitulation? Can the mass slaughter and irradiation of civilians without warning ever have been justified?
The man who built the A-bombs, scientist Robert Oppenheimer, and the man who used them, President Harry Truman, are both long dead. But the men who were physically close to one of the pivotal moments of the 20th century still live with the consequences.
General Paul Tibbets, who commanded the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress he named after his mother, is now 90 and living in Columbus, Ohio. The Enola Gay's mission over Hiroshima was so secret that Tibbets was given cyanide pills, one for each of the crew, so they could commit suicide if they fell into Japanese hands.
Many of the Japanese children who felt the wrath of the bomb, Little Boy, when it exploded are still alive, too. As might be expected, nearly all of them condemn the use of the A-bomb as unethical. Yet many acknowledge that in 1945 they were ready to fight to the death with bamboo spears, and dreamt of joining Japan's military machine, perhaps as Zero fighter pilots, kamikaze suicide bombers. Whether they would have done the same as Tibbets in his position is a question some cannot, or will not, answer.
The issue will be hard to duck on 6 August when Keijiro Matsushima, 76, a survivor of the Hiroshima bomb, visits Tinian Island, the US base in the Pacific, to commemorate the Enola Gay's flight 60 years before. He is expected to come face to face with US veterans who crewed the warplane that day, though Tibbets himself cannot go due to ill health. Mr Matsushima, a fluent English speaker and frequent visitor to America, was at school in Hiroshima on 6 August 1945: 'I remember thinking, "Did they drop thousands and thousands of fire bombs in a moment?" People's hair was sticking up, or they had lost their hair. Their whole bodies had been smoked to almost charcoal and their clothes were singed or torn. Their skin was peeling off and you could see red muscle.
'Without exception they stretched their arms out in front of them and were walking very slowly, marching like ghosts. I saw many 12- and 13-year-old boys and girls heavily burnt among those victims. When I think of these boys and girls, I can't stop the tears.'
And yet Mr Matsushima, whose brother, Kanngo, was a Zero fighter pilot, said he too had craved the fight against America. 'All Japanese boys wanted to join the military in those days. When I walked out of the city I could see both sides of the river burning phosphorus. Big smoke had covered the whole city, rising up, and I thought, "Hey, the Americans invented a real tough weapon. It's very hard to win this war." At the same time I never believed in surrender either. We were ready for suicide attacks.'
Would he have dropped the A-bomb? 'I tell American people I don't think we can blame you. This was during the war, when people become mad to kill the enemy. If Japan had an A-bomb we might have dropped it into New York. Do we have to thank them for dropping the A-bomb on Hiroshima? I don't think so. I can't say that.'
Pressed on whether he would have done as Tibbets did, Mr Matsushima raised his hands and said: 'This time I will reject that. I know that some of the pilots of the Enola Gay say, "If I was told to carry the A-bomb again I would do it, because that was our job." But I don't think I can welcome this opinion.
'Sixty years ago maybe the pilots of the Enola Gay had to do that because it was their duty but, after all, they killed men and women, young and old, and even children and babies.
'If I see them on Tinian Island, what shall I tell them? "I understand you did your job during the war so I don't blame you. But I just hope you will be able to mourn the victims of Hiroshima and have a drop of tear for the victims. Please co-operate to stop the third use of it in this world".'
As a result of the A-bomb, Akihiro Takahashi, who turns 74 this week, has no ears, suffers chronic liver disease and cannot fully raise his right arm with its claw-like hand, and his body still has shards of window pane embedded.
A couple of years ago he met Paul Tibbets in Washington. 'I told him "I'm not going to complain or hold a grudge against you." I pushed my right hand towards him and he noticed the burns on my hand. He asked, "Is this the effect of the A-bomb?" I said, "Yes". He looked surprised and shocked.
'I told him the sky over Hiroshima that day was so beautiful, so clear. We felt safe because the alarm was called off at the time. I told him I was even pointing at your airplane. He said, "Oh yes, I could see Hiroshima very well."
'Before departing, I told him, "We believe as citizens of Hiroshima that nuclear weapons are an absolute evil, and this tragedy should not be repeated in any country in the world. I hope you will try whatever you can do." He responded, "Mr Takahashi, I understand, but I know I would do the same thing once a war has started and I am ordered to drop the A-bomb." I felt angry and also sad. But he also told me war shouldn't happen again because, once a war breaks out, soldiers can do nothing but follow orders.
'The conversation lasted half an hour and he kept holding my right hand. I believe he felt some pain and remorse in his heart. But when I told a friend, he said, "I doubt it".'
Tibbets was unavailable for comment, but in a 2002 interview he insisted that he had no regrets: 'You're gonna kill innocent people at the same time, but we've never fought a damn war anywhere in the world where they didn't kill innocent people. If the newspapers would just cut out the shit: "You've killed so many civilians." That's their tough luck for being there.'
An associate of Tibbets, Ed Humphreys, of the Enola Gay Remembered website, replied to a written request from The Observer: 'The general recently met a Japanese aviator who was scheduled to fly a kamikaze mission on 17 August. He is planning to translate [Tibbets's memoir] Return of The Enola Gay into Japanese for sale in Japan so they can know more about the truth and wisdom of using the bomb to stop the killing.'
Humphreys added: 'The US picked Hiroshima and Nagasaki because those cities contained over 100 viable military targets. I am not minimising the suffering of the Japanese people. However, if roles were reversed do you think the Japanese would have used the bomb on the United States?
'The general has told me on several occasions he was not at war with the Japanese people, he was at war with the samurai. They were far more ruthless than the terrorists we battle today.
'I thank God our brave solders like General Tibbets rose to the occasion to bring an end to the killing.'
The A-Bomb saved lives. Anyone who disagrees is in idiot.
They were warned.
It was a horrible thing to have to do.
But it was the lesser of two evils.
Many more would have died, had the Allies
continued only with a conventional war.
Note to the WORLD.
We used it once, we will again.
It matters not what the history "Monday Morning Quarterbacks" think or say.
The Nips attacked this country on December 7, 1941.
That was the exact moment in time when they put the sign up...you know which sign......
"PLEASE COME KICK MY ASS!"
We did.
War is war - especially if you attack me first.
To bitch about the fact that we hit back real hard...too hard...is so lame. Maybe you and your society should have thought that through before you attacked us.
Let that be a lesson to you, and any others with the same ideas.
Kiss my ass.
Made in America and tested in Japan.
Next?
LVM
Robert K. Wilcox's book "Japan's Secret War" makes a VERY strong case that the Japanese were much farther ahead in the development of an atomic bomb then the Germans. There is zero question that the Japanese wanted and were willing to nuke US. At least we won that race.
My only regret about the bomb was that it wasn't ready in time to drop on Hitler.
This from a nation which has been systematically removing all reference to, and evidence of, the rape of Nanking and other attrocities from their history. The difference was the US dropped a bomb knowing it would kill many but seeing that as a necessary evil. The Japanese atrocities were done with malice, for how else can one kill thousands of unarmed innocents while looking them in the eyes? I wont say the US action was our finest moment, but were I in the White House I'd have done it. Were I in the Japanese high command, I would not have sanctioned the Rape of Nanking, and would have punished anyone I found doing anything like that. One act ended a conflict with much fewer casualties than otherwise would have been. The other was murder that did nothing but bring misery. Therein, for me, lies the difference.
There was even a military coup to prevent the announcement. Without the A-bombs, even burning out 60+ cities wasn't enough. We had to nuke them.
Yep, it's that time of the year again. When leftist morons apologize over what the mean-old U.S. did to the peaceful Japanese decades ago.
You said it. I wonder if these same folks feel remorse over Pearl Harbor or the Bataan Death March or Nanking? Somehow I doubt it. Why? Because it was they were doing the @$$-kicking. Nobody likes getting their's kicked, so Japan still complains about our nukes. Sorry. Don't be so stupid next time.
Thank God we got the bomb first. Would the Germans or Japanese have hesitated to use it on us if they had it?
Now that the smoke has lifted, we know how way off the Nazi's were with their A bomb, but they were working on one and the Japanese were working on a bomber to deliver it. Also, conventional bombing of Tokyo caused much greater distruction.
Japan was committing suicide and didn't have the sense to save itself.
Would he have dropped the A-bomb? 'I tell American people I don't think we can blame you. This was during the war, when people become mad to kill the enemy. If Japan had an A-bomb we might have dropped it into New York. Do we have to thank them for dropping the A-bomb on Hiroshima? I don't think so. I can't say that.'
All things considered, this man sounds pretty sane.
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