[tanknetter]

During a week of mayhem in Iraq, in which terrorists have rightly been condemned for targeting schoolchildren, it is sobering to recall that this week is also the 62nd anniversary of a U.S. attack that deliberately took the lives of thousands of children on their way to school in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

What a maroon. IIRC from "Hiroshima" and other books the children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki weren't on their way to school but to build firebreaks and defensive military structures.

The Japanese could have done what the Brits did during the Blitz and sent their children out of the cities (which were being firebombed well prior to the atomic attacks) to safety. Instead, children kept in the cities were used as laborers on military projects - making them legitimate military targets. The ONLY ones responsible for their deaths were the military and civillian leadership in Japan.

[pikachu]

My father was an officer in the Merchant Marine and was prepping a freighter for use in the invasion of Japan when the bombs were dropped. His orders were to ram his ship ashore, get the troops off, and then find his own way back to the states. If he could re-float fine and if not he was on his own. He said they were expecting 80% of the troops they would be moving to be dead and most of the rest injured.

Years later I found out a friend's dad was a POW near Nagasaki when the bomb went off. He said the Japanese were preparing to fight to the last person standing and assumed he would be killed as soon as the invasion started by his guards. His guards had already killed many of his buddies. Compare that to what we do now with 'enemy combatants'

If the bombs had not been dropped, it would have been as one US Admiral said 'Japanese is a language only spoken in Hell'.

[texson66]

100% concur!

[magslinger]

What a maroon. IIRC from "Hiroshima" and other books the children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki weren't on their way to school but to build firebreaks and defensive military structures.

You neglected to mention training to repel invaders with bamboo pikes and satchel charges. When I was in Japan I had some very sobering discussions with a guy who was 12 when the war ended. He credited Harry S with saving his life.

[GATOR NAVY]

Instead, children kept in the cities were used as laborers on military projects...

My high school aged father-in-law was sent from his family farm to work in the naval shipyard at Sasebo.

[MaxMax]

making them legitimate military targets.

That reminded me of my first Firearm instructors words,

"If you can't bring yourself to defend yourself against
an 11 year old boy with a gun, get the hell out of my classroom"!
The point was made very clear.

/Salute