Posted on 03/17/2008 5:00:40 PM PDT by Coleus
It was a clear, hot summer day on Aug. 6, 1945, when 10-year-old Kenji Kitagawa kissed his mother and brother goodbye before leaving for school. The fifth-grader didn't know that would be the last time he would see them alive. Life was forever altered for Kitagawa and the rest of the world 62 years ago, as an American B-29 bomber, flying 26,000 feet above his hometown of Hiroshima, Japan, dropped an atomic bomb.
Now 73, Kitagawa travels the world as part of an effort to educate people on the destructive power of nuclear weapons. Sponsored by the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, Kitagawa has been publicly reliving his experiences from Hiroshima for the past three years. With foundation Chairman Steven Leeper serving as translator, Kitagawa shared his experience with an audience of about 60 people at Christ Church in Summit last Sunday.
"After retiring, I had this feeling that I was not going to live much longer, and I thought, 'What is the most important thing for me to do?' and my mind was brought back to this place," he said, referring to Hiroshima. Kitagawa and his classmates were awaiting an assembly program at their school when the bomb hit at 8:16 a.m. A flash of blue and white light came like lightning through the windows, charring all who were directly exposed, Kitagawa said. Confusion and panic followed, as a ferocious blast of wind came crashing into the school.
"There was an amazing roaring sound and the entire school started to collapse," said Kitagawa. "I remember falling and feeling like a hammer was hitting me over the head." When he came to, the classroom was in total darkness. He would learn later that the sun became obliterated by the mushroom cloud from the bomb.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Another one word response, Bataan
My sympathy goes to the Pows. From the Batan Death March to the B-29 crewmen that were butchered alive.
If the Japs have ever apologized for the way they treated our pows, the Chinese, and Koreans I missed it.
Good comments Phil
“Two American atomic bombs and MacArthur’s firm but just rule taught the Japanese something. - I haven’t seen their apology and admission of guilt yet, though.”
I find it amazing, and says something good about both the Americans (government and people) and the Japanese people that we have good relationships now- same with the Germans, and hopefully some day with the Russians. (And an apology would be nice - but I guess I’ll settle for their present-day actions).
Especially when viewed in the light of the hundreds years of fighting between Shites and Sunnis and whatever. I guess when you have civilized people (in spite of barbaric leaders), progress can be made. It is too bad that we can have decent relations with the Iraqis after we defeated them in a war - but that their tribal in-fighting hinders that progress so much (and fueled by the terrorists).
‘It was also a sneak attack made while simultaneously conducting ‘peace’ negotiations.
“Sneak attacks” are not immoral or illegal. Deception has been a part of warfare since Sun Tzu.’
Conducting peace negotiation simultaneously with an attack is considered ‘perfidious conduct’. While it may have not been ‘illegal’ during WWII, the same activity today would remove the perpetrator from the protections offered by the Law of Armed Combat (LOAC).
I behaved accordingly.
Excerpt from entry for Surrender of Japan
Late on the night of August 12, 1945, Major Kenji Hatanaka, along with Lieutenant Colonels Masataka Ida, Masahiko Takeshita, and Inaba Masao, and Colonel Okitsugu Arao, the Chief of the Military Affairs Section, spoke to War Minister Anami Korechika, hoping for his support, and asking him to do whatever he could to prevent acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration. General Anami refused to say whether he would help the young officers in treason. As much as they needed his support, Hatanaka and the other rebels decided they had no choice but to continue planning and to pull off the coup on their own.
Hatanaka spent much of August 13 and the morning of August 14 gathering allies, seeking support from the higher-ups in the Ministry, and perfecting his plot. Around 21:30 on August 14, Hatanaka's rebels set their plan into motion. The Second Regiment of the First Imperial Guards had entered the palace grounds, doubling the strength of the battalion already stationed there, presumably to provide extra protection against Hatanaka's rebellion. However, Hatanaka, along with Lt. Col. Jirō Shiizaki, convinced the commander of the 2nd Regiment of the First Imperial Guards, Colonel Haga Toyojiro, of their cause, and (untruthfully) that the War Minister, Army Chief of Staff, and the commanders of the Eastern District Army and Imperial Guards Divisions were all in on the plan.
Originally, Hatanaka hoped that by simply occupying the palace, by simply showing the beginnings of a rebellion, the rest of the Army would be inspired and would rise up against the move to surrender. This philosophy guided him through much of the last days and hours and gave him the blind optimism to move ahead with the plan, despite having little support from his superiors. Having set all the pieces into position, Hatanaka and his co-conspirators decided that the Guard would take over the palace at 02:00. The hours until then were spent in continued attempts to convince their superiors in the Army to join the 'coup'. At about the same time, General Anami committed seppuku, leaving a message that, "I — with my death — humbly apologize to the Emperor for the great crime." Whether the crime involved losing the war, or the coup, remains unclear.
At some time after 01:00, Hatanaka killed Lt. General Takeshi Mori, Commander of the 1st Imperial Guards Division, when Mori refused to side with him. Hatanaka feared that Mori would order the Guards to stop the rebellion. Lt. Col. Shiizaki and Captain Shigetaro Uehara of the Air Force Academy were also present in the room, and Uehara is presumed to have killed Lt. Col. Michinori Shiraishi, Staff Officer of the 2nd General Army. These were the only two murders of the night. Hatanaka then used General Mori's official stamp to authorize Strategic Order No. 584, a false set of orders created by his co-conspirators, which would greatly increase the strength of the forces occupying the Imperial Palace and Imperial House Ministry, and "protecting" the Emperor. The Palace police were disarmed and all the entrances blocked; but as of yet, no one in the Imperial House Ministry was aware of what was transpiring. Over the course of the night, Hatanaka's rebels captured and detained eighteen people, including Ministry staff, and NHK workers sent to record the surrender speech.
The rebels, led by Hatanaka, spent the next several hours searching for the Imperial House Minister, the Lord of the Privy Seal, and the recordings of the surrender speech. They never found the recordings, which were hidden among pieces of bedding in an emergency cupboard. The search was made more difficult by a blackout, caused by Allied bombings, and by the archaic organization and layout of the Imperial House Ministry. Many of the rooms' names were unrecognizable to the rebels. During their search, the rebels cut nearly all of the telephone wires, severing communications between their prisoners on the Palace Grounds and the outside world.
Around 03:00, Hatanaka was informed by Lt Col Ida that the Eastern District Army was on its way to the Palace to stop him, and that he should simply give up. Finally, seeing his plan crumbling to pieces around him, Hatanaka tried to plead with the Chief of Staff of the Eastern District Army to be given at least ten minutes on the air (on NHK radio), to explain to the people of Japan what he was trying to accomplish and why. He was refused. Colonel Haga, commander of the 2nd Regiment of the First Imperial Guards, discovered that the Army was not, in fact, in support of this rebellion, and he ordered Hatanaka to leave the Palace Grounds.
Just before 05:00, as his rebellion continued its search, Major Hatanaka went to NHK studios, and, brandishing a pistol, tried desperately to get some airtime to explain his actions. A little over an hour later, after receiving a phone call from the Eastern District Army, Hatanaka finally gave up. He gathered his officers and walked out of the NHK studio.
By 08:00, the rebellion was entirely dismantled, having succeeded in holding the Palace Grounds for much of the night but ultimately failing to find the recordings. Hatanaka, on a motorcycle, and Lt. Col. Shiizaki on horseback, rode through the streets, tossing leaflets that explained their motives and their actions.
Within an hour before the Emperor's broadcast, sometime around 11:00, August 15, Major Hatanaka placed his pistol to his forehead, and pulled the trigger. In his pocket was found his death poem: "I have nothing to regret now that the dark clouds have disappeared from the reign of the Emperor."
However, growing up in the 1980s, I clearly remember the nuclear winter hysteria, which was quite akin to the later acid rain, ozone depletion, and global warming hysterias
As you look over the comment on this thread you'll see some people using the anonymity of FR to give open expression to anti-Japanese sentiments that really have no place in our current global situation.
Now my criticism of this thread has nothing to do with Truman's decision to drop the bomb in 1945. If he had to consider it for 5 minutes, then that was too long.
Some response to this one survivor's story, in my opinion, were immature and disrespectful.
I used the word unseemly because I felt embarrassed.
If I could, I would thank them for their service.
It's been a few years since I read Truman's account of deciding to drop the bomb. A host of practical considerations went into it, but I don't recall retribution being among them.
I understand the satisfaction of retribution and revenge. It has led me to bad decisions in my life.
People today seem to think that Nazi Germany was the more brutal of our enemies in WWII, but British/American deaths in Nazi POW camps were about 4% while in Jap POW camps the death rate was 27%.
Send him to Tehran to preach peace, our hands have been tied since August 6 1945.
No. F'em and his family.
My daddy built us a fall-out shelter. It felt good knowing that he loved us that much.
I remember asking him—while he was cementing in bricks—what would happen if the bad guys broke in through the entrance. He looked at me and said, “I would shoot them.” I was so surprised. I was also proud and secure.
The people who later (much later) purchased the land filled it in. I’ve never been able to understand that.
PING
Well, someone had to invent the wheel and pave the road.
What if A-bombs had not been used (Political decision, project delay, whatever) and instead there was an Allied invasion that not only met, but well exceeded casualty estimates.
With 15 million plus dead, A-bomb use might have acquired the initial appearance of being a more humane approach to war rather than having their current stigma.
Speculative history is so much fun.
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