In June, 2001 the Smithsonian Institute had a special exhibit about the Enola Gaye. A PhD candidate for George Washington Univ was telling us tourists about the horrible atrocity the USA commited. I stopped her to ask some questions. You see, my father went into Normandy 2 days after D-Day. After the Nazis surrendered, he spent 38 days on a ship going through Panama to Okinawa. They were amassing forces there for a humongous invasion of Japan. I asked her if she knew how many projected Japanese would die? She did not. I told her (over 1 million), then asked how many projected Alliued forces would die? She did not. I told her (approx 500,000, the bombings seemed to pale in comparison), then I asked how the USA got into the war. She knew the answer, Pearl Harbor. So I asked her who attacked whom, then followed as to why she thought it would be better for far more Japanese to die, plus Allies, when the Japanese started it all with a treacherous suprise attack - even while their ambassadors were in Washington negotiating a treaty. Then I stated, “If the bombs had not been dropped, you wouldn’t be here telling us about it - and, because my father would likely have died - I wouldn’t either.”