“I too subscribe to the theory that the bombs saved lives’. How well I recall my days on Leyte as a newly arrived infantry replacement. We had heard about the bombs but we were still being processed for the coming invasion of Japan. My brother had been killed on Okinawa and I can say I was damned angry as well as being very naive about the cost for going into Japan. However, the day I was in a short line for new equipment a Lt. comes out and tells us to go back to our tents and wait for new orders, the shooting was over. I spent many months on Leyte and saw the remnants of war in Jap prisoners and dead bodies bulldozed into large piles in the rice paddies. I really was glad the bombs did what they were intended for and thank the people who made them work.
My dad was a naval stores specialist, and was in Japan within a couple of weeks after the bombs ended the war.
The Japanese people treated him with considerable respect when he was there. One pregnant woman tried to give him her seat on a bus, but he graciously declined.
I believe the Japanese government had turned it’s own people against it. The Japanese had seen their boys destroyed in ways that defied humane norms. If the war hadn’t ended when it did, many more would have died. The Japanese seemed relieved.
I’m convinced there were Japanese who weren’t happy about the situation, but they didn’t cause major problems for us.