On Hiroshima attack anniversary, survivors share history’s lessons

France24 ^ | August 6, 2022

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Reiko Yamada was 11 years old on August 6, 1945, when the US dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Now 88, she is among the few survivors of the horrific attack, which killed around 140,000 people, and is determined to pass on the lessons of history. But Yamada and other survivors fear their voices are not being heard. On the 77th anniversary of the bombing, FRANCE 24 reports on the survivors of the attack.

Bells tolled in Hiroshima on Saturday as the city marked the 77th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing.

Reiko Yamada was 11 years old on August 6, 1945. Her school was just 2.6 kilometres from the epicentre of the attack.

The young girl saw a plane and a flash, then nothing. A tree fell on her, but she survived and found her family. Today, she is determined to keep the painful memories of that fateful day alive.

[Alberta's Child]

I never understood this silly rationale for dropping atomic bombs on civilian populations: “Invading Japan would have cost millions of lives.”

For one thing, this can only be justified using 20/20 hindsight. What if the Japan didn’t surrender after the second atomic bomb was dropped? If you keep using them, then you will eventually reach the point where the death toll in the “mass destruction” scenario exceeds your “invasion” scenario estimates anyway.

Secondly … If the estimated casualty count of an invasion is too high, then don’t invade at all. It’s not like Japan was located on the U.S. border and would be a threat to the U.S. indefinitely. Its ability to project military force over long distances had ended long before August of 1945.

[Georgia Girl 2]

My Dad who was in Hiroshima 6 weeks after the bomb told me if they had had to invade those fortified beaches the US would have lost at least 500,000 men.

[quikstrike98]

“We could always have went back to cities later, except this time with more of a superior moral position.”

Really? While his brother was working on the Manhattan Project, my Granddad was the junior engineering officer on USS Gato. His surface action station was directing the deck gun. They sank a Japanese combatant ship within sight of the Japanese homeland. The survivors were swimming to shore. The crew broke out the small arms and shot them in the water. “We had no facilities to take them prisoner, they’d kill us if we tried, they’d be back on another combatant ship within a week. So we killed them all.”

Sic Semper Tyrannis.

[pfflier]

My parents got married on this day in 1947, because my father knew the bomb save his life.

[Wonder Warthog]

"We could always have went back to cities later, except this time with more of a superior moral position."

We only had the two bombs. Bottom line...it worked. So, no, that was not an option.

[A_Former_Democrat]

Truman was told he’d get impeached if he didn’t bomb the bastards

One Two punch with a Happy Ending

[tlozo]

We could always have went back to cities later, except this time with more of a superior moral position.

Japanese military were insanely stubborn. After the two atomic bombings, there was an attempted coup by the Japanese military, trying to stop the surrender.

An Attempted Coup Tried to Stop Japan’s Surrender in World War II. Here’s How It Failed

he Japanese refer to the attempted coup d’état on Aug. 14, 1945, the last night of the Second World War, as the “Kyujo Incident.” Ringleaders Kenji Hatanaka and Jiro Shiizaki, officers at the army ministry, led a battalion of rebels into the Imperial Palace. Lying brazenly, Hatanaka and Shiizaki told the commander of the Second Imperial Guard Regiment that the top brass had ordered the palace sealed off from the outside. The guards, believing that a broader revolt was afoot, agreed to comply with their instructions pending the arrival of the Eastern Army. But Lieutenant General Takeshi Mori, commander of the guards, smelled a rat. Refusing to join the plot, he was shot dead in cold blood. The confederates then forged an order in General Mori’s name and sealed it with Mori’s official stamp. The document instructed the Imperial Guards to occupy the palace, seal off communications with anyone outside the moats and “protect” the emperor against unspecified threats.

In the palace itself, the imperial stenographer was putting the finishing brushstrokes on the Imperial Rescript on Surrender. The emperor’s seal was fixed to the document, making it official. Shortly before midnight, Hirohito entered a soundproof bunker under the palace, where a team of NHK technicians had set up recording equipment. The emperor read the surrender rescript into a microphone. The recording was four minutes and 45 seconds long; the English translation, broadcast overseas the same day, totaled just 652 words. Only one take was needed. The technicians transferred the recording onto two vinyl records, which were pressed on the spot and deposited in a safe under the palace.

With the Imperial Guards behind them, the coup leaders occupied the palace and cut the phone lines. Persuaded that the Eastern Army was on its way, the guards closed the gates and cut off all automobile and foot traffic into and out of the walled compound. The rebels searched the catacombs under the palace, arresting and interrogating staff members at the points of bayonets. They searched for Marquis Kido, the lord privy seal, but could not find him. They also failed to find the phonograph recordings. With an air raid blackout in progress, the lights were doused and the searchers had to use flashlights. The search parties did not know the layout of the underground labyrinth of passageways and bunkers, and found it difficult to interpret the archaic signs marking the locations of various rooms.

Meanwhile, other co-conspirators spread out through Tokyo and Yokohama. The aged Prime Minister Suzuki, who had survived an assassination attempt nine years earlier, was warned moments before his would-be killers arrived. Other detachments occupied the major radio stations, intending to intercept the emperor’s surrender recording before it could be broadcast to the nation.

https://time.com/5877433/wwii-japanese-surrender-coup/

[RatRipper]

My Dad was on an aircraft carrier steaming for the Japanese home islands when the last bomb dropped. They were turning Naval personnel into infantry for the invasion and expecting to lose a million men. Because he was a big strong guy, he had been told he would be carrying a Browning automatic rifle.

Good chance I am here today because the bomb made that invasion unnecessary

[Paal Gulli]

"Reiko Yamada was 11 years old on August 6, 1945, when the US dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima....

WRONG.

The first atomic bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945, in the Alamogordo test range.

[Gay State Conservative]

The only legit question regarding the bombs is...if they hadn't been dropped how many lives (military and civilian) would have been lost in convincing the Emperor to give up?

[A_Former_Democrat]

Absolutely love the photos of The Greatest Generation and their parents, et al celebrating the defeat of the JAPS

In the REAL world, ACTIONS speak much louder than words. Screw those brainwashing “educators”

[Tudorfly]

My dad joined the Army Air Corps near the end of WWII. Became a buck sergeant on a B-39 crew. Without the Bomb, my brother and I may not be here.

[MacNaughton]

If memory serves me right, Little Boy and Fat Man were the only 2 A-bombs in the nuclear inventory at the time. Don’t know the timeline when more would be available. Don’t know if weather was a factor with OP-Downfall either. Momentum was at a peak.Hard to delay an invasion of that size

[tlozo]

I never understood this silly rationale for dropping atomic bombs on civilian populations

Hiroshima was a major port and a military headquarters, and therefore a strategic target.

Hiroshima was chosen as the first target due to its military and industrial values. As a military target, Hiroshima was a major army base that housed the headquarters of the Japanese 5th Division and the 2nd Army Headquarters. It was also an important port in southern Japan and a communications center.

https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=49

[DesertRhino]

That’s childish. After nuking two cities it still took them several days. And those were our only two bombs for several more weeks. If you blow up an audience and tell them to surrender, they would simply have laughed. Okinawa hurt us badly and they knew it. It took both bombs and the large Soviet invasion of Manchuria for them to surrender. They weren’t even close before that.
You’re touchy feely plan would have ensured the deaths of tens of thousands more Americans. With just POWs alone they were on the verge of murdering them all en masse so they could focus on the war.

But to mention the Javanese at home starving, and getting killed daily by US battleships, conventional bonding and near constant strafing attacks.
The clear merciful thing was a knockout punch.

I’m guessing you were not a sailor, airman or grunt or any sort. How man of them you going to ask to die to save a couple of Jap cities?

[Tudorfly]

B-29 crew.

[D_Idaho]

“August 6, 1945, when the US dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.”

Ackshually, it was technically the second atomic bomb. Also, if Japan had the bomb at Pearl Harbor, do you think they would have used it? Me too.

[A_Former_Democrat]

You should demand a refund

With interest and penalty

Shame on those losers They are lucky Tokyo wasn’t targeted and Hirohito by firing squad

And Japan split like Germany

F them

[Gay State Conservative]

My girlfriend in a Korean American who went to school in Korea and lived there until she was in her 30s. She absolutely *hates* the Japanese. Her hatred has many facets,one of which is that Japan has never truly apologized for the oppression to which they subjected Korea for 50+ years of occupation.

I've heard some in the West also claim that they've never shown proper contrition for WWII.

[dfwgator]

History’s Lesson: Don’t f___ with us!