'My God What Have We Done'

Reuters ^ | Mar 28 2002

[2Trievers]

The Enola Gay co-pilot's log book recording the horror of having just dropped the first atomic bomb in war was the most chilling item on auction in a sale of U.S. historical documents.

The winning bid for Capt. Robert Lewis's log chronicling the "Little Boy" mission that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, was $350,000.

"It is a uniquely important document," dealer Seth Kaller said about the Enola Gay log. "It's one of the greatest moments, but one of the most terrible, of the century. It's a terribly sad record. I think that affects the desire to own it."

[EliteGuard_66]

A fun story about the old SAC Elite Guard.
You might get a kick out of this website:

http://saceliteguard.com/

Lots of Lemay photos

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

What have we done?

Hastened the end of Japense Imperialist War and saved thosands of lives.

Next

[tombirke]

Actually, that is only the half of it. Per a recent show on the History channel, the military was going to coup even after Nagasaki.
10 years ago PBS did a horroriffic propaganda piece claiming that the bombs weren't necessary.
People who think the bombs weren't necessary are either seriously uninformed or fools.

[tombirke]

What is never mentioned are some obvious facts:

1. Little boy destroyed about 5 sq. miles. The March Tokyo bombing destroyed 15 sq. miles.
2. If littly boy had been a dud, a squadon on superforts with conventional weapons would have infliced similar damage shortly thereafter.
3. If conventional bombing hadn't worked, Marshall had a plan 3 to use poison gas. That would have killed all life and in all probability would have resulted in the execution of all POWs.
4. The A-Bomb is clearly the least evil. The POW execution policy forced Trumans hand, in addition to many other considerations.

[tombirke]

What is never mentioned are some obvious facts:

1. Little boy destroyed about 5 sq. miles. The March Tokyo bombing destroyed 15 sq. miles.
2. If littly boy had been a dud, a squadon on superforts with conventional weapons would have infliced similar damage shortly thereafter.
3. If conventional bombing hadn't worked, Marshall had a plan 3 to use poison gas. That would have killed all life and in all probability would have resulted in the execution of all POWs.
4. The A-Bomb is clearly the least evil. The POW execution policy forced Trumans hand, in addition to many other considerations.

[Cogadh na Sith]

I would've had that same reaction... In fact, I know that reaction. It has nothing to do with whether the action was right or wrong. It's just the 'better angels of our nature' rightly rebelling at what the human machine must do to survive...

Sometimes 'the right thing' is only a little less horrifying than the alternative.

Or, the best way I've heard it put (and my own personal philosophy): "Yeah, it was bad. I feel bad about doing that, but at least I'm alive to feel bad about it."

[Squantos]

In reflection 30-40 years later I might feel bad but I'd gladly kill or destroy hundreds of thousands of enemy troops , their supporters and their industrial base if I thought it'd save the life of one American GI.............

PC isn't war, war isn't PC......get er done and reflect upon the ashes of your enemies before they do such to you and yours.

Stay Safe Chookter !!!

[GladesGuru]

Try reading a book titled The Japanese Bomb.

I found it to be an eye opener.

[Cogadh na Sith]

Geez--that's a cool site! I was born in '68. I spent my time in the Army--still in the NG. I love all the old uniform pics and stuff.

Wow... Who ever thought that we would look back at the Cold War as the 'Good Ol' Days'?

[Cogadh na Sith]

In reflection 30-40 years later I might feel bad but I'd gladly kill or destroy hundreds of thousands of enemy troops , their supporters and their industrial base if I thought it'd save the life of one American GI.............

If that were national policy, as it should be, we'd never have to fight a war again. Does anyone realize that?

[Squantos]

Agree....Evidently the decision is above my pay grade .......:o)

They don't ask me much these days .........Stay safe !

[tang-soo]

My grandfather (also the grandfather of singer Ricky Skaggs) packed his family into a covered wagon and migrated from eastern Kentucky to Oak Ridge Tenn. during WWII. He and his brothers were pipe fitters in the oil fields of eastern Ky. and helped build those facilities at Oak Ridge. My grandfather made enough money during that time to return to Ky. and purchase a 100+ acre farm with cash. That family included Ricky's father, my father and another brother (named Okle) that was killed his first day approaching a beach in the Phillipines.

I know someone who lives on the same street as Mr. Tibbets (here in Columbus Ohio) and he refers to him as a very quiet and polite gentleman. On the other hand, I've seen him on tv during interviews and he is not at all shy about defending their mission.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Reuters is OK with all of the Chinese, Indonesian, Indian, Australian and American war dead.

[Doctor Stochastic]

The Russian destruction of the Japanese army in Manchuria shows that the Japanese army wasn't nearly as good as the US thought (or maybe the Russians were really that good or both.)

I think that the us would have lost 100,000 dead and about 1,000,000 wounded in an allout attack on Japan. Japanese losses would probably have been at least 20 times higher. WWII was probably the last war of attrition in which the destruction of the enemy industry could contribute to the war effort. So I think the bombing was correct. War isn't nice.

On the other hand, I'm looking back after 60 years; a better case (for or against using the bomb) could be had by looking at what Truman had to work with.

[COEXERJ145]

Excellent page! I hope everyone here reads it. Might open an eye or two. General Douglas MacArthur? Say it ain't so! How could such an icon of Yankee might have reservations about Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Hmmmm . . .

He wanted to invade and go down in history as leading the greatest invasion ever.

[COEXERJ145]

Actually, he never wrote "My God What Have We Done?" The last entry in the log book is "My God". If you read The Tibbets' Story, obviously written by Col. Paul Tibbets, he talks about how "My God" became "My God, what have we done?" We can thank the media for altering the quote.

[AndrewC]

I agree with your analysis. To be sure, it was Russia that drove the German Wehrmacht the ~1378 miles from Stalingrad to Berlin.