At least one of my uncles lived to a ripe old age 'cos Truman dropped The Bomb. Were the effects horrific? Yes; and so was Dresden. And that's why diplomats everywhere need to keep their well-clad rumps
busy. And maybe play more poker in their off time.
My Uncle Bob, Uncle Jack (for whom I'm named), Uncle Jim and Father-in-law Joe lived to ripe old ages thanks to the crew of the Enola Gay and BocksCar. Between them all they had 6 children and 4 grand-children (so far). Here's to Harry S Truman and the B-29 crews.
ReplyDeleteFolks never seem to ponder that somebody was going to invent the atomic bomb, and if the Japanese had invented it first, what do you think they would have done with it?
ReplyDeleteThe Germans are lucky that they surrendered in May, because if they had hung on 'til August, we would have saved one for Berlin. If for no other reason than to awe the Soviets.
I've got precious little sympathy for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, after reading about the Dark Ages atrocities that the Japanese perpetrated in Nanking. And elsewhere in Asia.
Aw, there you go, ya got me started again!
Darn living on the Left Coast, by the time I finally get time to post these, someone else has done it! (Forgot about the writing in advance and setting the time...)
ReplyDeleteAnyway. Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Dresden and Casino, were all horrific, but did they compare with, say, Nanking? Warsaw? Not to mention Treblinka, Dachau, etc.
Yes, Paul Fussel (a Hoosier, BTW! Claims he cries when they play Indiana's state song at the Indy 500!) had it right when he titled his essay "Thank God For The Atom Bomb." (He was an infantry lieutenant, just rotated from Germany and scheduled for the first wave of Coronet-Olympic...)
Also, the Japanese were, in fact, working on not one, but two bombs--the Imperial Navy had their program, and the Army had theirs.
I like to think of the Manhattan Project as an interesting historical exercise in the sheer degree of what a terrible idea it is for a nation to persecute Jews and intellectuals in general.
ReplyDeleteThey might go over to one of your biggest rivals and help them cook up several megatons of revenge. Blonde, brawny, and brainless doesn't look like such a superman NOW, eh?
(Yes, we dropped the bomb on the Japanese and not the Germans, but Germany had its own ambitions in that department... that they might have fulfilled if they had Einstein and Fermi on their side.)
People who, today, lament the dropping of the atom bombs often forget the horrific casualty figures that were estimated by the Allies. I (think) the casualties for the allies were estimated at about one million, and Japanese casualties were estimated at about five million.
ReplyDeleteRecall, if you will, that in the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa (sp) very few Japanese were captured.
Not nearly enough politicians, diplomats, Admirals, and Generals get killed in wars.
ReplyDeleteAmen, brother, amen.
ReplyDeleteBock's Car is hangared at the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB; I'd highly recommend it, especially as it is all of a day trip. It was pretty wild just being there, in relative peace and quiet compared to seeing Enola Gay at the NASM with so many people and so much noise.
ReplyDeleteI had a chance to visit the Trinity site, too; I might have been the only one in our group who knew the background in detail, but the modest dose of ionizing radiation absorbed was well, well worth it.
Jim