So who knows what happened 60 years ago today...

[theFONZ]

EDIT: Read this post tomorrow. I'm a retard. It's not the 6th yet.

EDIT again: looks like with the time conversion I was about 2 hours off so you can read now.

[slakjaw]

HIROSHIMA

[scottmandue]

"I'm not worried about the people who died, I'm worried about the people who survived."

[rob macdonald]

It's the sixth here...what slakjaw said...

[84porsche]

Looking at the pictures seems horrifying that the US actually did something like that however it was the action taken to end World War II. I sometimes wonder if we saw the damage caused by one bomb, why did we use the 2nd bomb? Did Japan refuse to surrender after the first one, which led to the 2nd one?

I was looking at the pictures on Yahoo (164 pix) and while its tough to see the pain caused by war on both sides, its nice to see that we have evolved and the international relations and peace between the US and Japan is/are quite strong today.

[EdT82SC]

Originally posted by 84porsche
... why did we use the 2nd bomb? Did Japan refuse to surrender after the first one, which led to the 2nd one?

Yes, they refused to surrender after Hiroshima. Nagasaki convinced them.

[Wrecked944]

Actually, Nagasaki only convinced some of the Japanese leaders. Others pushed strongly to fight to the last. But the Emperor decided it was time to quit and so it was done. But even then, there was a coup attempt just before the end of hostilities by military officers who refused to surrender. Insane.

Also, while the atom bombs certainly caused huge amounts of death and destruction, the victims probably could not tell the difference between being killed by an a-bomb vs a conventional bomb. And it could be argued that the more conventional firebombing of Tokyo was more destructive than either atom bomb.

[theFONZ]

No, even after Nagasaki they were still reluctant to surrender. We had to keep threateng them with the prospect that we had many more we were going to drop. We even flew a B-29 over Emperor Hirohito's house while they were having a meeting to discuss surrendering.

[theFONZ]

Well I need to learn to type faster.

[Jims5543]

My RX-7 was made in Hiroshima. I guess Japan got the last laugh in the early 80's as they dominated GTU class, and again in 1993? when thay were the only Japanese manufactorer to win the 24 of Le Man.

[Joeaksa]

What happened on the 6th was that we saved an estimated 1,000,000 American lives by dropping the bomb. This was the estimate of the dead military personel we would have suffered, not to mention 3 to 4 times that loss rate on the Japanese side.

This was one that neither side could win, but until the Japanese realized it and stopped fighting the war drug on.

JoeA

[Jims5543]

Hooray!! The USA holds the distinctive honor of being the only county to use a Nuke Bomb to kill millions.

Its a proud day in American history.


Sorry to the Conseratives out there. This is not a day to be proud of but a day of horror.

**edit** Drunken "Steel Reserve 211" posts will end now.

[turbo6bar]

Originally posted by Jims5543
Sorry to the Conseratives out there. This is not a day to be proud of but a day of horror.

I didn't sense pride in the previous posts. I think the US took action deemed best, for better or worse.

[mede8er]

Actually less than 250k...even counting long term illness.......

Paybacks are a biatch.........

[Jims5543]

My apologies. My gandfather was busy fighting Hitler in Germany when this went down. He was pretty screwed up from that war. He is dead now and it saddens me to this day that he was haunted by what he saw in Germany. I cannot fathom what Hiroshima or Nagasaki was like after the bombs. Maybe the WTC X 1,000??

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by Jims5543
Hooray!! The USA holds the distinctive honor of being the only county to use a Nuke Bomb to kill millions.

Its a proud day in American history. Sorry to the Conseratives out there. This is not a day to be proud of but a day of horror.

What if your Father was one of the GI's who was going to land on mainland Japan back in 1945 to stop the war if the bomb was not used? What if he did not return and "you" never were born.

What about the million Americans who would have died, and the tens of millions who would be maimed and wounded in the war protecting your future had the bomb not been used? Do you feel for them or do you just want to wallow in sorrow and moan on chatrooms around the world?

After 60 years its easy to be a armchair quarterback but we had no choice in this decision and the sooner you realize it and move on the better.

If you really feel this way then please go over to Iraq or Afganastan and tell the terrorists how you feel. Sit down and pray or smoke a peace pipe with them and try to reason with them. Your head will return home in a box if at all but you will learn that there is only one way to fight in a situation like this and its not with your tail tucked in-between your legs running the opposite direction!

JoeA

[Racerbvd]

I see in typical liberal fashion, condem America for doing what had to be done. Do you think that when Japan floated 9,000 balloon bombs over the ocean they were going for military targets? What about our POWs and how they were treated. Thank God we had leaders back then who were willing to do what had to be done.

Balloon Bombs: What are they?

Balloon Bombs: What are they?



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Balloon bombs were hot air balloons with one 15 kilogram antipersonnel bomb and two incendiary devices attached. They were launched by Japan during World War II to wreak havoc on American cities, forests and farmlands. They were called the Fu-Go Weapon, supposedly a revenge bomb for the 1942 Doolittle raids on Tokyo. Only partially filled with air to compensate for different altitudes across the Pacific, they looked like giant jellyfish. The incendiary bomb was the biggest concern. During the dry season it could turn forest areas into an uncontrolled holocaust.


Where did they hit?

Nov. 3, 1944, Japan released the first of more than 9,000 bomb-bearing balloons. It's estimated that nearly 1,000 reached North America. They were found in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Michigan and Iowa, as well as Mexico and Canada. The last one was launched in April 1945. The last one found in North American was in Alaska in 1955 - its payload still lethal after 10 years of erosion. Picked up by a 74th Air Rescue Squadron H-5 helicopter crew from Ladd Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska, it was sent to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, for closer inspection.


Who did they kill?

On May 5, 1945, a balloon bomb killed five children and a woman near Lakeview, Ore., when it exploded as they dragged it from the woods. Taking some local kids on an outing, Reverend Archi Mitchell watched in horror as his wife, Elsie, and the five children, ages 11 to 13, were killed. Those six were the only known victims of the balloon bombs. However, dangers of the balloon bomb still may exist. Hundreds were never found and may still be detonated with the slightest contact.


Mission accomplished?

The bombs actually caused little damage, but their potential for destruction and fires was awesome, not to mention their psychological effect on the American people. U.S. strategy was to not let Japan know of the balloon bombs' effectiveness. Cooperating for national security reasons, the press showed great restraint in not publishing balloon bomb incidents. As a result, the Japanese only learned of one bomb reaching Wyoming, landing and failing to explode, so they stopped the launches after less than six months.

Source: "Japan's World War II Balloon Bomb Attacks on North America" by Robert C. Mikesh, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1973.



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[Steeve]

To those of you commending our actions in WWII, thank you. To the others, you should be ashamed. Enormous sacrifices have been made to protect the lifestyle you enjoy today.

I am so sick of hearing some idiot say "I'm against war." We're all against war, you morons. Unfortunately, some people don't respond to a hug, or time-out. When we encounter one of those people (Hitler, Mussolini (sp?), Hussein) guess what? War breaks out. Not because our leaders enjoy it, but because in their opinion it will, in the long run, save lives and improve living conditions for some country's (or more) population.

Sorry for the rant, but anyone that questions our involvement in WWII should IMMEDIATELY and PERMANENTLY exit the country. You are far too stupid for our government to support. And believe me, dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki only came after long and hard deliberations. It was not a whim. Until you are intimately involved with the decision-making process involved in something as devastating as the decision to go to war, you should be ashamed at ridiculing their decisions. Trust me, popularity polls are not a primary consideration when deciding such a horrific course of action. The best interests of national security take precedence.

Whew!

[typ550]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Joeaksa
[B]What if your Father was one of the GI's who was going to land on mainland Japan back in 1945 to stop the war if the bomb was not used? What if he did not return and "you" never were born.

I actually think about this a lot. My dad, who is 85 years old, was one of those GIs. After fighting across Belgium and Germany, he was in training to be redeployed to the Pacific Theater and would have been directly involved in the invasion of Japan.

No, I would not have wanted to have the decision to drop the A-bombs resting on my shoulders, but I think it was the lesser of evils, given the casualty estimates associated with invasion.

I get sick of hearing people position the U.S. as the bad guys. Does anyone remember Pearl Harbor or maybe the Rape of Nanking?

[Steeve]

Chris, please allow me to pass on my thanks to your dad for his service to our country. He deserves the respect of everyone here.

Steve