Hiroshima bombed 71 years ago today

[Baz]

One week later Japan surrenders.

Godspeed to all who are lost in times of war.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Baz

One week later Japan surrenders.

Godspeed to all who are lost in times of war.

11 years ago today I met General Tibet's.

The Japanese did not just surrender because of the bomb. They surrendered because the Russian army routed the Japanese army in Manchuria. The Japanese felt that so long as they held Manchuria they could hold out against the USA.

[Danimal16]

Bob Greene's book "Duty: A Father, His Son, and the Man Who Won the War". Is a great read about General Tibbets.

[red-beard]

I'm watching Fat Man and Little Boy

[Evans, Marv]

Sad days in history. They dropped the Little Boy on Hiroshima on my third birthday.

[Seahawk]

When I was the Chief Government Pilot at Sikorsky, I commuted back and forth during the week from Maryland.

I rented a room from Yong Lee, a former USMC pilot now working for Sikorsky as a test pilot. His house was about a mile and a half from the factory in Bridgeport, CT. You would look the rest of your life to find a better man than Yong. He was a no kidding master black belt in something hard but the nicest, most gentle soul. We spent a lot of time together riding mountain bikes and playing sports. I didn't have children at the time but he was more than welcoming of my nephew and his friends coming to stay when I had to be in Bridgeport for the weekend. A gentleman.

Yong's family was from Korea. His father had been a slave during WWII working in mines outside of either Hiroshima of Nagasaki.

The story is long and, in my mind, the elegance of legal immigration and the story starts with Mr. Lee's salvation. Mr. Lee told me that he knew he was saved after the atom bomb was dropped. Everyone knew.

He and his wife raised four children, worked and separated as a couple for years as Mr. Lee came legally to America and built up the equity to get his family to the promised land. All four children earned masters degrees and two flew for the military, Yong's brother was a Navy pilot.

I always think of the Lee's on this day.

May 11th, 1996, I had the unfortunate responsibility, because I knew the family, to call both Mr. Lee, who was at work, and Mrs. Lee who was at home, when their son, Yong, died in a crash at the Sikorsky Factory.

Mr. Lee, a man who worked as a slave for Japan, survived because of America's commitment and willingness; a man who sacrificed after his slavery to get here, to prosper, to make a better life for his family, cried to me, with me, that day when his son died.

That is Hiroshima to me: The salvation of a man, his family, their greatness and my small part in their unique American story.

[Baz]

^^^ Thanks for sharing that poignant story with us, Paul. It always goes back to perspective, doesn't it?

[pcardude]

I don't think this day should be about the bomb. I'll spend my day remembering all the innocent lives lost in Hiroshima.

[pcardude]

Originally Posted by Baz

^^^ Thanks for sharing that poignant story with us, Paul. It always goes back to perspective, doesn't it?

Oh hey thanks for parfing this up. Mods please move the thread.

[pcardude]

Since we are PARFtarding the **** out of this I'll post my own link.

The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki | The Dangerous History Podcast

[Joe Bob]

They deserved it......

[pcardude]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

When I was the Chief Government Pilot at Sikorsky, I commuted back and forth during the week from Maryland.

I rented a room from Yong Lee, a former USMC pilot now working for Sikorsky as a test pilot. His house was about a mile and a half from the factory in Bridgeport, CT. You would look the rest of your life to find a better man than Yong. He was a no kidding master black belt in something hard but the nicest, most gentle soul. We spent a lot of time together riding mountain bikes and playing sports. I didn't have children at the time but he was more than welcoming of my nephew and his friends coming to stay when I had to be in Bridgeport for the weekend. A gentleman.

Yong's family was from Korea. His father had been a slave during WWII working in mines outside of either Hiroshima of Nagasaki.

The story is long and, in my mind, the elegance of legal immigration and the story starts with Mr. Lee's salvation. Mr. Lee told me that he knew he was saved after the atom bomb was dropped. Everyone knew.

He and his wife raised four children, worked and separated as a couple for years as Mr. Lee came legally to America and built up the equity to get his family to the promised land. All four children earned masters degrees and two flew for the military, Yong's brother was a Navy pilot.

I always think of the Lee's on this day.

May 11th, 1996, I had the unfortunate responsibility, because I knew the family, to call both Mr. Lee, who was at work, and Mrs. Lee who was at home, when their son, Yong, died in a crash at the Sikorsky Factory.

Mr. Lee, a man who worked as a slave for Japan, survived because of America's commitment and willingness; a man who sacrificed after his slavery to get here, to prosper, to make a better life for his family, cried to me, with me, that day when his son died.

That is Hiroshima to me: The salvation of a man, his family, their greatness and my small part in their unique American story.

It is refreshing to see someone who thinks about this in relation to a person and not a bomb. I personally knew someone who worked on the Manhattan Project. She spent most of her later years experiencing remorse and regret for being part of it. She told me about having to study radiation effects on animals and she broke down and cried, I remember it vividly even though I was young back then. One persons salvation can be the destruction of another.

[varmint]

here's the last hiroshima thread. are we starting over or picking up from where we left off?


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-politics-religion/916122-atomic-bomb-attack-japan.html

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by pcardude

It is refreshing to see someone who thinks about this in relation to a person and not a bomb. I personally knew someone who worked on the Manhattan Project. She spent most of her later years experiencing remorse and regret for being part of it. She told me about having to study radiation effects on animals and she broke down and cried, I remember it vividly even though I was young back then. One persons salvation can be the destruction of another.

I understand.

However, Yong Lee's father was a slave...his destruction was assured without the intervention of the bomb, he and his future family histories dust. He was treated like an animal and would have died like one.

This was not his doing.

Japan committed atrocities on a horrific scale before the US entered the war.

I do not romanticize war. I find that the decisions made in times of great peril are much more complex than the pulling of the ultimate trigger, the dropping of the bomb.

I do know that it saved Mr. Lee' life, a slaves life and that he had a great and prosperous family.

[Jrboulder]

Well for future reference I guess it's not a good idea to try fight a large scale war as an island nation with no oil, little food, mined waterways, no merchant marine, a destroyed navy, a single-use-only Air Force and no allies against a country that during the course of the war has the extra capacity to develope the atomic bomb and the entire delivery system from nothing.

[pcardude]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

I understand.

However, Yong Lee's father was a slave...his destruction was assured without the intervention of the bomb, he and his future family histories dust. He was treated like an animal and would have died like one.

This was not his doing.

Japan committed atrocities on a horrific scale before the US entered the war.

I do not romanticize war. I find that the decisions made in times of great peril are much more complex than the pulling of the ultimate trigger, the dropping of the bomb.

I do know that it saved Mr. Lee' life, a slaves life and that he had a great and prosperous family.

All sides committed atrocities back then. Looking back at this part of our history, I don't know how humans still exist today.

[tcar]

Originally Posted by tabs

11 years ago today I met General Tibet's.

The Japanese did not just surrender because of the bomb. They surrendered because the Russian army routed the Japanese army in Manchuria. The Japanese felt that so long as they held Manchuria they could hold out against the USA.

They also knew that if Russia got into Japan, it would be divided up like Germany, and Russia would have an excellent seaport on the Pacific that they would NEVER relinquish.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by pcardude

All sides committed atrocities back then. Looking back at this part of our history, I don't know how humans still exist today.

Absolutely, all sides committed atrocities. It wasn't limited to the Japanese or the Germans.

[BE911SC]

Man, this thread went down the PC s h i tt er quickly.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

War is hell. For real - reading the accounts and hearing a few of them from people that survived is shocking. The ones near ground zero for both were the lucky ones, here one instant and vaporized in a few milliseconds before their brains could process what happened. The not-so-lucky were the ones that got incinerated by the fires, had their eardrums ruptured by the shock wave, were blinded by the flash or who died horribly over weeks or months from radiation poisoning. Reading the story of the people who drank the "black rain" and how it utterly ravaged their organs and systems is gut-wrenching. Most of those who died this way were civilians. They weren't military brass. They loved their country and got caught up in wanting to see victory just like we and everyone else did. Probably many thought Pearl Harbor was a tragedy and a mistake, likely didn't know much about the brutal hand-to-hand fighting by the Imperial Army or things like the Rape of Nanking. If they did, it was probably dismissed as propaganda lies.

The bombs were terrible but I support their use knowing that the alternative would've been so much worse - grievous losses on all sides with months of bloody fighting. No question it was the right decision from a body count perspective, but still horrible as war always is.

If we take anything away from Hiroshima and Nagasaki it should be that we should NEVER be quick to go to war and it should only ever be an absolute last resort. We are far too quick to go to our fists and believe we can have wars that are somehow "clean" or neat. The reality is they can get out of hand quickly and they always are about who is capable of doing the worse things to the other people. It'd be nice if our so-called "leaders" remembered that on occasion instead of glorifying it. It's hell in every sense of the word.