Thank you all for your service
Posted on 08/06/2006 6:59:07 AM PDT by AirBorn
1945: US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima
The first atomic bomb has been dropped by a United States aircraft on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. President Harry S Truman, announcing the news from the cruiser, Augusta, in the mid-Atlantic, said the device contained the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT and was more than 2,000 times more powerful than the largest bomb used to date.
An accurate assessment of the damage caused has so far been impossible due to a huge cloud of impenetrable dust covering the target. Hiroshima is one of the chief supply depots for the Japanese army.
The bomb was dropped from an American B-29 Superfortress, known as Enola Gay, at 0815 local time. The plane's crew say they saw a column of smoke rising and intense fires springing up.
We found the Japanese in our locality were not eager to befriend us - after all, they had not long ago had the most fearful weapon of all time dropped on their doorstep
People's War memories »
The President said the atomic bomb heralded the "harnessing of the basic power of the universe". It also marked a victory over the Germans in the race to be first to develop a weapon using atomic energy.
President Truman went on to warn the Japanese the Allies would completely destroy their capacity to make war.
The Potsdam declaration issued 10 days ago, which called for the unconditional surrender of Japan, was a last chance for the country to avoid utter destruction, the President said.
"If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on Earth. Behind this air attack will follow by sea and land forces in such number and power as they have not yet seen, but with fighting skill of which they are already aware."
The British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who has replaced Winston Churchill at Number 10, read out a statement prepared by his predecessor to MPs in the Commons.
It said the atomic project had such great potential the government felt it was right to pursue the research and to pool information with atomic scientists in the US.
As Britain was considered within easy reach of Germany and its bombers, the decision was made to set up the bomb-making plants in the US.
The statement continued: "By God's mercy, Britain and American science outpaced all German efforts. These were on a considerable scale, but far behind. The possession of these powers by the Germans at any time might have altered the result of the war."
Mr Churchill's statement said considerable efforts had been made to disrupt German progress - including attacks on plants making constituent parts of the bomb.
He ended: "We must indeed pray that these awful agencies will be made to conduce peace among the nations and that instead of wreaking measureless havoc upon the entire globe they become a perennial fountain of world prosperity."
Far reaching Political and Socio ramifications will continue debates on the Great power of new Atomic weapons--the debate on a world with total destructive power- for ages to come.
On this day I think every American should reflect back again to give a silent prayer for : ---all those who bravely served in our Military,and Present, ---for the then leadership that was wise enough to decide to use this new weapon, ---and for ther fact that it was a Democratic-Based Nation such as AMERICA FIRST that was able to develope and have use of this devestating destructive power in order to halt the aggression of such Nations as Japan- and to also set the stage for America's FUTURE protection against the very next Big Threat against the Whole World Again some short few years later; the Spread of COMMUNISM and Communist Russia's plans for world domination too.
America has almost always been at the forefront of such technological advances and Thanks be to God that it was us ; a Country Founded on Religion and Religious Freedom, Individual Rights and the beliefs in the Principles of ; Life, Liberty and pursuit of Personal Happiness set in a Democratic Belief System.
And again:
Thank God for Our Brave U.S. Military and all who have served this Country Bravely through-out our History- and our Past Presidents such as Ronald Reagan and Present President George Bush for seeing the wisdom that it is only the Threat of Force AND Force that keeps a Free Nation Free.
And Thank God that at this present dangerous time in the Worlds' History- that the likes of John "U.N." Kerry, Hillary clinton, John Muthra, Howard Dean and the rest are no-where NEAR any such power that lies in the White House and the Presidency.
Darth Airborne
If only Harry Truman was in charge today...
He made the announcement from a SHIP? Did the press have a hayday (heyday?) with it, back then? ;-P
It was the afternoon of August 5, 1945. To a group of six hundred army officers assigned to the Hiroshima garrison, Professor Yoshitaka Mimura of Hiroshima Bunri University, a theoretical physicist, was explaining the scientific possibilities of new weapons which might reverse the tide of war. Japan had little Navy or Air Force left. Within months a massive invasion of the home islands seemed likely. “Could you tell us, sir”, a young lieutenant colonel asked, “what an atomic bomb is? Is there any possibility that the bomb will be deployed by the end of this war?”Mimura chalked a rough sketch on the blackboard to illustrate the [nuclear] reactions required. Scientists at Tokyo University, he explained, have “theoretically penetrated” the secrets of nuclear fission. If they could apply their theories practically, an atomic bomb “could be smaller than a piece of caramel candy, but, if exploded five hundred meters above a populated city, it could destroy 200,000 lives.”
“When can we have that bomb?” “Well, it is difficult to say”, Mimura answered, knowing nothing of any Japanese enterprise to apply fission theory to bomb-making. “But I can tell you this much: not before the end of this war.”
And using the bomb saved hundreds of thousands of American and Japanese lives by overwhelming the Japanese and destroying their will to fight along with killing about 100,000 Japanese (Nagasaki bomb did about the same).
Roll another one.
There is a lesson here.
Same here, liege. My father would have been part of an invasion force instead of an occupation force. I visited Hiroshima last year. I was rather surprised that the museum there gave a relatively objective account of the dropping of the bomb, and did not neglect to point out that it was the result of Japanese initiation of the war. I think that represents a change from what used to be there. Also, the actual site over which the bomb was dropped is not part of the museum or surrounding "peace park," but rather is on an obscure, hard-to-find side street, in front of a restaurant, with only a small marker to signify it. No, the restaurant did not have an A-Bomb theme or otherwise try to cash in on its unique location.
My dad survived a crash landing in the CBI theater but was ready to be called back. The jumping off point was Rough and Ready Island, Stockton, California.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1521072/posts
Unit 731 - Research and Bump List. Gets Disturbing, Read at Your Own Risk
same here
Time to start a tradition of setting off fireworks on Aug. 6.
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