Harry Truman grandson to visit Hiroshima

The Telegraph ^ | 30 July 2012 | Martin Foster

[DoughtyOne]

Firebombing of Japan

http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/fire.html

[Gay State Conservative]

Hey,Clifton...remember one thing,any apology you might make while you're there is made

WITHOUT MY CONSENT!!

[Squantos]

Don’t be confused when she says she has a little Japanese in her....

[South Dakota]

We should remember that even after the first bomb, many Japs still wanted to fight on and there were a large amou.t of troops still in China

[eartrumpet]

My uncle was headed over for the big invasion but they dropped the bombs instead. They had him go over and help cleanup instead of invade. I got a live uncle and an Arisaka with bayonet, plus a sword, instead of a dead or wounded uncle.

[BIV]

I probably would not be here, or anywhere, if Truman had not dropped the bombs and ended the war.
My Dad was in the second wave of US forces that were to attack Japan. Although the second wave’s mortality prediction was a lot lower than the first, I recall that it exceeded 50%.
Thanks, President Truman.

[libertylover]

Imagine that Truman had decided not to use the bomb, then imagine what the mothers of the 2,500,000 American casulties would do when they found out that we had a weapon that would have ended the war but that Truman decided not to use it because, well, that weapon is just too mean spirited.

[MadeInOhio]

One of my favorite books as a teen-ager was a collection of interviews with Harry Truman by writer Merle Miller. If I recall the text correctly, Truman responded to bombing critics by saying he had been waiting patiently for an apology for Pearl Harbor that never came.
In addition, consider the response he gave to David Susskind’s proposal to film Truman on a tour of Hiroshima. He said he would go, but that he wouldn’t “kiss their (Japanese) ass.”
These comments were uttered around 1961 so Truman’s views on the bombing may have changed before his death a decade later.
But I doubt it.

[real saxophonist]

I have a signed photo of Mr. Truman from when I was a kid.
It was addressed to 'Master' 'real saxophonist'. (my name)
My dad commanded an LCT on Utah Beach, then was an XO on an LST on its way to the Pacific when the war ended.

[dr_lew]

I went to Hiroshima in the 80s and was surprised at how compact the place was.

It wasn't that big a bomb, after all, and after Nagasaki we had nothing. The whole thing was a bluff, but it worked.

[Verginius Rufus]

My father was in the US Marines in WWII (two Purple Hearts, one Bronze Star, one Silver Star)...I asked him once if he thought Truman made the right decision using the atom bombs and he gave me a resounding "yes." He was in the hospital when the bombs were dropped but would have been out in time for the invasion of Japan--so very likely they saved his life.

I wasn't really in doubt about his attitude--he had favored using the bomb in the Vietnam War.

[rlmorel]

This was my dad speaking at our hometown Memorial Day observation back in 1995, which was the 50 year anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

I don't recall his exact words, but they were something to the effect of "It was the right thing to do and he hoped if there were similar circumstances, we would unhesitatingly do it again.

Or something to that effect. He got in a few local newspapers and got some hate mail and phone calls for it. The banner on the story said something to the effect of "Retired Naval Officer calls Hiroshima and Nagasaki "a good thing"

God bless my dad. Those negative comments didn't bother him a bit. He was not at all the kind to say they could kiss his ass for all he cared, but I know that is exactly what he felt.

[garjog]

” Hey,Clifton...remember one thing,any apology you might make while you’re there is made”

Anyone know if Clifton is an Obamabot?

[A.A. Cunningham]

We should remember that even after the first bomb, many Japs still wanted to fight on

We should also remember that even after the second bomb, many Japs still wanted to fight on. The largest air raid of WWII was flown against Japan on 14 August 1945, over 2000 aircraft.

[Godwin1]

Clifton Daniel is today a Chicago Democrat with an insignificant administrative sinecure in the HQ of the City Colleges of Chicago,a network of five or six city-run community colleges. The colleges, and especially the HQ office, are patronage hives for connected third and fourth tier Chicago Democrats. He just might apologize.

[publius911]

Harry Truman has an attention whore grandson?
Whod'a guessed?!!?

[A_Former_Democrat]

They absolutely didn’t care how many men, women, or children. It was all about saving their sorry hides. Civilians were being trained to fight the invasion. American casualties alone were upwardly estimated at a million.

The irony is, Truman didn’t even know about the Manhattan Project until the death of FDR. A few months later, he drops the bomb and the terrible war finally comes to an end.

[moonshot925]

Over 5 million OWI notice #2106 warning leaflets were dropped on 35 Japanese cities(including Hiroshima and Nagasaki) on 1 August 1945.

The Japanese text on the reverse side of the leaflet carried the following warning:

"Read this carefully as it may save your life or the life of a relative or friend. In the next few days, some or all of the cities named on the reverse side will be destroyed by American bombs. These cities contain military installations and workshops or factories which produce military goods. We are determined to destroy all of the tools of the military clique which they are using to prolong this useless war. But, unfortunately, bombs have no eyes. So, in accordance with America's humanitarian policies, the American Air Force, which does not wish to injure innocent people, now gives you warning to evacuate the cities named and save your lives. America is not fighting the Japanese people but is fighting the military clique which has enslaved the Japanese people. The peace which America will bring will free the people from the oppression of the military clique and mean the emergence of a new and better Japan. You can restore peace by demanding new and good leaders who will end the war. We cannot promise that only these cities will be among those attacked but some or all of them will be, so heed this warning and evacuate these cities immediately."

[moonshot925]

and after Nagasaki we had nothing

---

Not true.

Another plutonium core was completed and ready to be shipped to Tinian on 13 August 1945.

There were three Model 1561 "Fat Man" bomb cases on Tinian assembled and ready to go on 15 August 1945.

Major General Leslie Groves, military director of the Manhattan Project, sent a memorandum to General of the Army George Marshall, Army Chief of Staff, in which he wrote that "the next bomb . . should be ready for delivery on the first suitable weather after 17 or 18 August."

Tibbets was chosen to drop the third bomb and this was the target list submitted to Secretary of War Henry Stimson on 13 August 1945:

1. Sapporo
2. Hakodate
3. Oyabu
4. Yokosuka
5. Osaka
6. Nagoya

Groves estimated that 3-4 bombs could be produced a month starting in September 1945.

Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire by Richard B. Frank