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80th Anniversary of Hiroshima
Today marks 80 years since the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The attack—the first military use of a nuclear bomb—precipitated the end of the US war with Japan and killed an estimated 140,000 people over several months (see photos).
On Aug. 6, 1945, US Col. Paul Tibbets flew a B-29 bomber from the island of Tinian to Hiroshima carrying a 9,700-pound uranium bomb nicknamed “Little Boy.” At about 8:15 am, the bomb detonated roughly 1,900 feet over the city center, sending surface temperatures above 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Then-President Harry Truman had agreed to bomb Hiroshima, which had a civilian population of 300,000 and about 43,000 soldiers, to convince Japan to surrender. See Tibbets’ reflections here (w/video). See survivors’ reflections here.
The US followed the Hiroshima bombing with an atomic bomb targeting Nagasaki three days later. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945. Learn more about the Manhattan Project via 1440 Topics here.
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I remember the Christian Brothers discussing in class about the “Just War” doctrine and the use of Atomic Bombs. Of course, I brought the topic home. Strangely, my war time uncles, both vets and essential civilian workers, were quiet or muted about how necessary it was, but my aunts were totally fine with it. Freshly, “educated” by the “Just War” doctrine, I asked “what about the children?”. That ended the topic discussion. I think forever. Or, at least forever, in my presence.
I ask the same question now for Gaza. As I did for Kuwait, Afghanistan, the Holocaust, Cambodia, … … essentially any time I hear about “fighting”. Makes me sad to think of the children in all the war zones. As well as living in poverty around the USA and the world.
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” ― Dwight D. Eisenhower
I wonder how many Einsteins, Pasteurs, Bannings, Mozarts, and DaVincis have died never getting to make their contributions to humanity.
Sigh!
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Posted by reinkefj 
Reinke Faces Life 