The 1st & 2nd Atomic Bomb

[floydragsdale]

That was the begining of the end of WWII, in August 1945.

Hundreds of thousands of American Infantry men would not have to go to the Pacific Theater of War. To say the least, it was a time to celebrate; WWII was over after atomic bomb number two was unleashed on Japan.

Speculators, in those days, were wondering how long it would be before other countries had the "bomb".

Sixty-five years have elaped since August 1945. Human beings continue to devise ways to take lives and save lives. Will we ever learn to catch up with technology and live peacefuly with it?

Older men learn how to create destruction and wage war with it. Yet, it's the younger men and women who have to pay an aweme price for that folly.

The world has never seemed the same since that 1st Atom Bomb was dropped.

Yet, thank god that the USA got it before Hitler did.

Floyd

[connie]

Floyd,

Thank you for bringing up this subject. You covered a lot of territory well and with understanding.

At the time the bombs were dropped, Dad was on a journey toward a Belgian port. His footlocker was packed for the next front, and he was headed home on a 30 day leave before reporting. I never knew this until I read his letters home. Despite the fact that these events removed him from harms way, when he heard the news of the first bomb, he noted that if the reports of the devastation were accurate, he wished that such a weapon had never been unleashed. He worried what would happen if such technology ever fell into "the wrong hands." He had seen first hand the devastation that just a howitzer bombardment could leave. And he had seen the destruction of bombing runs... He knew the horrors that civilian populations faced in a time of war.

I appreciate the sensitivity with which you approached this subject, Floyd. We may argue forever whether or not those bombs should have been dropped. But it's hard to argue the fact that there is both release and sadness associated with those events and their aftermath. I only know that had the bombs not been dropped the odds against my ever existing would have gone up. And still I wonder...

A doctor imbedded in the 106th Infantry Division's 590th Field Artillery Battalion (who,like many in the division, became a POW) has another story to tell. He did not know how he felt at the time the bombs were dropped. But he was sent to Japan in a medical research capacity after the war to monitor the effects of the bomb on the children born after it fell. His story can be found in the book
Children of the Atomic Bomb. (The title speaks of the children he observed as well as metaphorically referring to all of us in the sense that Floyd observed: those of us who live in a world changed by the bomb). The book tells of his experiences with the 106th Infantry Division during WWII as well as his research. I have read portions. I haven't yet had the courage to make my way through all of it. But I have met the author. He is an amazing and gentle man who carries his concerns with grace and conviction. books.google.com/books?id=J16GSQ5qkLgC&dq=Children+of+the+Atomic+Bomb&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=3YJlTJvpFYTCsAP8-t33DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CEMQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

[floydragsdale]

Hi Connie:

Thanks for your thoughts and the information about the book. I read the "Forward, by J.W. Dower and also the Prologue."

Whether the U.S.A. dropped the bomb or not, bringing the war to a conclusion would have been a disaster in tems of human life; either way, atom bomb or no atom bomb.

The Japanase militaty and civilians were willing to fight "to the last person" if their mainland was invaded by the U.S.A. or anyone else. There was plenty of evidence to that fact after the war ended.

An Uncle of mine was a Division Commander for the U.S. Army in the Philipinne, Islands at the time of Pearl Harbor. He was taken prisoner there in May of 1942. I met him after the War. Some of the horrible storys he told me about being a prisioner of the Japanese Army would make a persons hair stand on end. I is hard to believe that man can be so inhuman to his fellow mankind.

The German Army almost had the bomb before we preoduced it. I didn't think the majoriy of people realize that.

Nevertheless, the world has never seemed the same, to me, since those two bombs were unleashed against Japan. Who paid the price? Of course and as always, mostly the inonent

Floyd