80 years ago, on August 6 & 9, 1945, the world changed.

[fuzzybuddy]

80 years ago, the first and second atomic bombs were dropped on cities, filled with people. The atomic age began. We were the first generation that had to live with the "bomb".

 

[Murrmurr]

Warning——-Video contains some very gruesome scenes. If you are sensitive to such traumatic scenes, or have PTSD, please consider not viewing this YouTube video.

I'll bet a lot of us have seen much worse images of those bombings. My 3rd-grade class was shown images of victims who survived horrible injuries, and we were what?...8 and 9 years old? And I saw them again in high school.

 

[Marcy Sheiner]

Yes, it's a grim day.

 

[debodun]

I was just thinking about that anniversary.

 

[Rakaia]

I believe that I might not have been born if the bombs had not forced Hirohito into capitulation.
Hopefully we and other generations will never see nuclear warfare again.

 

[Tom52]

As terrible as dropping the bombs were I am sure many more lives would have been lost by continuation of the war.

Chances are high that I would not be here today if there was an amphibious landing on the Japanese mainland. That was definitely in the planning stage.

 

[RadishRose]

I think I was 14 years old when I read the book 'Hiroshima' . It was a very short book but I was so moved, so disgusted by the horror of it all.

I went to the kitchen where my mother was and told her how bad I thought this bomb was and how unfair it was to the civilians and children of Japan. My mother sat down with me and explained that we dropped many 10s of thousands of leaflets all over Japan especially that area, that explained something terrible is coming from the Americans if they don't surrender. If they surrendered they would be saved but these leaflets warned that an unbelievably horrifying thing was going to happen, if no surrender.

I felt a little better. Not a lot. my mother being the bride of an American soldier who enlisted and served in the war in Europe was wounded, understood the situation more deeply than I could at the time,

 

[outlander]

Definitely one of the low points of humanity...

 

[Grampa Don]

The fire bombing of Tokyo was just as terrible and it was aimed at civilians. When it comes to winning a war, all empathy goes out the window.

 

[rgp]

Definitely one of the low points of humanity...

Well, IMO the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor was indeed lower.

 

[jujube]

I believe that I might not have been born if the bombs had not forced Hirohito into capitulation.
Hopefully we and other generations will never see nuclear warfare again.

Same here. My dad served on an LST in the Pacific and they were sent to Japan after the surrender. He was there for a few weeks until he was sent back to the U.S. Had the war raged on, there was a chance his ship could have been sunk. I was born in 1947.

 

[outlander]

Well, IMO the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor was indeed lower.

Both were tragic, people died.

War is horrible and the Japanese did a terrible thing. But the one difference is they attacked a military target. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were mostly civilian casualties. The warning leaflets dropped prior doesn't change that. Let's not forget about the fire bombing of Tokyo, way too many civilian casualties again.

It was war and America did what it thought it had to do. The Japanese were in no way innocent.
War is awful any way you look at it. But more effort to keep civilian casualties to a minimum would help. Yes, sadly in the history of war this seldom happens...

 

[dusty]

Same here. My dad served on an LST in the Pacific and they were sent to Japan after the surrender. He was there for a few weeks until he was sent back to the U.S. Had the war raged on, there was a chance his ship could have been sunk. I was born in 1947.

Same here. My Dad was at Pearl when it was bombed. After the new year he was on a supply ship for the Missouri. I was born a year after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and he me after the Enola Gay.