77 years ago yesterday (Aug 9th) at 11:02 am, Nagasaki became the second city to be hit by an atomic bomb. "Fat Boy" exploded 469 meters (~1500ft) above ground. The resulting explosion generated heat of 3,900C (~7,000F).
The north of the city vanished instantly.
An estimated 70,000 were killed and 75,000 injured. Only 150 of the dead were soldiers. Only 150!
It is worth noting again that Douglas MacArthur and much of the US military leadership favored targeted bombing, in a large part because it meant fewer noncombatants being inadvertently killed. Curtis LeMay, however, favored killing everyone. In his mind, if civilians died—good!—maybe it would lower motivation and make the people turn against the government.
After the war he famously admitted that had the US lost he would have been tried as a war criminal. He was a war criminal and deserved to rot in prison for his crime. If there is an afterlife, we can only hope he is getting what he deserves.
Robert Oppenheimer, the man who created the atomic bomb, was furious at the bombing of Nagasaki. He and his staff at Los Alamos saw no reason for another bomb after Hiroshima. He would turn against nuclear weapons after this and call for them to be banned, telling President Truman that he had "blood on his hands."
I don't have up to date stats—I imagine as people are starting to die simply of old age, it's getting harder to tell which deaths were directly due to radiation sickness. But as of 2014, officially 162,083 had died as the results of radiation from the Nagasaki blast. This was unnecessary, wrong, and should never be repeated.
I have unfortunately never visited Nagasaki. It's on my list. Maybe when my kids get older and I can travel more freely. So I have no photos from the peace park there. Because of this, I republish this one from Hiroshima.
安らかに眠って下さい 過ちは 繰返しませぬから。
Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil.
If you haven't read it yet, go read my piece on The Bombing of Hiroshima. This is the one I published several years ago updated for last year, not the one from a few days ago.
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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. |
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Hmm... every time when I think or hear about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I can't find the words but I want to know more and I need to know more. Sadly, if we learn and search about wars, there is always a selfish meaningless reason. It just benefits only a few groups of people in every country. We have to keep on sharing like you to not forget about this. Thank you for sharing again!
I know the feeling. I hate reading more, actually. These events always make me so sad and so part of me just wants to ignore it and pretend everything is fine. But I force myself to learn about them and spread the knowledge. Dresden in Germany is another one. So many meaningless massacres. But I think it's important to keep the knowledge out there.