80 Years ago today... Hiroshima

[crimsonaudio]

“Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds.”

 

[Elefantman]

The man who flew the mission, Paul Tibbets

 

[dtgreg]

War is hell.

 

[Bodhisattva]

If anything falls under the category of "necessary evil," this action does. I can't imagine the weight of the decision to order the bombing and then to carry it out. But, in the end, it surely saved tens of thousands - if not hundreds of thousands - of lives.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

If anything falls under the category of "necessary evil," this action does. I can't imagine the weight of the decision to order the bombing and then to carry it out. But, in the end, it surely saved tens of thousands - if not hundreds of thousands - of lives.

Agreed, Bodhi. And not just Allied / American lives. The Japanese civilian population would have been destroyed. A lot of that is because they would have been pressed into service in the military (whether uniformed or not) and thereby would have become combatants.

Thankfully, we'll never know the number that were saved. But I have seen some estimates into seven figures total for both sides.

 

[OakMtn4Bama]

Probably over a million at least. We had no choice.