Nightmare in Nagasaki
60 years ago
Events that would change the world would unfold and forever scar humanity. To this day we feel the effects of those two devestating acts. My world is a different place as a direct result of something that happened before I was ever born. Not that I wish to have been around for what was one of humanities darkest events. I'm glad I missed it.
In that time the world has evolved and moved on. Things have changed but one thing has remained the same after all those years. 60 Years ago today the second of two of the most horrific bombings in history took place. Nagasaki Japan was hit with the second nuclear bomb in history and the world hasn't been the same since. The fear of nuclear weapons permeates everything that takes place around the world.
August 9th Nagasaki awoke and went about its business in the usual manner. I'm sure the event only 3 days previous at Hiroshima weighed heavy in their minds, but they wee at war and didn't understand the full impact of the bomb yet. The B-29 bomber "Boxcar" reached the sky over Kokura on the morning of August 9 but abandoned the primary target because of smoke cover and changed course for Nagasaki, the secondary target, where it dropped the atomic bomb at 11:02 a.m. The world was changed for ever. The Japanese surrendered shortly after and who could blame them? How many more cities would have been melted into slag before it was all over. Granted it was war and both sides had their massacres to atone for, this was one hell of a way to close it all off.
To this day many countries, and even the world at large, live in fear of another nuclear attack as we have refined our technologies. These days they needs only a small plane or even a ground based vehicle to launch from. They can now be delivered in mass quantities and erase entire countries from the map with a single attack. Here's hoping we never see another atomic attack in our lifetimes, or ever, for that matter. Unfortunately though, it isn't likely unless everyone lays them down together because everyone is afraid someone is hiding some.America and Russia disarmed the bulk of theirs in numbers only. The outdated technologies were retired and the world celebrated. Quietly they replaced them with a key number of more effective ones. Now armed with fewer but better warheads, the countries that carry these arms are more dangerous than ever.
Isn't human nature grand?
posted by Rainypete at 12:00 AM
9 Comments:
I HATE thinking about nuclear weapons. I've seen too many movies that portray what an attack would be like...both during and after. Horrifying...all of it....those who die right from the start and those that linger.
If you get the sundance channel there is a new documentary on this, using footage that the government confiscated from journalists. I haven't seen it, but have heard that it is really interesting.
it simply amazes me to here "that" generation still refer to the japanese as "japs" and feel that they got what they deserved. would i be a bigot if i harbored bitter feelings towards those bigots?
I just read an article in the paper about this very thing. It's all very frightening.
It's an unfortunate paradox, but in order for there to be peace, you have to have the means to protect your citizens/country, and therefore, possess terrible weapons like that.
I'm glad you posted about Nagasaki rather than Hiroshima. It was something I'd thought about doing myself.
People tend to forget that there were two bombs.
Thought provoking post.
did anyone see any flags that were held at half mass?
I'm glad you posted about this.
The second bomb was planned as our government was afraid the Japanese government would not believe we had the means to make any more of these weapons. Same rationale for not doing a demonstration on an uninhabited island. Recent research has confirmed this suspicion.
Few people talk about Nagasaki, or even the firebombing of Tokyo beforehand, which was knowingly done to attack civilians -- a very significant change in the American way of doing war. Few people even talk about Hiroshima, actually. I have an origami crane from the Hiroshima Peace Center hanging in my cubicle. I work at a Dept. of Defense office. Some people get irked by it. On the other hand, it was given me by one of the analysts here, a retired Navy Captain who did a tour in Vietnam.
I hate human nature.
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