Hiroshima

[Beryl M]

Hiroshima at 62 With Time Running Out

The atomic bomb with the strange name of "Little Boy" ushered in the nuclear age when it created an instant hell on earth at Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Now, 62 years later, with the proliferation of nuclear weapons states and threats of producing new nuclear bombs, we must collectively pledge and demand the dark nuclear cloud hanging over humanity be eradicated through the rapid and total elimination of all nuclear weapons from the face of the earth. No politician in any country should be elected to a high office without making this pledge

 

[Darby]

Nice sentiment but the fact is nuclear weapons have kept us free of a third world war, without them I can think of many what we call small wars that would have led to a major conflict.

Feel free to disagree.

 

[Beryl M]

I know I am a bit of an idealist –when in retrospect I wonder how many elected who to high office would keep their pledge. .

If the sovereign nation of the United States of America were about to be violently overthrown, we have no doubt that tactical nuclear weapons would be deployed against the invading forces, and perhaps the capitals of those forces would be flattened by nuclear bombs.-

What may be used as a show to deter others can be misunderstood as a quest for global domination, and to humble the powerless . . . If the existing nuclear powers were serious about nuclear non-proliferation, they would minimize their atomic thresholds to levels that nobody might feel humiliated from.

Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not a dove, I don’t believe in pacifism and think free nations need to be strong to be respected, and that such strength includes military power.

(Each year on August 6th the news media pictures, stories and editorials, tell of the horror of the US using atomic bombs. We see the photos of Japanese victims, dead and alive, their scars tainting the morality of the bomb's developers, but where are the photos and details of our veterans' graves and those still living with the horror of mortal combat with, and imprisonment by the Japanese including some of those in my dad’s 605 Squadron?

For sixty-two years since winning this war for a meaningful peace, misinformed persons over the world accept from an unapologetic Japan, its ongoing despicable campaign to lament, decry, and condemn atomic death at the hands of the United States of America. . . But where is the cry to remember history's fanatical and depraved acts of a militaristic Japan killing and raping its way conquering all of Asia... before the bomb was dropped? )

However, it was a different time in history and one we will never forget. . .

Strength is a composite beast, and most of a country’s strength is actually educational, environmental and economic parameters. In that very context, engagement is seen as the far more promising approach compared to military threats.

Then, there is also a consistency problem. Why should Iran feel threatened, if other aggressive dwarf countries such as Pakistan, Israel and North Korea are allowed to get away with atomic non-proliferation?

I wonder myself, how my above thinking could be applied in the current Iran crisis. Well, let’s look at the crisis from an Iranian point of view. Why shouldn’t the country have nuclear power and weapons? Other economic Mickey Mouse countries as the mentioned North Korea, and Pakistan, enjoy the bomb. Isn’t it great to have parades on the main plaza with tanks and rockets? It helps a lot to boost morale, particularly when the kids at home have nothing got to eat, and the totally failed and corrupt governments have lost sight of the last economic silver lining.

Nuclear weapons are, in many ways, like the desperate barking of a hungry and weakened stray dog.

This said, the future Iranian bomb has a particularly worrying aspect.

What to do? Classical appeasement has failed already. Yet, continuing persistent engagement (rather than sabre-rattling) is seen as the only option. Facing continued deafness, the event of a total oil embargo should be flagged. Last not least - it is the mix of half-hearted engagement, and empty threats that have caused 50 % of the crisis. The other 50 % stem from a ruthless, hardened and ambitious leader, surrounded by crooked and corrupt clerics, willing to test the edge of war.

Be it as it may, there is only one certainty among the many uncertainties: nuclear weapons will continue to haunt the world. The evil genie has escaped from Pandora’s Box, and seems unwilling to return.

Let me finish this article with a reflection - We are far from respecting or tolerating each other, and non-human life is hardly respected at all. When will the day come where we can see another human as a brother, and sky, earth and ocean are free from warfare? Only then, so I believe, can words such as peace and freedom live up to their fullest dimension.

 

[postie]

Unfortunately, you can't UNinvent something.

 

[dennis]

Anyone interested how our lads and allies were brutally treated by the Japanese & Korean's,should read ......
"Surviving The Sword" Prisoner's of the Japanese 1942-1945
For all those poor lads ,pity the bomb was not dropped before

 

[Beryl M]

Many of the men of dad's 605 Squadron were prisoners of the Japanese - and yes they were brutally treated - The Japanese still have yet to apologise -

 

[O.C.]

You cannot apologize for your fathers sins
Otherwise the whole world would have to apologize
We did not commit the offence..killing and tragedy has gone on since the world began...Think about it .........

 

[Phil]

I had two great Uncles both career soldiers in The Black Watch Regiment and both were Pipe Majors. My grandmother told me before the war they were two of the smartest men in Dundee.

They were captured in Malaysia during the war by the Japanese and forced to work on the Death Railway. I never heard either of them say a word about the time they spent there. I know that both of them returned with TB and Malaria and all sorts of ailments and sicknesses.

I only knew them after the war when they lived in Birmingham, after being pensioned out of the army they wouldn't go back to Scotland. They were both alcoholics and never did another days work in their life. They used to turn up at my grandmothers occasionly to be fed. This carried on until they both died at a young age.

As far as I am aware other than a meagre pension they never got the slightest help from their regiment or war department.

cheers,

pmc1947

 

[O.C.]

Just like the men who came home from the Great War crippled and were not looked after so who should apologize ? the people who did the damage or the people who should have looked after them ?
We have a lot to learn ....

 

[Beryl M]

Both the American and Canadian Governments have apologised to the Japanese who were put in internment camps during World War 11 - Should they have?

 

[Rupert]

Lets face it, the Japanese Canadian and American citizens did no harm to anyone as far as I know and yet most lost everything that they had worked for all their lives. I had thought that appologys were not called for, and still think somewhat that way, but after seeing the outstanding service that Japanese American soldiers performed for the allies in the last world war, in 'The War' documentary by Ken Burns; I no longer have negative thoughts about it.
The two Atom Bombs saved many more lives than they cost. Most of these lives would have been Japanese. Possibly most of them women and children. If any one is to blame at that point, it should be the Japanese leadership who were faced with impossible odds, even before the Atom Bombs were dropped or known of. Unconditional surrender was the only outcome possible. I think that in an all out conflagration, you use whatever you have to save the lives of your soldiers. They were not supermen but merely frightened individuals, sickened by what they had seen and worried about dying in the next mission.

 

[Phil]

I have a good idea! Lets round up all the survivors of Japanese P.O.W. camps we can find. I doubt we will find many. We can put them in front of a camera and ask them to apologise for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I know that they were always advised to never volunteer, but even without that advice I don’t think you would get many takers for this mission.

Cheers
Pmc1947

 

[Beryl M]

Regarding the internment of Japanese/Americans and Japanese/Canadians –When blood is considered thicker than water -who would know where their loyalties lay in the time of war. . .

 

[Kate]

Well, folks, war is war is war - don't you know? Everyone kills everyone else - in different ways - with differing degrees of savagery. And history depends on who writes it of course. Any mass murder of civilian people is an abomination. (operative word "mass")
So there

 

[Rupert]

I agree Beryl, but the sons of these Japanese interred families performed herculian feats of bravery in the second world war against the Germans and in view of this some recognition of regret is not altogether out of place. It was understandable at the time for governments to be concerned about loyalties though. One wonders what the position of these families would have been had the results of the war been reversed; knowing now of the above services rendered. Many of these boys died for us. I just wish that the families of these dead boys and their surviving compatriots could have been restored to their prior lives. There was some injustice there. Homes belongings and livelihoods were lost.

 

[Beryl M]

World War 11 allied governments did what was best for the country as a whole – so it was unfortunate some good people fell through the cracks.- that's the curse of it all

However, Japanese/Americans and Japanese/Canadians suffered nothing compared to Allied Prisoners of War. . .

During the building of the Burma-Siam railway at least 60,000 native died and 16,000 Allied prisoners died.

It's a known fact the Japanese secret police, also known as the Kempai Tai - were experts in torture and thousands of Allied prisoners of war were tortured by them. . . Only the strongest survived. . .

 

[Old Boy]

Afternoon All,

We are reminded that today, 6th August 2015, is the 70th anniversary of the dropping of an atom bomb on Hiroshima. There is little point in reopening the debate on the previous posts but I have to say that Post No 4 by Postie sums it up in my opinion. However in February 1947 I visited Hiroshima with the Royal Navy. This photograph shows what I found a full 18 months after the event. I was also struck by the fact that the local population would still not go out into the open without covering their mouth and noses by scarves.

Sorry folk I am having trouble posting the photo. Will do so ASAP

Old Boy

 

[Vivienne14]

My my dad's cousin was the sculptor Josefina de Vasconcellos. She created a sculpture called "Reconciliation", the original being at Bradford University. She originally created it to represent reunion. Subsequently copies of her sculpture were placed in four cities with war-torn histories: Coventry (1995), Hiroshima (1995), Berlin (1999), and Belfast (2000). Here's the Coventry Cathedral and Hiroshima Peace Conference Centre copies. Personally I like to think she not only captured a sense of reunion and reconciliation, but a strong sense of hope too. Viv.