So, yes this was interesting. It makes you ponder the occurance, but I wonder…..will find such a video that shows what our men in uniform were doing before Pearl Harbor was bombed? Will you find that perspective video?
Artist : Utopia
Song : Hiroshima
Under the rising sun dirty yellow children play
And in the red pagoda mamasan is praying
Blood wasted saving face, ancestors are looking
on
As they wave their silver samurai underneath the
big gun
Hiroshima, no one could imagine
Not the victors nor the victims
Pitiful survivors nor the pawn of a man
Who had the button under his hand
No one would believe it
God, God is on our side, he placed the power in
our hands
To teach the yellow peril, this is christian
mercy
Harry, harry give’em hell, give’em hell one
more time again
We’ll show those axis powers how to make an
oven FRY THEM
Hiroshima, nagasaki
Don’t you ever forget, don’t you ever
fuking forget
Jules,
Both the History Channel and Life did very good articles on this very subject. I have a Nat’l Geographic tape of the Arizona Memorial that shows film clips of the Americans sailors before the attack; dancing with the native women, drinking, playing cards, and more or less thinking if it did happen, everything would be settled pretty quickly in our favor.
There’s a photo on Life of American service men, just a couple of days before the attack hamming it up by posing with their fifty caliber machine guns. These are men barely out of their teens, if that, and in just a matter of days they were either dead, or they were combat vets.
It is easy for us, in hindsight, to condemn the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, before we condemn the bombings or the people who were involved in dropping the bombs, or condemn the scientists who created it, I think we should educate ourselves about these people and their motivations. What we learn may shock us, but it may also illuminate.
Richard Feynman’s book “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out” includes a little bit about his work on the Manhattan Project and the personal consequences he face, but it also clearly illustrates WHY they worked on the bomb, why it was dropped.
In Feynman’s words, to them, it was just another weapon … the most awesome and powerful weapon of its time, to be sure, but just a weapon all the same … and at the time, they felt (according to Feynman) that it would have been wrong NOT to use every possible weapon at the Allies’ disposal to defeat the enemy.
I don’t blame them for their decision. I hope nuclear weapons are never used again. However, I won’t condemn the people who made the original decision to drop those first two. It was a product of its time, and I speak as someone who has personally visited not only the Atomic Bomb Museum in Hiroshima, but also the museum at Pearl Harbor.
For those interested in WWII, visiting Pearl Harbor is a must. The Navy presents a very balanced and straightforward account of the whole thing.
Crispy ( now there’s some irony!)
I don’t condemn the bombings, and I would be willing to bet anyone who was given the chance to end that war with those bombs would have, no questions asked.
Indeed, the alternative to nuclear weapons would have been more of the same. More of the same would look much like the fire bombing of Tokyo on March 10th 1945, where 100,000 people were burned alive.
General Sherman said when addressing West Point Cadets, “You think there is glory in war? There is no glory there is only hell. War is hell.”
That man burned a hole 90 miles wide through my home state in 1865.
Ever you may think of the methods employed, only horrific damage ends war.
peace.
FOOCK YOU, dolphin and whale!
Oh, and Jules, the way I see it it’s one thing to kill soldiers in a military action (like in Pearl Harbor) and another completely different situation to nuke an entire city full of innocent people.
Ike,
You totally misunderstand the situation in world War Two, and war in general.
Japan’s plan to stop the invasion of their home islands included the use of civilians, and their industrial war effort ( as did our own) was made up almost entirely of non military personnel as far as production went.
You seem to be a lot more reactive than contemplative.
I think the bombing of a Hiroshima was unecessary, might have been better to bomb an unoccupied area in Japan to show just how much they can lose if they didn’t surrender. But history is history, can’t change it.
Brune,
I’m pretty certain there were people inside the American military who simply did not care how many people died if it would keep us from having to invade Japan.
But I am uncertain if I agree, or disagree, with those people.
Brune – Don’t forget that the Japanese did not surrender after the Hiroshima bomb, so why do you think that they would have surrendered if it had been dropped in an unoccupied area?
God forgive us, we burned a city. We had already won the war, with steel. But fighting our way into Tokyo would have cost thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of American lives. So we had to do it. No choice. No reasonable alternative. God forgive us.
My father worked on the Manhattan Project, and I am very proud of him. Nuclear weapons are monstorus weapons. But we had no choice. None at all.
Chris,
For my part, tell your father I said thanks.
We burned Hiroshima. And we sent a simple message. Surrender. Today. And six days later, we burned Nagasaki. And we sent a simple message. Surrender. Today. And the war ended.
Reminds me of a really bad joke: “What were the last words out of the mouth of Hiroshima’s Mayor?”
So, yes this was interesting. It makes you ponder the occurance, but I wonder…..will find such a video that shows what our men in uniform were doing before Pearl Harbor was bombed? Will you find that perspective video?
Artist : Utopia
Song : Hiroshima
Under the rising sun dirty yellow children play
And in the red pagoda mamasan is praying
Blood wasted saving face, ancestors are looking
on
As they wave their silver samurai underneath the
big gun
Hiroshima, no one could imagine
Not the victors nor the victims
Pitiful survivors nor the pawn of a man
Who had the button under his hand
No one would believe it
God, God is on our side, he placed the power in
our hands
To teach the yellow peril, this is christian
mercy
Harry, harry give’em hell, give’em hell one
more time again
We’ll show those axis powers how to make an
oven FRY THEM
Hiroshima, nagasaki
Don’t you ever forget, don’t you ever
fuking forget
Jules,
Both the History Channel and Life did very good articles on this very subject. I have a Nat’l Geographic tape of the Arizona Memorial that shows film clips of the Americans sailors before the attack; dancing with the native women, drinking, playing cards, and more or less thinking if it did happen, everything would be settled pretty quickly in our favor.
There’s a photo on Life of American service men, just a couple of days before the attack hamming it up by posing with their fifty caliber machine guns. These are men barely out of their teens, if that, and in just a matter of days they were either dead, or they were combat vets.
It is easy for us, in hindsight, to condemn the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, before we condemn the bombings or the people who were involved in dropping the bombs, or condemn the scientists who created it, I think we should educate ourselves about these people and their motivations. What we learn may shock us, but it may also illuminate.
Richard Feynman’s book “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out” includes a little bit about his work on the Manhattan Project and the personal consequences he face, but it also clearly illustrates WHY they worked on the bomb, why it was dropped.
In Feynman’s words, to them, it was just another weapon … the most awesome and powerful weapon of its time, to be sure, but just a weapon all the same … and at the time, they felt (according to Feynman) that it would have been wrong NOT to use every possible weapon at the Allies’ disposal to defeat the enemy.
I don’t blame them for their decision. I hope nuclear weapons are never used again. However, I won’t condemn the people who made the original decision to drop those first two. It was a product of its time, and I speak as someone who has personally visited not only the Atomic Bomb Museum in Hiroshima, but also the museum at Pearl Harbor.
For those interested in WWII, visiting Pearl Harbor is a must. The Navy presents a very balanced and straightforward account of the whole thing.
Crispy ( now there’s some irony!)
I don’t condemn the bombings, and I would be willing to bet anyone who was given the chance to end that war with those bombs would have, no questions asked.
Indeed, the alternative to nuclear weapons would have been more of the same. More of the same would look much like the fire bombing of Tokyo on March 10th 1945, where 100,000 people were burned alive.
General Sherman said when addressing West Point Cadets, “You think there is glory in war? There is no glory there is only hell. War is hell.”
That man burned a hole 90 miles wide through my home state in 1865.
Ever you may think of the methods employed, only horrific damage ends war.
peace.
FOOCK YOU, dolphin and whale!
Oh, and Jules, the way I see it it’s one thing to kill soldiers in a military action (like in Pearl Harbor) and another completely different situation to nuke an entire city full of innocent people.
Ike,
You totally misunderstand the situation in world War Two, and war in general.
Japan’s plan to stop the invasion of their home islands included the use of civilians, and their industrial war effort ( as did our own) was made up almost entirely of non military personnel as far as production went.
You seem to be a lot more reactive than contemplative.
I think the bombing of a Hiroshima was unecessary, might have been better to bomb an unoccupied area in Japan to show just how much they can lose if they didn’t surrender. But history is history, can’t change it.
Brune,
I’m pretty certain there were people inside the American military who simply did not care how many people died if it would keep us from having to invade Japan.
But I am uncertain if I agree, or disagree, with those people.
Brune – Don’t forget that the Japanese did not surrender after the Hiroshima bomb, so why do you think that they would have surrendered if it had been dropped in an unoccupied area?
God forgive us, we burned a city. We had already won the war, with steel. But fighting our way into Tokyo would have cost thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of American lives. So we had to do it. No choice. No reasonable alternative. God forgive us.
My father worked on the Manhattan Project, and I am very proud of him. Nuclear weapons are monstorus weapons. But we had no choice. None at all.
Chris,
For my part, tell your father I said thanks.
We burned Hiroshima. And we sent a simple message. Surrender. Today. And six days later, we burned Nagasaki. And we sent a simple message. Surrender. Today. And the war ended.
Reminds me of a really bad joke: “What were the last words out of the mouth of Hiroshima’s Mayor?”
“WHAT THE F*** WAS THAT???”