Hiroshima remembers the day the bomb dropped

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Walk into a nursing home and say that to a ww2 vet. ... After that 90 year old gets out of his wheel chair and drops you he will then give you a correct history lesson. .

Says the voice of WW2 vets. How arrogant.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

The author of the meme needs to retake the semantics module of English and discover a sense of wit and irony.

If you intend to kill people, that is murder (please don't bother tossing in other analogies - we don't need irrelevant tangents in this thread). The only difference is that in war we rationalise it as being acceptable.

Hiroshima was mass murder. That has nothing to do with whether or not it was necessary or justifiable.

BS Hiroshima was victory the japs attacked first

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

"the Japs" eh?

[Jacque67 7,328]

I hate to think how history was taught to these oldies...modern historians have a much better idea of what was happening at the time.

America just wanted to test these bombs.

How noble, to drop'em on a bunch of starving civilians , ill-informed about the progress of the war but generally getting the feeling that their country was losing.

[Jacque67 7,328]

70th anniversary for Nagaski today.

NAGASAKI, Japan, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Sunday's 70th anniversary of the bombing at Nagasaki, the last time a nuclear weapon was used against an enemy anywhere in the world, will be marked by numerous observances and memorials for the hundreds of thousands who were killed and injured at the conclusion of World War II.

The seaside city has been rebuilt and almost nothing remains from the U.S. atomic bombing on Aug. 9, 1945, that ended as many as 80,000 lives.

After the bombing at Hiroshima, the second bomb, colloquially called "Fat Man," exploded over Nagasaki and its population of 263,000 people. In the seven decades since, there have been numerous occasions on which nuclear weapons were primed and ready for use -- most notably, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and the 1983 NATO nuclear war simulation, Able Archer.

Fortunately, no one ever pushed the button.

To date, the attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima three days earlier are still the only two times nuclear weapons have been used in active warfare.

Japan has observed both dates every year since 1945 and the United States only began formally participating in the memorials five years ago. This year, however, the bombings serve as an especially stark reminder of the horrors of nuclear destruction and ongoing concern about nuclear proliferation.

"We don't want you young generations to go through what I did. You can help by spreading what you just heard from me to other people," survivor Emiko Okada said this week.

U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller will attend formal events in Nagasaki on Sunday.

Official estimates list as many as 250,000 dead from both bombings. However, there are still more than 180,000 survivors alive today, with their average age in the 80s. Most, though, have had to live with brutal lingering physical reminders of those days -- in the form of scars, illness and mental anguish.

[Jacque67 7,328]

Bombing, survivors remembered on 70th Nagasaki anniversary ...

www.upi.com/Top...70th-Nagasaki-anniversary/5831439062509/

1 hour ago - Sunday's 70th anniversary of the bombing at Nagasaki will be marked by observances for the hundreds of thousands who were killed and ...

Link for my post pasted above.

[lostinblue 1,989]

I hate to think how history was taught to these oldies...modern historians have a much better idea of what was happening at the time.

America just wanted to test these bombs.

How noble, to drop'em on a bunch of starving civilians , ill-informed about the progress of the war but generally getting the feeling that their country was losing.

People that lived through the war had no idea what was happening ....WOW....Better to read revisionist history 70 years later....

The Chinese were to suffer 15 million deaths up to the Japanese surrender in August 1945, almost 30% of global fatalities throughout the war -

The Rape of Nanking

The 150,000 Japanese soldiers who took Nanking were given licence to murder and rape on a massive scale. Marauding through the streets they killed the men and raped the women and children for sport. “When we were bored,” testified one Japanese soldier years later, “we had some fun killing Chinese. Buried them alive or pushed them into a fire or kill by other cruel means.” “We stabbed and killed them,” said another, “like potatoes in a skewer. I thought then, it’s been only one month since I left home… and 30 days later I was killing people without remorse.”

Figures vary but over a period of six weeks up to 300,000 Chinese had been murdered. The atrocity earned Japan worldwide condemnation which the Japanese government shrugged off in a such is war attitude.

- See more at: http://www.historyinanhour.com/2010/12/13/the-rape-of-nanking-summary/#sthash.HfWX7jNv.dpuf

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

People that lived through the war had no idea what was happening ....WOW....Better to read revisionist history 70 years later....

The Chinese were to suffer 15 million deaths up to the Japanese surrender in August 1945, almost 30% of global fatalities throughout the war -

The Rape of Nanking

The 150,000 Japanese soldiers who took Nanking were given licence to murder and rape on a massive scale. Marauding through the streets they killed the men and raped the women and children for sport. When we were bored, testified one Japanese soldier years later, we had some fun killing Chinese. Buried them alive or pushed them into a fire or kill by other cruel means. We stabbed and killed them, said another, like potatoes in a skewer. I thought then, its been only one month since I left home and 30 days later I was killing people without remorse.

Figures vary but over a period of six weeks up to 300,000 Chinese had been murdered. The atrocity earned Japan worldwide condemnation which the Japanese government shrugged off in a such is war attitude.

- See more at: http://www.historyinanhour.com/2010/12/13/the-rape-of-nanking-summary/#sthash.HfWX7jNv.dpuf

I'm still mystified what this has to do with commemorating the 140,000 people who died at hiroshima.

What exactly are you trying to say?

[lostinblue 1,989]

I'm still mystified what this has to do with commemorating the 140,000 people who died at hiroshima.

What exactly are you trying to say?

#Chineselivesdon't matter

[Jacque67 7,328]

Were you raped , LIB.

All history is revised by the way...not much point arguing with someone wearing blinders.

So you think the U.S. Government at the time dropped these experimental(at the time) bombs, to avenge the Chinese????

Don't make me laugh.

Keep spreading the hate. The survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are far better people than you. They have not let their hearts and minds be warped by hatred.

If I were you I would br more worried about the current PM, Abe's attitude towards nuclear bombs;)

Caroline Kennedy is paying a visit today...

[Ban Hammer 13,333]

U.S. President Harry S. Truman, discouraged by the Japanese response to the Potsdam Conference’s demand for unconditional surrender, made the decision to use the atom bomb to end the war in order to prevent what he predicted would be a much greater loss of life were the United States to invade the Japanese mainland.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/american-bomber-drops-atomic-bomb-on-hiroshima

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

#Chineselivesdon't matter

Says who?

That's what he said.

And George W Bush said bad intelligence made him invade Iraq...

I think we all know now that's a load of toss

Edited August 8, 2015 by Venkman

[spookyturtle 9,465]

we should have bombed military targets, not the civilian population.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

we should have bombed military targets, not the civilian population.

It was a different time. WW2 was pretty much total war

[lostinblue 1,989]

we should have bombed military targets, not the civilian population.

Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were were defended by anti-aircraft defense batteries, both had tens of thousands of Japanese military personnel inside, both had military bases, both had industrial installations that was vital to the war effort, and neither provided the U.S. with information to allow the differentiation between civilian and military targets.

According to Article 27 of the 1907 Hague Convention: THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WAR ON LAND, the authorities that were charge of the city needs to have visible signs between military and civilian buildings and provide the information to the enemy beforehand so the enemy could take steps in sparing non-military centers from bombings. It also states that if troops use the non-military centers for military purposes (such as making materials for the war effort, fortfications, training centers, hideout, etc), then the enemy troops have the right to shell that place. However, since Japan had moved most of the parts needed for the war effort into residential homes and neither marked between civilian and military targets, Japan did not comply with the Article 27, whether they don't have time or not.

http://www.quora.com/Can-one-call-the-bombings-of-Hiroshima-and-Nagasaki-terrorist-attacks