by Pa Rock
Peaceful Wanderer
It was on this date seventy-five years ago that the world witnessed the first use of an atomic weapon against human beings. On August 6, 1945, in an effort to bring about a quick end to World War II in the Pacific, President Harry S. Truman ordered the US military to drop an atomic bomb on the Japanese coastal community of Hiroshima. The crew of a B-29 Superfortress bomber under the command of Colonel Paul Tibbets followed Truman's order and unleashed the age of the atom early that morning - and with that action the world changed forever.
The bomber from which the bomb was dropped was named the "Enola Gay" in honor of Enola Gay Tibbets, the colonel's mother.
The devastation was massive, opening to world to visions of horrors that had been unimaginable just days before. Of the 350,000 Japanese who resided in Hiroshima, at least 70,000 were killed outright by the blast, and some estimates put that number almost twice as high. Many of those who were not killed on the morning of the blast received grievous injuries or suffered slow deaths through radiation poisoning.
The blast was so monstrous and unexpected that many had trouble believing the United States actually had a weapon that powerful. Perhaps it had been an industrial accident and the US had rushed to claim credit. To show the reality of the situation, Truman ordered a second atomic bombing three days later, this time on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Again thousands were killed amidst unimaginable, massive destruction. After the bombing of Nagasaki, Truman threatened that if Japan did not surrender, US troops would deliver more atomic strikes on the country.
Emperor Hirohito announced six days later - on August 15th - that Japan would surrender "unconditionally."
That rapid end to the war began with the bombing of Hiroshima - seventy-five years ago today.
A little over forty-seven years ago, in the spring of 1973, my wife and I were able to visit the city of Hiroshima for a few days. At that time the city was just over twenty-seven years out from the bombing. We were a young couple, not long out of college, and living on the Japanese island of Okinawa where I was stationed with the US Army. We took advantage of a "military hop," a free flight aboard a military plane, to visit Tokyo for a couple of days, and while we were there we decided to take the famous "Bullet Train" south, with Hiroshima being our ultimate destination.
Having been a history major in college, I had an interest in seeing the city that had played such a pivotal role in World War II.
At the time of our trip the Japanese high-speed rail - the Bullet Train - did not go all the way to Hiroshima. We went south, through the ancient capital of Kyoto - and then at some point had to transfer to a train which was called a "Cattle Car." Instead of the roomy comfort of the Bullet Train, travelers were literally packed into the Cattle Car by people standing at the doors whose job it was to push as many riders as they could into each car. We were physically forced in and then had to stand by helpless as we watched out luggage being passed overhead to the far reaches of the car.
To complicate matters even more, my wife was pregnant with our first child who would be born on Okinawa that July.
Being an anglo-centric couple, I suppose that we assumed that when we got off of the train we would find an abundance of Americans and others who spoke English and could help us find a room and learn our way around the city. That was not to be. We got off of the train and encountered crowds of people who were busy scurrying to their cars and cabs and daily lives - and they all appeared to be Japanese. We tried talking to several but were unable to find anyone who could speak English.
Finally, out of desperation, I stopped a young uniformed policeman. After chattering at him for a few moments, he grinned, without comment, and signaled for us to follow as he led us to a police station. At the station we stood by helpless as several officers discussed our obvious plight in Japanese, and finally one picked up a telephone and dialed a number. He talked to the person who answered for a couple of minutes and then handed the phone over to me. A nice lady on the other end of the line told me that she spoke English and Japanese and would act as our translator. After some discussion she said that she was sending a "mamasan" over who would take us to a room.
An older lady quickly showed up at the police station and took control of our situation. She led us on a short walk to her place where a large, fairly bare room was waiting for us. The lady brought us a pot of green tea which we enjoyed while she began rolling a series of mats out in the center of the floor. The mats eventually formed our bed for the evening. We spent two nights in that room before getting on another train for our return trip to Tokyo
We dedicated one full day to exploring Hiroshima - a Saturday, I think. Most of the day focused on walking through "Peace Park," the area around "ground zero" of the infamous bombing. The absolute center of the targeted area was a large building sitting beneath the iron skeleton of a dome - left exactly as it was after the bombing. The landmark is called the "Atomic Dome."
Not long after we got to the park and began exploring the various monuments placed there by most of the world's countries - but none from the United States - we were approached by a young Japanese man who introduced himself as "Hiroshi". He said that he was learning English and asked if he could show us Peace Park so that he could practice his English. We went on to spend most of the day in his company.
One of the things that I remember Hiroshi pointing out to us was the research laboratory on the crest of one of the hills overlooking the city. He said that people had been studying the effects of the blast ever since the day it occurred. At the time of our visit there were still many people living in Hiroshima who had been there or close by at the time of the bombing.
Hiroshima sits in a "pocket" formed by a small group of mountains forming a "U" and connecting to the sea. The US chose Hiroshima for this initial blast because the mountains would concentrate the effects of the blast and show exactly how much power their new bomb had.
Our little group also spent a lot of time in the museum at Peace Park. Visitors picked up recorded guides with earphones at the entry in various languages which led them through the various exhibits at the museum. One of the more memorable stops on the tour was a slab of concrete outside of the building which contained the shadow of an old man sitting and eating a sandwich. The shadow had been burned into the concrete at the moment of the blast, and the old man's delicate act of eating his morning meal had been captured in cement for all time.
That evening we strolled through what was then modern Hiroshima and had dinner at a nice restaurant. After that we visited a couple of the many pachinko parlors that were so prevalent in the downtown area and learned to play vertical pinball with the goal of winning small ball-bearings! The pachinko parlors were busy, and noisy, and lots of fun!
And then on Sunday we were pushed back onto the train and began our journey back o Tokyo - and ultimately back to Okinawa.
A few years later while I was teaching history to high school students, I used my memories of that visit to underscore the horrors of war as we discussed the war in the Pacific. To complement that experience, I had the students read John Hershey's "Hiroshima," a brief accounting of the day of the blast that he gleaned from interviews with six Japanese who lived through it.
Hiroshima was an innocuous Japanese city that became, through a savage act of war, a symbolic low point in the history of civilization. The city and its story have since weighed heavily on the conscience of the world. Hiroshima was on the mend by the time I visited there forty-seven years ago, and today it has gradually transformed into an eternal symbol of hope and healing whose message of peace extends around the globe.
For anyone who would like to know more about this important chapter in Japanese, American, and world history, please consider beginning with John Hershey's "Hiroshima." It will take you back to the very moment the world changed forever - seventy-five years ago today. It was a moment that we should endeavor to never forget.
Peaceful Wanderer
It was on this date seventy-five years ago that the world witnessed the first use of an atomic weapon against human beings. On August 6, 1945, in an effort to bring about a quick end to World War II in the Pacific, President Harry S. Truman ordered the US military to drop an atomic bomb on the Japanese coastal community of Hiroshima. The crew of a B-29 Superfortress bomber under the command of Colonel Paul Tibbets followed Truman's order and unleashed the age of the atom early that morning - and with that action the world changed forever.
The bomber from which the bomb was dropped was named the "Enola Gay" in honor of Enola Gay Tibbets, the colonel's mother.
The devastation was massive, opening to world to visions of horrors that had been unimaginable just days before. Of the 350,000 Japanese who resided in Hiroshima, at least 70,000 were killed outright by the blast, and some estimates put that number almost twice as high. Many of those who were not killed on the morning of the blast received grievous injuries or suffered slow deaths through radiation poisoning.
The blast was so monstrous and unexpected that many had trouble believing the United States actually had a weapon that powerful. Perhaps it had been an industrial accident and the US had rushed to claim credit. To show the reality of the situation, Truman ordered a second atomic bombing three days later, this time on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Again thousands were killed amidst unimaginable, massive destruction. After the bombing of Nagasaki, Truman threatened that if Japan did not surrender, US troops would deliver more atomic strikes on the country.
Emperor Hirohito announced six days later - on August 15th - that Japan would surrender "unconditionally."
That rapid end to the war began with the bombing of Hiroshima - seventy-five years ago today.
A little over forty-seven years ago, in the spring of 1973, my wife and I were able to visit the city of Hiroshima for a few days. At that time the city was just over twenty-seven years out from the bombing. We were a young couple, not long out of college, and living on the Japanese island of Okinawa where I was stationed with the US Army. We took advantage of a "military hop," a free flight aboard a military plane, to visit Tokyo for a couple of days, and while we were there we decided to take the famous "Bullet Train" south, with Hiroshima being our ultimate destination.
Having been a history major in college, I had an interest in seeing the city that had played such a pivotal role in World War II.
At the time of our trip the Japanese high-speed rail - the Bullet Train - did not go all the way to Hiroshima. We went south, through the ancient capital of Kyoto - and then at some point had to transfer to a train which was called a "Cattle Car." Instead of the roomy comfort of the Bullet Train, travelers were literally packed into the Cattle Car by people standing at the doors whose job it was to push as many riders as they could into each car. We were physically forced in and then had to stand by helpless as we watched out luggage being passed overhead to the far reaches of the car.
To complicate matters even more, my wife was pregnant with our first child who would be born on Okinawa that July.
Being an anglo-centric couple, I suppose that we assumed that when we got off of the train we would find an abundance of Americans and others who spoke English and could help us find a room and learn our way around the city. That was not to be. We got off of the train and encountered crowds of people who were busy scurrying to their cars and cabs and daily lives - and they all appeared to be Japanese. We tried talking to several but were unable to find anyone who could speak English.
Finally, out of desperation, I stopped a young uniformed policeman. After chattering at him for a few moments, he grinned, without comment, and signaled for us to follow as he led us to a police station. At the station we stood by helpless as several officers discussed our obvious plight in Japanese, and finally one picked up a telephone and dialed a number. He talked to the person who answered for a couple of minutes and then handed the phone over to me. A nice lady on the other end of the line told me that she spoke English and Japanese and would act as our translator. After some discussion she said that she was sending a "mamasan" over who would take us to a room.
An older lady quickly showed up at the police station and took control of our situation. She led us on a short walk to her place where a large, fairly bare room was waiting for us. The lady brought us a pot of green tea which we enjoyed while she began rolling a series of mats out in the center of the floor. The mats eventually formed our bed for the evening. We spent two nights in that room before getting on another train for our return trip to Tokyo
We dedicated one full day to exploring Hiroshima - a Saturday, I think. Most of the day focused on walking through "Peace Park," the area around "ground zero" of the infamous bombing. The absolute center of the targeted area was a large building sitting beneath the iron skeleton of a dome - left exactly as it was after the bombing. The landmark is called the "Atomic Dome."
Not long after we got to the park and began exploring the various monuments placed there by most of the world's countries - but none from the United States - we were approached by a young Japanese man who introduced himself as "Hiroshi". He said that he was learning English and asked if he could show us Peace Park so that he could practice his English. We went on to spend most of the day in his company.
One of the things that I remember Hiroshi pointing out to us was the research laboratory on the crest of one of the hills overlooking the city. He said that people had been studying the effects of the blast ever since the day it occurred. At the time of our visit there were still many people living in Hiroshima who had been there or close by at the time of the bombing.
Hiroshima sits in a "pocket" formed by a small group of mountains forming a "U" and connecting to the sea. The US chose Hiroshima for this initial blast because the mountains would concentrate the effects of the blast and show exactly how much power their new bomb had.
Our little group also spent a lot of time in the museum at Peace Park. Visitors picked up recorded guides with earphones at the entry in various languages which led them through the various exhibits at the museum. One of the more memorable stops on the tour was a slab of concrete outside of the building which contained the shadow of an old man sitting and eating a sandwich. The shadow had been burned into the concrete at the moment of the blast, and the old man's delicate act of eating his morning meal had been captured in cement for all time.
That evening we strolled through what was then modern Hiroshima and had dinner at a nice restaurant. After that we visited a couple of the many pachinko parlors that were so prevalent in the downtown area and learned to play vertical pinball with the goal of winning small ball-bearings! The pachinko parlors were busy, and noisy, and lots of fun!
And then on Sunday we were pushed back onto the train and began our journey back o Tokyo - and ultimately back to Okinawa.
A few years later while I was teaching history to high school students, I used my memories of that visit to underscore the horrors of war as we discussed the war in the Pacific. To complement that experience, I had the students read John Hershey's "Hiroshima," a brief accounting of the day of the blast that he gleaned from interviews with six Japanese who lived through it.
Hiroshima was an innocuous Japanese city that became, through a savage act of war, a symbolic low point in the history of civilization. The city and its story have since weighed heavily on the conscience of the world. Hiroshima was on the mend by the time I visited there forty-seven years ago, and today it has gradually transformed into an eternal symbol of hope and healing whose message of peace extends around the globe.
For anyone who would like to know more about this important chapter in Japanese, American, and world history, please consider beginning with John Hershey's "Hiroshima." It will take you back to the very moment the world changed forever - seventy-five years ago today. It was a moment that we should endeavor to never forget.
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