Le st we forget: those bombs did save lives

Once again a letter has decried the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, claiming they were “non-military targets,” implying that the 230,000 dead were unnecessary and demanding Canada “express regret for the death and suffering they caused.”

Perhaps a little actual history is in order.

According to the memoirs of Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley, the casualties taken during the occupation of Iwo Jima and Okinawa were significantly heavier due to civilian suicide attacks.

Based on that experience, the estimated casualties for an attack on the Japanese mainland were in excess of one million allied soldiers and at least 10 million civilians.

To make matters worse, the Japanese government refused to negotiate an end to the conflict it had started. The choice, therefore, was between 230,000 strictly enemy casualties and a minimum of 11 million, many of whom would be our own troops, and demonstrating our ability to destroy Japan without losing our own troops.

Should we regret the loss of those civilian lives? Of course, but we should be aware that their deaths brought the Japanese ruling elite to face reality and saved the lives of a million of our own citizens.

Given the circumstances, the use of the atomic bomb was strategically and morally justified.

As someone whose own father was training for that attack when the war ended, I admit I may be biased, but I cannot be sorry he survived long enough to raise a family and (incidentally) enjoy a long career in the Victoria Times Colonist newsroom.

David Lowther Measchie Lake