Remembering past key to a better future
75 years ago, world saw new devastation with hiroshima
On this date 75 years ago, at 8:16 a.m., an atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima.
A B-29 bomber from the United States, the Enola Gay, dropped the bomb, marking the first time in history such a weapon was used in warfare.
The blast equaled 12-15,000 tons of TNT, and the devastation was immediate and staggering.
Less than 10% of the buildings in Hiroshima were left undamaged, with five square miles of the city destroyed.
An estimated 80,000 people died that day, and tens of thousands more died later from radiation exposure, History reports.
Science Magazine reports that there were no bodies near the epicenter – “the heat and energy literally vaporized the closest people.”
According to Hiroshima for Global Peace, “the blast spread out rapidly, and swept the entire city in about 10 seconds.”
At its burst point, the temperature reached several million degrees Centigrade, the Atomic Bomb Museum notes. The bomb delivered more than a blast force – there was a shock wave, radiation, a fireball and a release of thermal energy. It was pure devastation.
And just three days later, on Aug. 9, the U.S. dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. On Aug. 15, Japan surrendered.
The decision to use the atomic bomb was made by U.S. President Harry Truman, in an effort to bring a rapid end to World War II. He had an alternative, invading Japan with “Operation Downfall,” but had been advised that the U.S. forces would suffer causalities of up to 1 million, History reports. He chose the atomic bomb.
That decision caused immediate destruction – and the subsequent radiation remains a problem today.
Truman acted to end the war and save the lives of U.S. forces. And consider the death toll of World War
II. Between 50 million and 85 million people lost their lives in a war that the National Park Service called the deadliest conflict in human history. The NPS notes that the president “never shirked personal responsibility for his decision, but neither did he apologize,” noting that the burden was a heavy one to bear.
According to Hiroshima for Global Peace, today there are still over 13,000 nuclear weapons on the planet, including 6,185 in the United States, and 6,500 in Russia.
Some look to these weapons as a critical piece of our country’s safety and our defense system.
But looking to Hiroshima and the death and destruction wrought there, it’s terrifying to think such weapons could ever be used again.
In 1981, Pope John Paul II spoke in Hiroshima.
“To remember the past is to commit oneself to the future. To remember Hiroshima is to abhor nuclear war. To remember Hiroshima is to commit oneself to peace.”
In 1945, 75 years ago, we witnessed the power of nuclear weapons. May we never forget the horrors that unfolded, and may we never see a need for another Hiroshima-like event again.