Hiroshima

Hiroshima: the debut of the nuclear bomb By Julie

It is August 6th, 1945. A cloud mushrooms over the city of Hiroshima, covering everything in its gloom. People are screaming, running for their lives from the horror that dropped upon them; the nuclear bomb. The city of Hiroshima held some of the heaviest casualties in the World War; almost 100000 people were killed instantly. The World War had been going on for some time when the Allies finally realized that the Japanese weren't going to surrender anytime soon. President Harry Truman consequently ordered the creation of the nuclear bomb, to be used as a last resort. After a series of bombings on various Japanese cities with no sign of surrender, President Truman sent out a plane that dropped leaflets threatening Japan with the atomic bomb. They didn't surrender, so he "pulled out the big guns" and sent a plane out to bomb Hiroshima. His decision changed thousands of lives forever. "The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, in so far as possible, the killing of civilians. But that attack is only a warning of things to come. If Japan does not surrender, bombs will have to be dropped on her war industries and, unfortunately, thousands of civilian lives will be lost. I urge Japanese civilians to leave industrial cities immediately, and save themselves from destruction." //President Harry Truman, on the nuclear bomb //

Hiroshima before the atomic bomb was very industrialized; railways ran through it, and it was a major seaport town. During the Sino-Japanese War, Hiroshima created military supplies for Japan, and so furthered its economy. During World War II, Hiroshima was of great military importance to Japan, as it contained the 2nd Army Headquarters, which controlled all of Southern Japan's military personnal. As indicated in the speech above, President Truman gave the United States the impression that Hiroshima was a solely military town. This was not true; the ratio of citizens to soldiers was about 5.5:1. When the atomic bomb landed, the population of Hiroshima was about 250,000 people, of which only about 43,000 of were soldiers. Roughly 140,000 of these had died by the end of 1945.

 The after effects of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima were disastrous. They included leukemia, cataracts (a clouding of the natural lens; an area of the eye that sharpens images), and keloids (scar tissue on burned areas). The effects of the atomic bomb were also spread out to nearby land; shortly after the bomb landed, radioactive gas fell in the form of "black rain", heavily pouring on the land for hours. Victims of the bombings (called hibakusha in Japan) live in fear that they might contract cancer in their later years, or might pass the radiation poisoning on to their children, grandchildren, and further on. In various interviews with historians and reporters, the victims of the bombings shared their views on the bombing, and how they were affected by it. //"I have not publicly talked about my experience with the A-bomb until now because I have not wanted to talk about it. It was my own experience which I could not share with others. I now think that we need to record our experiences for the future. The people in the next generation need accurate information in order to prevent the same mistake. Many people who experienced the Bomb have already died or are dying. It is becoming more and more difficult to record our experience. I believe that this will not happen again. So, it should be recorded as a part of human history. Nuclear weapons are something which human beings should not have. We have to understand this."// **Dr. Ryuso Tanaka** //"I was walking on the street. Two of my cousins and I had left home only a few minutes before that. I was heading West; they were heading East. I was a half mile away from the center of the explosion. I heard the sound of a B-29 bomber. I was wondering why the bomber was flying over Hiroshima, as the military headquarters had not issued an alert. When I saw a very strong light, a flash, I put my arms over my face unconsciously. Almost instantly I felt my face was inflating. I thought I was directly hit by the bomb and was dying. I was proud of myself for dying for my country because we had been educated so. Shortly after, I felt my body flying in the air and then I lost consciousness//." **Michiko Yamaoka**

To read other interviews, go to this link; [|Interviews with Hibakusha] To learn more about the bomb itself, go to this;[|Atomic Bomb] A debate still going on about [|"was bombing Hiroshima right"?] To get a list of all the statistics of Hiroshima, click this;[|statistics] To learn about Hiroshima's history and statistics, go to Hiroshima Background info To read about what happened after the war ended, click this: Hiroshima Aftermath To see what sites I used, go to the bibliography 