On the morning of August 6, 1945, Reverend Tanimoto and the people in the city of Hiroshima were preparing for a possible B-29 bomber raid on the city. The cities surrounding Hiroshima had been raided already, and a rumor was going around that “the Americans were saving something special for the city (Hiroshima).” Suddenly, a white flash was seen in the sky and a storm of debris followed. The city of Hiroshima was in ruins and the people were in a state of hysteria. Although the people did not know it at that moment, a B-29 bomber had dropped an atomic bomb onto Hiroshima. For decades, people have debated over the atomic bombing of Hiroshima (and Nagasaki three days later) during World War II. However, it is evident that the atomic bombings were in the end not justified. The book Hiroshima by John Hersey tells the stories of six survivors of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Through this book and other sources, it is apparent that in the end, the atomic bombings should not have happened. The atomic bomb that landed in Hiroshima had negative immediate effects as well as negative chronic effects. The immediate effect of the bomb impacted the people and the city itself. The sheer force of the atomic bomb destroyed the city. After Mr. Tanimoto sheltered himself from the explosion between two rocks, he looked around him and noticed that the house belonging to the garden had collapsed. Hersey says that “He (Mr. Tanimoto) thought a bomb Wong 2 had fallen directly on it.” He looked towards the city of Hiroshima and noticed that it was destroyed. In a city two hundred and fifty thousand people, nearly a hundred thousand people were killed instantly. The wounded crowded the hospitals, waiting to get their burns, deep cuts and scars treated. Some people were trapped under debris following the explosion. Survivor Miss Sasaki was trapped under the debris of a factory. It took rescue workers two days to bring her to safety. She survived those two days without food or water. The hospitals were extremely crowded and the doctors could not treat everybody. Mr. Tanimoto attempts to get help in a hospital for the severely wounded people across a river, but he is told by a doctor: “The first duty is to take care of the slightly wounded. In an emergency like this, the first task is to help as many as possible, to save as many lives as possible. There is no hope for the heavily wounded. They will die.” The doctors worked endlessly. Dr. Sasaki (not to be confused with Miss Sasaki) was a survivor who worked three days straight following the bombing with one hour of sleep. Some weeks after the explosion, the chronic effects of the bomb started to show. After Dr. Sasaki studied some of his
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On July 26, 1945, the allies broadcasted a message to the Japanese government demanding “the unconditional surrender” of the Japanese armed forces. The warning threatened that refusal would result in the destruction of Japan. However, it did not mention any weapons of mass destruction. Japan had fought for four years before the bombing of Hiroshima. They did not know that it would come to an atomic bomb. Another argument is that the atomic bomb saved millions of lives. President Truman defended his decision to deploy the bombs by saying that the bombs were dropped on a military base as a way to quickly end the war. This statement was false, because although soldiers were killed during the strike, a majority of the victims were civilians. The co-pilot of the Enola Gay (the B-29) was terrified as soon as the bomb dropped from the plane. Robert A. Lewis is known for saying: “I honestly have the Wong 4feeling of groping for words to explain this or I might say my God what have we done." To showcase the United States’ power, the bomb could have been dropped on an isolated military base instead. The war did not end until the Japanese Emperor announced Japan’s surrender over the radio on August 15, 1945. Even though the war was ended following the atomic bombs, Japan was left crippled with a two destroyed cities and hundreds of thousands of people whose lives would never be the same
On July 26, 1945, the allies broadcasted a message to the Japanese government demanding “the unconditional surrender” of the Japanese armed forces. The warning threatened that refusal would result in the destruction of Japan. However, it did not mention any weapons of mass destruction. Japan had fought for four years before the bombing of Hiroshima. They did not know that it would come to an atomic bomb. Another argument is that the atomic bomb saved millions of lives. President Truman defended his decision to deploy the bombs by saying that the bombs were dropped on a military base as a way to quickly end the war. This statement was false, because although soldiers were killed during the strike, a majority of the victims were civilians. The co-pilot of the Enola Gay (the B-29) was terrified as soon as the bomb dropped from the plane. Robert A. Lewis is known for saying: “I honestly have the Wong 4feeling of groping for words to explain this or I might say my God what have we done." To showcase the United States’ power, the bomb could have been dropped on an isolated military base instead. The war did not end until the Japanese Emperor announced Japan’s surrender over the radio on August 15, 1945. Even though the war was ended following the atomic bombs, Japan was left crippled with a two destroyed cities and hundreds of thousands of people whose lives would never be the same