How about that? Finally, after 65 years, the US and its WWII allies will attend a memorial ceremony in Japan - commemorating the Bombs of August.
I really don't want to hear that incinerating more than 100,000 civilians helped to end the war. That's utter nonsense. Talks of surrender had already begun, and the power of the atom bomb was meant to warn Stalin not to even think about challenging America. Japanese, like Muslims today, were fodder for the western war machine. Nothing more.
I was a child of ten when the bombs were dropped. From the age of 6, I was surrounded by the events of 'the war.' From ration coupons to air raid drills - from lugging packages of newspaper to school for the war effort, - from war stamps and nightly radio news broadcasts - from war movies that taught me to hate the 'Nips' and the 'Nazis', it was what my childhood was about.
And so, the memories of those formative years remain starkly vivid. Largely, the war was about patriotic songs and uniformed servicemen on leave in downtown NYC, and an occasional moment of sadness when seeing a Gold Star in someone's window signifying a dead soldier.
In the spring of 1945 there had been such joy and celebration. The German had surrendered - and there would soon be and end to the war in the Pacific. The thought of peace was alien to me...and I remember wondering what could possibly take up room in the daily newspapers when the war was over. Naivety is the reward of childhood.
And then came Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They were the Bombs of August that made me smile with such pride at being an American. I remember it so well, and for many good reasons I am not smiling now.
To share my memories:http://www.tvnewslies.org/...