63 years ago, there was no bell, no siren, just hell.

Thank you! That was an excellent post! Very educational and eye-opening!

I've always wondered about getting rid of nuclear weapons and this thread has me, for the first time in many years, asking myself, "Why not"? And thinking that moving toward ridding the world of nuclear weapons might just be the right thing to do...

Excellent pictures and narrative. I loved the lanterns on the water!

I am bumping this thread to the top of the list, where it deserves to be.

I hope every member of ATS takes the time to read this one. It was both sad and scary to read about this terrible event in history, but humanity MUST remember it, so that we hopefully can learn from our mistakes.

OMG very moving I only hope this can never happen again
would love to think that peace on earth could happen but unfortunately human nature will always prevent this

I agree it was a devastating attack unlike any other in history and it was too bad it happened. Having said that I think more people would have died in a land invasion as opposed to doing it this way.

I am sure those at the bottom of Pearl Harbor were just as horrified as they were dieing in the cold dark waters that were slowly filling up their compartments but lets ignore the reasons for the bombing and just display the horror suffered by the aggressor.

Was it wrong to drop them? Who would have been just as horrified if we didn't drop the bombs and had them to drop but we lost a million people on both sides getting it over with? What would the threads look like today I wonder?

Would they be noble remembrance of the high road the Americans took in that fight? I doubt it.. I can only guess that they would be full of anti-American policy threads that killed 500k Japanese without mention of the American losses suffered by not dropping the bomb.

America did suffer during WWII. Sons, fathers, husbands, daughters and mothers suffered. What do you think they were thinking on the eve of decision time when the government was deciding to either invade or drop the bomb. The world was war weary. We needed to get this done in a way that would end it quickly. If we would have invaded we would have lost many more than those bombs killed.

As terrible as it is it must be put in perspective and not displayed as a one sided decision. Japan displayed their desire to win at all costs and when that didn't work out they displayed their desire to lose at all costs. That was their half of the decision in the bomb being dropped.

The cost on both sides would have been greater by invasion and the American people at the time would not have tolerated not dropping that bomb if they knew we had it and didn't use it. I really don't blame them. They need this war over with. The world needed the war over with.

reply to post by Agit8dChop


Wow...your pictures are really powerfull. All I have to say is wow.

Will there be peace, if there are no nukes? No. war was around FAR FAR before nukes (as you know If you take away the nukes, people will find new ways to hurt people.
Will there every be no nukes? no
Will another nuke be used? Probably

Great job on this OP!

The horrors of war are never easy to look at, for example:


[img][/img]

Japaneese Admit To Dissecting US Prisoners of War

UKUOKA, Japan "I could never again wear a white smock," says Dr. Toshio Tono, dressed in a white running jacket at his hospital and recalling events of 50 years ago. "It's because the prisoners thought that we were doctors, since they could see the white smocks, that they didn't struggle. They never dreamed they would be dissected." The prisoners were eight American airmen, knocked out of the sky over southern Japan during the waning months of World War U, and then torn apart organ by organ while they were still alive. What occurred here 50 years ago this month, at the anatomy department of Kyushu University, has been largely forgotten in Japan and is virtually unknown in the United States. American prisoners of war were subjected to horrific medical experiments. All of the prisoners died. Most of the physicians and asistants then did their best to hide the evidence of what they had done.

Lest We Forget: Bataan Death March

There is no glory in war, war is hell.

Just to remind everyone in here :

members.iinet.net.au...

en.wikipedia.org...

You can google to find more.

I'm not justifying the use of nukes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I'm reminding that atrocities of war was felt on both sides. But they started the war.
And what goes around, comes around.

I think the bigger concern lies not on the threat of nuclear weapons alone, but the threat of war itself.

It's a lesson learned over and over and over again through the civilization of mankind, and to this day, we still haven't learned.



[edit on 11-8-2008 by AntisepticSkeptic]

Everyday, Somewhere on Earth it is hell.

Here is a picture of FATMAN exploding.

Here is an image of a shadow seared into a house. You can find similar pictures showing shadows left on concrete, stairs, etc.

[URL=http://img527.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hiroshimashadowul9.jpg][/URL ]

The flash must've been like a sun being born.

Forgive us all for we know not what we do, and we do the things we hate.

This piece of music was inspired by Hiroshima, it is entitled "Threnody for victims of Hiroshima".



[edit on 11-8-2008 by depth om]

wow... i am humbled.
the images are amazing and the "burnt" silhouettes were tragically impressioned into time.
thanks for the great thread of consciousness.

Stared and Flagged. This is an excellent read! I don't think I could handle going to either city. I just wouldnt be able to take it. I can't imagine what terror would have gone through the people's minds in that instant. I have seen photographs of what happened to people caught in the blast as they were instantly vapourised.

It's amazing.

That was an excellent post and like others said the presentation was impressive. Very touching and brought a tear to my eye. To those that brought up the Japanese military atrocities I say good for you too. I think a greater effort in our diplomacy if met by the same from other countries could have very positive effects for humanity. We need to think more about our children.


War is unnecessary.

wonderful presentation. With some of those images and visualizing the horror, it was hard to keep from welling up at times. If we could achieve true world peace, what a thought...
well back to the corrupt murderous reality...
Thanks for sharing

Thank you for this fantastic, albeit horrific (no offense), post. As one other poster said, and said so well...peace be with you all.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

I hope that in the history of the world, no one will be insane enough to "push the button" again.

Nicely done post.
Gave it a star.

I hope one day you are able to travel to Hawaii and visit the USS Arizona Monument.

It would be interesting to read your thoughts on that....

Lesson learned= dont try to sneak attack Pearl Harbor. Its really not worth it. Really.

Originally posted by Spencer Tracy
Great job on this OP!

Japaneese Admit To Dissecting US Prisoners of War

UKUOKA, Japan "I could never again wear a white smock," says Dr. Toshio Tono, dressed in a white running jacket at his hospital and recalling events of 50 years ago. "It's because the prisoners thought that we were doctors, since they could see the white smocks, that they didn't struggle. They never dreamed they would be dissected." The prisoners were eight American airmen, knocked out of the sky over southern Japan during the waning months of World War U, and then torn apart organ by organ while they were still alive. What occurred here 50 years ago this month, at the anatomy department of Kyushu University, has been largely forgotten in Japan and is virtually unknown in the United States. American prisoners of war were subjected to horrific medical experiments. All of the prisoners died. Most of the physicians and asistants then did their best to hide the evidence of what they had done.

This is by far worse than dropping a bomb.
How could anyone disect people and chop off their arms and legs while they were still alive and conscious???

[edit on 8/11/2008 by mnmcandiez]

Originally posted by Perplexed
I agree it was a devastating attack unlike any other in history and it was too bad it happened. Having said that I think more people would have died in a land invasion as opposed to doing it this way.

Would they be noble remembrance of the high road the Americans took in that fight? I doubt it.. I can only guess that they would be full of anti-American policy threads that killed 500k Japanese without mention of the American losses suffered by not dropping the bomb.

As terrible as it is it must be put in perspective and not displayed as a one sided decision. Japan displayed their desire to win at all costs and when that didn't work out they displayed their desire to lose at all costs. That was their half of the decision in the bomb being dropped.

The cost on both sides would have been greater by invasion and the American people at the time would not have tolerated not dropping that bomb if they knew we had it and didn't use it. I really don't blame them. They need this war over with. The world needed the war over with.

This is total rubish. The estimates of deaths related to the invasion of Japan were way over-inflated. Most of the U.S. military commanders were in fact opposed to using the nuclear bombs on Japan, one general calling them barbaric weapons. Japan was trying desparately to surrender but the U.S. was intent on using the nuclear bombs to show their strength. They killed thousands of civilians during the fire bombings of Tokyo. They left Hiroshima and Nagasaki alone during the initial bombing of Japan so that they could use the nukes on them to show what damage they'd do on an intact city. What happened to the internationally agreed upon convention of not bombing civilians anyway?

Thank heavens this was the only time nukes were used. MacArthur wanted to attack China with nukes in 1951. Fortunately he was fired. Arthur Radforf, former CJCS pushed hard for nuking North Vietnam. I've heard people high-up talk about using nukes against Iran and Iraq too. Bunch of lunatics if you ask me.

Anyway, there are some excellent articles here on the bombings if you'd care to read:
Instant Genocide
Targetting Civilians
Atomic Bombing of Japan

[edit on 11-8-2008 by ghofer]

[edit on 11-8-2008 by ghofer]

I just wonder, if at the end of the day, the Japanese looked to themselves and asked the question: "was it really worth bombing Pear Harbor?"

This is so overwhelmingly powerful and disturbing that I wish that I could some how deny that it happened. Why wasn't one bomb enough? Old men, women and children being killed in such a horrid manner isn't warfare, but an act of inhumanity that warrants the wrath of what ever the world can impose on the perpetrators. There isn't any justification for horror of this magnitude. Wars are insane, and no amount of brainwashing can make this old warrior think otherwise.