73 years ago at 11:02 am, Nagasaki became the second city to be hit by a nuke. "Fat Boy" exploded 469 meters (~1500ft) above ground. The resulting explosion generated heat of 3,900C (~7,000F).
The north of the city vanished instantly.
An estimated 70,000 were killed and 75,000 injured. Only 150 of the dead were soldiers. Only 150!
Worth noting again that MacArther and much of the US military leadership favored targeted bombing, not the least because it meant fewer noncombatants being inadvertently killed. LeMay, however, favored killing everyone. In his mind, if civilians died—good!—maybe it would lower motivation and make the people turn against the government.
After the war he famously admitted that had the US lost he would have been tried as a war criminal. He was a war criminal.
As of 2014, 162,083 have died since as the results of radiation from the Nagasaki blast. This was unnecessary, wrong, and should never be repeated.
I have unfortunately never visited Nagasaki. It's on my list. Maybe when my kids get older and I can travel more freely. So I have no photos from the peace park there. Because of this, I republish this one from Hiroshima.
If you haven't read it yet, go read my piece on The Bombing of Hiroshima
Copyright © David LaSpina 2018, but almost free to use due to the generous Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. Spiffy! More details here.
| David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. More? |
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