Atomic Bombs

On August 6th, 1945, my husband and I were spending a few days visiting uncle Joe and aunt Essie in Stamford, Connecticut when we heard over the radio that the  U S Air Force had dropped an atomic bomb on Japan.  The news report told of the immense destruction from this bomb on a city called Hiroshima.  The news was so extraordinary that we gathered around the radio and waited for more news.  None of us knew what an atomic bomb was or what made it so destructive that a whole city could be destroyed. The information from the newspapers was just as bewildering.  We could hardly imagine such an explosion.  We stared at the photos in the newspaper trying to unlock the secret about  this terrible bomb. 

None of us had had any knowledge about atoms and all we could do was ask each other if they knew something about them, and if so, explain it to the rest of us.  Then, to reinforce the import of such a bomb, another was dropped over a town called, Nagasaki.  The town names were just as foreign to us as the bomb itself.  It wasn't long after the news about the 2nd bombing that we heard Japan had surrendered.

Over the years we have learned more than we really want to know about the whys and wherefores of atomic bombs.  I think people have forgotten the terrible results that weapon like this can cause.  These terrible bombs are talked about as if they were just another weapon of war to be used like drones.   News agencies have stopped mentioning the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on their anniversaries.  It might be a good idea if people would check out Wikipedia and read about the bombing of those cities and take a minute to look at the photos of the destruction and those of the victims.