The atomic bombings and their survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Aug 10, 2020
Dates to remember from 75 years ago: July 16, 1945 - the Trinity Blast, the world's first atomic bomb tested in New Mexico; August 6, 1945 - the bombing of Hiroshima; and August 9, 1945 - the bombing of Nagasaki. These long-ago dates changed the world forever. Discussion continues as to the rationale for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, but the horror of the bombings is certain. On a recent revisit to the Peace Museum in Hiroshima, I saw again the pictures of destruction and of victims (135,000 in Hiroshima and 64,000 in Nagasaki), some dying immediately and others suffering gruesome deaths from burns, and reread their stories. There are also the stories of those killed years later by a wave of childhood leukemia in the 1950s and by excess radiation-caused cancer that persists among survivors. The photos and stories haunt - the picture and school uniform of a child killed by acute leukemia. There are stories of resiliency as well, as the citizens of the bombed cities regrouped and rebuilt.
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