It was on this date in 1945 that Hiroshima was destroyed by a new weapon, a single bomb dropped by a B-29 named Enola Gay, named after the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. In the years since, many have tried to make the point that dropping of the bombs was an unnecessary act, as they claim the Japanese home islands were on the verge of defeat and would have surrendered soon enough without dropping the bomb.<\/p>\n
There are several flaws in that argument. First, after nearly four years of all-out war, Americans were tired of war. The prospect of what would surely be at least another 12-18 months taking the Japanese home islands was not a palatable thought. Second–as alluded to in movies and elsewhere, the Allies won the war in Europe, but at a huge cost. America was nearly bankrupt, spending nearly 38 percent of GDP on defense, compared to less than 4 percent of GDP today. Third–the casualty estimates of Operation Downfall varied widely, but all agreed that there would be huge casualties, and most of those estimates were only for the first sixty days, and only one took into account Navy casualties. Iwo Jima and Okinawa that same year showed that taking of the Japanese home islands would be possibly far more devastating in terms of both allied and Japanese casualties than eariler estimates. Finally, when the Japanese were asked to surrender after the July 16th test of the Trinity device in New Mexico, the Japanese basically was that of “mokusatsu,” meaning to treat with silence or silent contempt–a nice way of them telling the Allies to shove it up their ass.<\/p>\n
A quick end to the war with the fewest casualties was needed, and the atomic bomb, rightly or wrongly, provided that end. It is said that all of the Purple Hearts made up for Operation Downfall have been given out to the casualties of every war and action the United States has been involved in over the past six and a half decades, and there are still Purple Hearts left.<\/p>\n