Personal Perspectives

Many people were interviewed after the war about their perspectives. These are a few opinions of people who were impacted the most in their lives by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

JAPANESE OPINIONS

Takashi Tanemori

The atomic bombs which descended over the Japenese people in 1945 killed and impacted millions of people. Take Takashi Tanemori who lost his parents, paternal grandparents, friends and two of his sisters due to the bombings.Takashi Tanemori, a survivor of the appalling bombings asked General Paul Tibbets, the captain of the Enola Gay, "Sir, have you ever felt remorse or guilt for what you did, now that you see how the atomic bomb impacted people?"

Tibbets replied, "Heck no. That was the best thing we ever did. All the Japanese thank me for it."
Tanemori challenged, "Really? Every Japanese person? Have you been back to Hiroshima?
Tibbets answered, "No, I didn't have to."
Takashi tried a different approach. "Sir, what we know now, about what happened at Hiroshima and all of the consequences, would you get back into the cockpit and drop the bomb once again?
General Tibbets told his bodyguard that he would like them to leave. Tanemori called after Tibbets saying, "General Tibbets, I will pray for you until you find peace in your heart."

Tibbets replied, "Heck no. That was the best thing we ever did. All the Japanese thank me for it."Tanemori challenged, "Really? Every Japanese person? Have you been back to Hiroshima?
Tibbets answered, "No, I didn't have to."
Takashi tried a different approach. "Sir, what we know now, about what happened at Hiroshima and all of the consequences, would you get back into the cockpit and drop the bomb once again?
General Tibbets told his bodyguard that he would like them to leave. Tanemori called after Tibbets saying, "General Tibbets, I will pray for you until you find peace in your heart."

Emiko Okada

Her thoughts......

"Hiroshima is known as a 'city of yakuza.' Why do you think that is? Thousands of children were orphaned on August 6, 1945. Without parents, these young children had to fend for themselves. They stole to get by. They were taken in by the wrong adults. They were later bought and sold by adults. Orphans who grew up in Hiroshima harbour a special hatred for grown-ups.
I was eight when the bomb dropped. My older sister was 12. She left early that morning to work on a tatemono sokai (building demolition) site and never came home. My parents searched for her for months and months. They never found her remains. My parents refused to send an obituary notice until the day that they died, in hopes that she was healthy and alive somewhere, somehow.

I too was affected by the radiation and vomited profusely after the bomb attack. My hair fell out, my gums bled, and I was too ill to attend school. My grandmother lamented the suffering of her children and grandchildren and prayed. "How cruel, how so very cruel, if only it weren't for the pika-don (a phonetic name for the atomic bomb)..." This was a stock phrase of hers until the day that she died.
The war was caused by the selfish misdeeds of adults. Many children fell victim because of it. Alas, this is still the case today. Us adults must do everything we can to protect the lives and dignity of our children. Children are our greatest blessing."
The bombing in Hiroshima burnt on about 70% of all buildings and caused an estimate of 140,000. The increase of cancer and disease or other side effects from the radiation. was brought among the survivors.
After the bombing, it created many fires in Hiroshima for 3 days killing many survivors that survived the fire. Thousands of people became homeless."

AMERICAN OPINIONS

Theodore Van Kirk

American pilots thought that the bombings saved many Japanese lives since, without the bombing, the invasion would have claimed 500,000 lives which were just about the same number of losses from the war before that time.

Theodore Van Kirk, one of the pilots of the Enola Gay said.

"Under the same circumstances, I would do it again. You have to understand that we were about to invade Japan. Our losses would have been horrendous - over 500,000 people, in my estimation. That's about equal to our losses in the entire war up until that time. I didn't see how we could have taken losses like that. If you look at it from that perspective, dropping the atomic bomb saved lives. No question about it. Mostly Japanese lives.

Paul Newman

Paul Newman gladly accepts the bombings to save his life. On the date of the release of the atom bomb on Hiroshima, Newman was approximately 500 miles aboard the Hollandia aircraft carrier.

OTHER OPINIONS

Ron Shepheard

Ron Shepheard is an Australian witness of the aftermath of the bombings. When Shepheard was in his early twenties, he arrived at the site of the nuclear attack in Hiroshima a few months after the blast. Ron thinks, "It's a horrible thing. I think it's very bad, I really do,".

He recalls, "You look at your boys, there were thousands of our own mates getting killed."

"It was very bad, we didn't expect it that bad, but it was really big, you know? We got the shock of our lives."

Now the 95 year old is amongst the last few Australian witnesses of the wreakage caused by the blast. He wishes for his experience to not be exerienced by others as it was 'terrible'.

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