On This Day, Let's Pause To Give Thanks For Some Great American Heroes

[WeDidIt]

These men served their country and saved millions of Japanese civilians from death, not to mention hundreds of thousands of American and Japanese soldiers. In addition to that, their actions saved the world from potentially the first conflict where two sides actually used nuclear weapons against each other as the Japanese were well on their way to developing a nuclear weapon by war's end:

Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. – Pilot and Aircraft commander

Captain Robert A. Lewis – Co-pilot; Enola Gay's assigned aircraft commander*

Major Thomas Ferebee – Bombardier

Captain Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk – Navigator

U.S. Navy Captain William S. "Deak" Parsons – Weaponeer and bomb commander

Lieutenant Jacob Beser – Radar countermeasures (also the only man to fly on both of the nuclear bombing aircraft)

Second Lieutenant Morris R. Jeppson – Assistant weaponeer

Technical Sergeant George R. "Bob" Caron – Tail gunner*

Technical Sergeant Wyatt E. Duzenberry – Flight engineer*

Sergeant Joe S. Stiborik – Radar operator*

Sergeant Robert H. Shumard – Assistant flight engineer*

Private First Class Richard H. Nelson – VHF radio operator*

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. They only did their assigned mission, but I wouldn't call it heroic by any means.

Anyone whose seen any of the documentaries about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and its after effects will admit there was nothing glorious or good about what happened. It was truly a hell on earth.

[LeftishBrit]

7. Agreed.

Other options might possibly have killed as many or more people at the time; but no other option would have caused such horror over the following years: cancers years and decades later in those who were apparently unscathed children at the time; horrific birth defects in children yet unborn.

Nukes must never be used again anywhere. It's unlikely that the planet would even survive.

[Bonobo]

2. You started a thread CHEERLEADING the dropping of 2 nuclear devices on civilians!

I have never seen a more disgusting post. You should be ashamed. I am ashamed to even have seen it.

[scheming daemons]

5. You should be ashamed that you have no concept of history.

Truman saved lives....millions of them.... by forcing an end to the war without a mainland invasion of Japan... which would have been D-Day times 100.

[WeDidIt]

6. 250,000 dead Japanese civilians or 2,000,000 dead Japanese civilians

The quarter million happens in two eyeblinks. The 2,000,000 deaths occur over a period of a bout six months.

Those were the choices.

Damned straight I cheerlead it.

[Bonobo]

8. Yes, and the Vietnamese should be glad we killed 3 million of them too!

If we hadn't they might have lost twice as many! Haven't you read that book!?! It rulez1111!!!!11

[WeDidIt]

10. When did the Vietnamese ever start a war with us by bombing a base

in a sneal attack?

[Bonobo]

11. Pearl Harbor is a military base. How can you equate a smart military attack

with cruel bombing of civilians?

Why is Pearl Harbor such a sneaky thing? Should they have sent a card first? BTW, some think that the US did indeed have advance warning of it though...

[WeDidIt]

12. Hm, let's see

When no state of war exists and a sneak attack is made, that's a war crime.

They started it.

We finished it.

[Bonobo]

13. That is NOT a war crime. That is the start of a war. An act of war.

Not a War Crime.

You would rationalize killing someone for getting punched in the nose, I suppose.

[WeDidIt]

22. Aggressive war most certainly IS a war crime

Might want to get that straight.

And yes, I celebrate today. I do not mourn because millioins were saved in two eyeblinks.

[Dollface]

3. I am the child of a Marine who would have been sent to Japan. I probably wouldn't be here.

As horrible as it was, it helped the world to understand the destructive potential of the weapon and perhaps stopped it from being used elsewhere.

[Bill McBlueState]

17. "I probably wouldn't be here"

This argument is sort of weird. I can imagine all sorts of people who theoretically could exist but don't. Is that a tragedy?

[charlie]

4. I'll guess this thread will have at least 200 elbow-throwing posts before it sinks

At least. Happens every damned year.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Nonsense.

[Zywiec]

15. K & R!

:kick:

I loathe the people who blame the troops for carrying out their missions heroically.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

16. They flew a plane at a very high altitude and dropped a bomb.

Putting aside the hot button question as whether or not it was ethical to drop the bomb, objectively speaking, there's nothing really heroic about that situation per se.

[Zywiec]

19. Yeah, luckily no planes were ever shot down during the war

so there was no risk whatsoever.

:sarcasm:

[Tommy_Carcetti]

20. The Enola Gay flew at 32,000 feet and never experienced any hostile fire.

All I'm saying is that even if you claim the bombing was justified, there were no real heroics in that particular mission. It's not the same as soldiers who were dodging bullets in the trenches risking their lives to pull out a wounded comrade or pilots on low altitude dive bombing runs facing heavy ground fire.

[Zywiec]

21. Again, you're judging from hindsight

You think they left on the flight saying there is nothing to worry about because we'll be flying at 32,000 feet and never experience any hostile fire?

Why can so few imagine what things must have been like?

"For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible"

[jody]

18. Agree, see "The Invasion That Didn’t Happen"

"The Invasion That Didn’t Happen"