Letters

Our look at the atomic blasts over Hiroshima and Nagasaki renewed debate about the conduct of the war and inspired a frail hope that humanity may survive its ongoing relationship with nuclear weapons

Thank you for the report on the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing [Aug. 1]. Your stories were a reminder that most countries still consider the possession of nuclear weapons more a point of pride than the potential for murder. Why does a country have to prove its supremacy through its ability to destroy? Nations should instead boast of creating something that can benefit mankind: cures for illness, sustainable crops that can reduce famine and inspiring artistic and literary works that show the best of the human spirit.
Xiao Zheng
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.

My family and I were among hundreds of Westerners trapped in Japan during WW II, fortunately many miles from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By August 1945, the helpless people of Japan were starving to death, and there was widespread homelessness. I shudder to think what devastation one more winter would have wrought had the war not ended. As terrible as they were, the atom bombs saved more lives than they destroyed.
Lucille Apcar
Mariposa, California, U.S.

Your story about the atom bomb brought back memories. I was on the island of Tinian at that time, in the 4th Marine Air Wing, and often watched those big B-29s take off. When the Enola Gay I returned, it just about blew our tents down, since it came in so low in celebration of what the crew suspected it had done: end the war. Later we flew our C-46 transport plane to Omura, Japan. As we looked down at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it seemed as if somebody had taken a rake and cleared those cities off the earth. I am now 80 years old, and while those memories may have been suppressed, they were never erased from my mind. I only pray such bombs will never be used again.
Robert P. Good
Shenandoah, Virgina, U.S.

I was very moved by the oral histories of the U.S. servicemen aboard the planes that struck Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I hope they know they are heroes. It was estimated that an invasion might have caused 1 million Allied casualties. There would be a lot fewer dads and grandpas around today had that taken place.
Jonas Lindgren, Officer Candidate Illinois Army National Guard
Glenview, Illinois, U.S.

As a student ambassador to Japan a few years ago, I visited Hiroshima and placed 1,000 paper cranes as an offering at the Peace Memorial. I realized that emotions of sorrow are universal. Once you stand in a place that has suffered as much as Hiroshima, you understand that world peace is not some cliché idea.
Trisha Saha
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.

How much longer do americans have to feel guilty about Hiroshima? By dropping the atom bombs, the U.S. delivered millions of people from the jaws of the Japanese war machine. Every story about the fate of the Japanese victims should also mention the suffering the Japanese inflicted on China, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Wan Chiu
Hong Kong

I am the same age as Sakaru Takigawa, one of the men whose picture was included in your report on the survivors of Hiroshima. As a young Marine who would probably have played a role in the scheduled invasion of Japan, I cheered when I heard the news about the bombing. Since then, 60 years of reflection have tempered my enthusiasm.
Al Sartor
Walnut Creek, California, U.S.