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64th Anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing

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AVIATOR:
Today is the 64th anniversary of the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima.


American opinion poll.

In a national poll in America, the majority in US back Hiroshima bombing.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans think the United States was right to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 64 years ago, ending World War II, a poll showed on Tuesday.

Only 22 per cent of those polled said then-US president Harry Truman was wrong to order the devastating bombings of the two Japanese cities in August 1945, according to the survey by Quinnipiac University.

An atomic bomb dropped from a B-29 Superfortress plane exploded over Hiroshima on the morning of August 6, 1945, killing more than 140,000 people either instantly or in the days and weeks that followed as radiation or horrific burns took their toll.

Three days later, with Japan still reeling from the devastation wrought on Hiroshima, the United States dropped a second nuclear bomb on Nagasaki.

Another 70,000 people died in that attack, and Japan surrendered less than a week later, ending World War II.

The Quinnipiac poll showed that support for the bombings rises significantly with age, with nearly three-quarters of poll respondents aged 55 and older supporting the devastating bombings, compared with just half of 18-34 year-olds and six in 10 Americans aged 35-54.

"Voters who remember the horrors of World War II overwhelmingly support Truman's decision," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Support drops with age, from the generation that grew up with the nuclear fear of the Cold War to the youngest voters, who know less about World War II.

Below: Enola Gay takes off from Tinian for the raid on Hiroshima. 6th August 1945.

Gripen:

--- Quote from: AVIATOR on August 05, 2009, 01:02:05 AM ---Support drops with age, from the generation that grew up with the nuclear fear of the Cold War to the youngest voters, who know less about World War II.

--- End quote ---

Does this mean that schools aren't teaching enough about the history of the war?

AVIATOR:
It is normal. Kids didn't live through the war or see the after effects.
Ever seen those punk kids with Kamikaze head bands? What they don't know is that if we hadn't beaten world fascism including Japan at the time, they probably wouldn't have been born at all let alone have the luxury to have the freedom to wear such a thing in such a frivolous manner without being murdered.

Kids don't want to know about 'junk' that granddad did. They want rock bands.

F-111 C/C:
I was proudly assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing for nearly 10 years. The 509th Bomb Wing was the decendant of the 509th Composite Group, the unit that dropped the bomb(s). Our squadron patch even had a mushroom cloud on it. They are now a B-2 wing at Whiteman AFB and are still the only unit ever to use 'non-conventional' weapons in anger.

valkyrian:
OK, killing innocent civilians isn't a crime of war?
What is the difference between the German General who decided to kill Jews and the American General who decided to drop the bomb?

Oh! i forgot! The first one lost the war while the second won the war and decided how to write the History.

Any action against civilians is a crime of war. Can anyone feel proud about this?

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