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THE WEIRS TIMES & THE COCHECO TIMES, Thursday, August 3, 2017
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The Atom Bomb To the Editor: War is horrible. People are killed, maimed, emotionally destroyed. Property is destroyed, wealth is consumed. As we saw in WWI, even the winners lose in protracted wars. As we’ve seen in Viet Nam and Iraq, trying to conduct a “gentle�, “compassionate�, or “politically correct� war just prolongs the killing, suffering, destruction, and cost. If you must fight a war, the best way to lessen the suffering is to end the war as quickly as possible. This is why the United States and Japan should celebrate the anniversaries of August 6 and 9, 1945. The atomic bombs we dropped on those dates quickly brought WWII to an end saving at least 150,000 American soldier’s lives and perhaps avoiding the extermination of the Japanese people. WWII in the Pacific was particularly savage. The Japanese believed in death before dishonor, and surrender was considered dishonorable. In the battles on island after island the Japanese fought to the death, taking as many American lives as possible before dying. Typically only those Japanese soldiers who were too sick or weak to fight or commit suicide were captured. Almost all the 32,000 Japanese soldiers on Saipan died, fewer than 1000 were captured. Many of the 20,000 Japanese civilians committed suicide or were killed helping their
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soldiers. 3426 Americans were killed on this 44.5 square mile island. Almost all the approximately 23,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima died, only about 1000 were captured. 5900 Americans were killed on this approximately 8 square mile island. On 12 square mile Tarawa, approximately 4500 Japanese soldiers died while killing 1696 Americans. Almost all the 36,200 Japanese soldiers on Guadalcanal died, only about 1000 were captured. The Japanese killed 7100 Americans. Like their soldiers on these islands, the 73 million Japanese prepared to defend to the last man, woman, and child their almost 146,000 square mile homeland. Everyone who could fight was being trained and armed; even children were taught to fight with spears. The death toll promised to be horrendous. The American forces anticipated 1,000,000 casualties including at least 150,000 dead. The atomic bombs convinced the Japanese to surrender saving American lives and avoiding the extinction, or near extinction of the Japanese people. While the death toll from the atomic bombs was high, Hiroshima 80,000 and Nagasaki 40,000, they were not extreme in WWII. The March 9-10, 1945 bombing raid on Tokyo took about 100,000 lives, the raids on Hamburg
This newspaper was first published in 1883 by Mathew H. Calvert as Calvert’s Weirs Times and Tourists’ Gazette and continued until Mr. Calvert’s death in 1902. The new Weirs Times was re-established in 1992 and strives to maintain the patriotic spirit of its predecessor as well as his devotion to the interests of Lake Winnipesaukee and the Cocheco Valley area with the new Cocheco Times. Our newspaper’s masthead and the map of Lake Winnipesaukee in the center spread are elements in today’s paper which are taken from Calvert’s historic publication.
took about 42,000 lives, the raids on Dresden took 25,000 lives, raids on London took perhaps 50,000 lives. Compared to the perhaps 60-70 million Japanese that might have died in the invasion of Japan, the death toll from the atomic bombs was low and a small price to pay for the lives saved. The quick surrender resulting from the bombs provided other benefits. The Soviet Union was about to join the invasion of Japan so the quick surrender prevented the division of Japan among the US and the USSR. Perhaps more importantly the world saw the destructiveness of these primitive bombs. These convinced the civilized world to avoid use of atomic, now nuclear, weapons. There’s no question, war is horrible. But, the longer war drags on, the longer combatants can postpone defeat, the higher the cost. There are at least 150,000 American soldiers and perhaps a few million descendants of those soldiers who lived because President Truman dropped the atomic bombs on Japan. The Japanese people have even more reason to celebrate August 6 and 9, 1945 because nearly every Japanese citizen that lived or was born after WWII owes their lives to those bombs. Don Ewing Meredith, NH
Locally owned for over 20 years, this publication is devoted to printing the stories of the people and places that make New Hampshire the best place in the world to live. No, none of the daily grind news will PO Box 5458 be found in these pages, just the good stuff. Weirs, NH 03247 Published year round on Thursdays, we distribute 32,000 copies of the Weirs Times TheWeirsTimes.com and Cocheco Times weekly to the Lakes info@weirs.com Region/Concord/Seacoast area. An independent circulation audit estimates facebook.com/weirstimes that over 66,000 people read our @weirstimes newspaper every week. To find out how your business or service can 603-366-8463 benefit from advertising with us please call Fax 603-366-7301 1-888-308-8463. Š2017 Weirs Publishing Company, Inc.