10 August 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 513 % Postmaster, N.Y.

10 August, 1945      1000

Nancy

Good morning, darling –

As a matter of fact it’s a lousy day here today – typical of a cold, windy, rainy day in New England – in October. They say we’ve had our summer here already, but I think we’ll have more warm weather.

The hottest news here is something I’ve already mentioned to you – namely the Colonel’s leaving. But it’s now definite, and he takes off definitely on Monday – 13 August. We have a few more high point men who will probably be going in the next several weeks. There are eleven of us with points below 85 – and we don’t know where we’ll go – or when. Anyway – on Saturday night we’re going to have a big brawl – i.e. tomorrow evening. He’s been a pretty good egg – somewhat on the style of Col Pereira. Now – temporarily at least – our Major – Hoag will take over. He’s a nice fellow – but not forceful enough. How much we’ll be pushed around is hard to say – but we’re kind of used to it by now.

1115

Well, sweetheart – I became busy for awhile. You know, dear – I’ve built up quite a little practice from outside units. We’re centrally located and we see a lot of transients. Last week a Sgt. came in – complaining of service he had been receiving at the hospital in town. He had a draining sinus on his buttock and they were just dressing it from day to day. Well it needed a little nick to open it up adequately and the thing cleared up in a few days. Now I’ve been referred business – pay is still the same, darling.

Gosh, dear – would you please write our Congressman and complain about the mail? C’est toujours la même – rien. C’est formidable! Honestly – it’s becoming very annoying – day after day – no mail – and that’s really all I have to look forward to from day to day – and you just can’t or maybe you can – imagine how lonesome a day is without a letter from you, sweetheart. I love you dearly and I love your letters and I miss so much not being able to read daily that you love me too.

Oh hell here come some more guys. They’ve been dropping in all morning – but I’m not so busy these days that I can’t see them.

I’d better knock off now, sweetheart – because it’ll be noon soon and I’d like this to go out. Whatever else I say or write, darling – I mean always to remind you that I love you and you alone – and I always will!

Love to the folks, dear – and

My deepest love is yours alone –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about How Korea got Divided

Korea had been a unified country since the 7th century. During the 19th century imperialist nations threatened Korea's long standing sovereignty. After defeating China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, the Japanese forces remained in Korea, occupying strategically important parts of the country. Ten years later, they defeated the Russian navy in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), contributing to Japan's emergence as an imperial power.　 The Japanese continued to occupy the peninsula against the wishes of the Korean government and people, expanded their control over local institutions through force, and finally annexed Korea in August 1910.

In November 1943, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek met at the Cairo Conference to discuss what should happen to Japan's colonies, and agreed that Japan should lose all the territories it had conquered by force. In the declaration after this conference, Korea was mentioned for the first time. The three powers declared that "mindful of the enslavement of the people of Korea [we] are determined that in due course Korea shall become free and independent.”

For Korean nationalists who wanted immediate independence, the phrase "in due course" was cause for dismay. Roosevelt may have proposed to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin that three or four years elapse before full Korean independence; Stalin demurred, saying that a shorter period of time would be desirable. In any case, discussion of Korea among the Allies would not resume until victory over Japan was imminent. However, American leaders worried that the whole peninsula might be occupied by the Soviet Union, and feared this might lead to a Soviet occupation of Japan.

On 10 August 1945 two young officers – Colonels Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel – were assigned to define an American occupation zone. Working at extremely short notice and completely unprepared, they used a National Geographic map to decide on the 38th parallel. They chose it because it divided the country approximately in half but would leave the capital Seoul under American control. No experts on Korea were consulted. The two men were unaware that forty years previous, Japan and Russia had discussed sharing Korea along the same parallel. Rusk later said that had he known, he "almost surely" would have chosen a different line. Regardless, the decision was hastily written into "General Order No. 1" for the administration of postwar Japan.

         

                   Charles Bonesteel III                      Dean Rusk

The Soviet forces entered the Korean peninsula on 10 August 1945, but occupied only the northern half, stopping at the 38th parallel, per the agreement with the United States. A few weeks later the American forces entered Korea through Incheon. U.S. Army Lt. Gen. John R. Hodge formally accepted the surrender of Japanese forces south of the 38th Parallel on 9 September 1945 at the Government House in Seoul.

With the ending of World War II, the American victory over Japan very rapidly turned into a series of conflicts over the future of East Asia and the Pacific. Splitting Korea at the 38th Parallel, the United States and Russia began their Cold War game of influence and conflict just shy of all out war. Korea was the first test of their policies and resolve.

In December 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to administer the country temporarily. Both countries established governments in their respective halves favorable to their political ideology. In the process, U.S.-run elections supervised by the U.N. replaced an indigenous, left-wing government that had formed in June 1945 with one led by the right-wing politician and anti-Communist Syngman Rhee. The southern partition's left-wing parties boycotted the elections. The Soviet Union, in turn, approved and furthered the rise of a Communist government led by Kim Il-Sung in the northern part. The Allies said that Korea would be a unified, independent country under an elected government but failed to specify the details or how to make this happen. In 1949, both Soviet and American forces withdrew. This set the stage for a Korean Civil War which led to the Korean War (1950-1953) and the eventual creation of a four-kilometer wide buffer zone between the states, where nobody would enter. This area came to be known as the Demilitarized Zone or DMZ.

Still divided today, it is difficult to see how the Korean people will ever have the opportunity to be one again.

09 August 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 513 % Postmaster, N.Y.

9 August, 1945

Nancy

My dearest sweetheart –

What with atomic bombs and the Russians declaring war on the Japs – it’s pretty difficult for me to write anything astounding, so I’ll have to say simply that I love you very much and miss you even more. With the rush of current events, things are really starting to look up and false hopes or no – the war should fold up. My own guess is that it will be within 10 weeks and if not then – in 10 months.

But to get back to the main subject – or as the French say ‘Revenon á nos moutour’ – I love you, darling, and if you’re not sure what that implies, I’ll tell you. It means that I think of you night and day, plan the things we’ll do together when I get back, reminisce about the past and dream of our future. And that goes on all the time, sweetheart – not just when I’m sentimental. That’s love, isn’t it?

Here – there’s not a thing to tell you about, dear. The days and nights are very unexciting. Last night we went to the movies and saw a farce. I was in the mood for it and enjoyed it. It was the “Royal Scandal” with T. Bankhead and I thought it ran off very smoothly. I don’t know whether or not we’re seeing recent pictures – but we’re getting a pretty good variety, anyway.

Ah – I was wondering when you’d start getting a bit jealous. I refer to “the blonde” mentioned in the itinerary of the 438th – as recorded in that little book you received, dear. Now I can tell all – she was very attractive – ahem – otherwise why should I have been so concerned about her welfare? But to tell the truth, darling, I don’t like blondes; I like brunettes – of a certain type – only – and the queer thing is that they have to live on 99 Mandalay Road only!

No mail again, dammit – although packages are coming thru, as well as periodicals. Boy I have a lot of letters from you still outstanding. But I can wait – so long as I know you’re still writing me and loving me. That’s what counts, sweetheart, the comfort of the thought.

Today it’s cold and drab – but if it warms up a bit this afternoon I’m going to play some tennis. I ran into a fellow who plays a good game and I think I’ll get a good workout.

No news from home either in some time – but I trust all is well.

I’ll stop now, sweetheart, and write again tomorrow. I sure hope I hear from you later today. My love to the folks, dear, and regards to Grammy B and Mary. For now – so long and

My deepest love and devotion –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about a Bad Day for Japan

On 9 August 1945, the same day the Soviet Union invaded Japanese-held Manchuria, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Japan in the hopes that surrender would result.

Moments after impact of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki

From the "Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembered" web site comes this:

On August 6, 1945, The Enola Gay had lifted off from Tinian Island in the Northern Marianas at two A.M. The flight had been uneventful, the weather had cooperated, and, at 8:15 A.M. bombardier Major Thomas W. Ferebee had released Little Boy. The Enola Gay had landed uneventfully at Tinian. The crew had been greeted by an excited crowd. Generals Carl A. "Tooey" Spaatz and Curtis E. LeMay had flown in from Guam. Pilot Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by General Spaatz. Following the ceremony the fliers had been feted at a star-studded debriefing where General LeMay had told the men, "Kids, go eat, take a good shower, and sleep as much as you want!"

The Nagasaki mission couldn't have been more different.

When a second mission was approved, Kokura was the primary target Nagasaki was the secondary target. Originally scheduled for August 11, 1945, the mission was advanced to August 9 due to weather concerns. That day, when one would have expected all attention to be focused on the Nagasaki strike, yet another ceremony took place to honor Tibbets and the crew of the Enola Gay.

There was some confusion at the outset of the Nagasaki mission. Major Charles W. Sweeny was to command the mission in his plane The Great Artiste. But The Great Artiste was still outfitted with scientific gear left over from being the support plane for the Hiroshima mission and there wasn't time to outfit it to carry Fat Man. So Sweeney and his crew took over Captain Frederick C. Bock, Jr.'s plane Bock's Car, while Bock's crew switched to The Great Artiste.

Back (L-R): Capt Beahan, Capt Van Pelt, Jr.,
1st Lt. Albury, 2nd Lt. Olivi, Maj Sweeney
Front (L-R): SSgt Buckley, MSgt Kuharek,
Sgt Gallagher, SSgt DeHart, Sgt Spitzer

Sweeney and his crew were under orders to only bomb visually. When they got to Kokura they found the haze and smoke obscuring the city as well as the large ammunition arsenal that was the reason for targeting the city. They made three unsuccessful passes, wasting more fuel, while anti-aircraft fire zeroed in on them and Japanese fighter planes began to climb toward them. The B-29s broke off and headed for Nagasaki. The phrase Kokura's Luck was coined in Japan to describe escaping a terrible occurrence without being aware of the danger.

Nagasaki was a city on the west coast of Kyushu on picturesque Nagasaki Bay. It was famous as the setting for Puccini's beautiful opera Madame Butterfly. It was also home to two huge Mitsubishi war plants on the Urakami River. This complex was the primary target, but because the city was built in hilly, almost mountainous terrain, it was a much more difficult target than Hiroshima.

Clouds covered Nagasaki when Bock's Car arrived. Contrary to orders, weaponeer Ashworth determined to make the drop by radar if they had to due to their short fuel supply. At the last minute a small window in the clouds opened and bombardier Captain Kermit K. Beehan made the drop at 10:58 A.M. Nagasaki time.

Fat Man exploded at 1,840 feet above Nagasaki and approximately 500 feet south of the Mitsubishi Steel and Armament Works with an estimated force of 22,000 tons of TNT. Within a minute of Fat Man's explosion, a brilliant fireball boiled skyward. Sweeney banked sharply to avoid it. The two B-29s were battered by five successive shockwaves and the radioactive cloud surged toward them. Both planes turned away and headed home.

Cloud over Nagasaki as Bock's Car flew away

The crew of Bock's Car should have felt some release from tension, but they had only 300 gallons of fuel remaining—not enough to get them back to Tinian, and perhaps not even to Okinawa. Sweeney had his radio operator contact the air-sea rescue teams to alert them to the possibility of ditching. There was no answer. The rescue teams had shut down, apparently deciding Bock's Car had long returned to Tinian.

When they reached Okinawa, repeated attempts to raise the tower for landing instructions went unanswered. Sweeney watched other planes taking off and landing, but knew he didn't have enough gas for protracted circling. He set off flares and finally somebody on the ground noticed. Bock's Car landed at two P.M. local time. The number two engine ran out of fuel while they were on the runway. They had a total of seven gallons of fuel left. They refueled, took off for Tinian, and landed without further incident at 11:39 P.M. local time.

No one was on hand to greet them. There was no ceremony. No one had even thought to have food ready for the famished crews who hadn't eaten in almost twenty-four hours.

Unlike Hiroshima, there was no firestorm at Nagasaki. Despite this, the blast was more destructive to the immediate area, due to the topography and the greater power of Fat Man. However, the hilly topography limited the total area of destruction to less than that of Hiroshima, and the resulting loss of life, though horrifically high, was also less. The exact number of casualties was impossible to determine. The Japanese listed only those they could verify and set the official estimate at 23,753 killed, 1,927 missing, and 23,345 wounded. U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey figures were much higher, but still less than those for Hiroshima.

Like Hiroshima, the immediate aftermath in Nagasaki was a nightmare. More than forty percent of the city was destroyed. Major hospitals had been utterly flattened and care for the injured was impossible. Schools, churches, and homes had simply disappeared. Transportation was impossible.

Two years after the bombing, plants growing at ground zero presaged the frightening genetic aberrations in humans that were to come: sesame stalks produced 33 percent more seeds but 90 percent of them were sterile. For decades abnormally high amounts of cancer, birth defects, and tumors haunted victims.

Ground Zero in Nagasaki, today

08 August 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 513 % Postmaster, N.Y.

8 August, 1945      0930

Nancy

Wilma darling –

It’s raining today – the first time in about a month and despite the grayness of the day, I’m rather enjoying it. It has come a little too late for the farmers, though. In a year in which they really needed a large crops – the latter are very poor; the potatoes, tomatoes – etc are tiny and the rain at this stage won’t help.

Now – I’m no farmer, so I’ll get off that subject immediately. Sweetheart I didn’t write to you yesterday because I was away almost the entire day. It was in connection with Special Service – we’re looking for a spot where the 438th can send its own men for a few days relaxation and there are beaucoups such spots in the Vosges. Gosh, darling, it’s lovely country down here and I sure would have loved to have had you here with me yesterday. The Vosges aren’t very high – but they help form some very pretty valleys are just as picturesque as you can imagine.

Village in a Vosges valley

Anyway – we think we have a place on a lake – and we’ll probably go back at the end of the week and make it definite. I returned fairly late and was disappointed to find no mail from you. Damn the service! I did get a V-mail from Stan Levine. He hadn’t written in some time but excused himself because he had had a minor operation à la derrière. He told me of his trip to the Cape and visit with Irv and also wrote he was glad I was getting back home in September. I’d be glad too, darling.

You wrote the other day about meeting a couple from New York – and the fellow being with or having been with the 104th. That was a crack outfit headed by General Terry Allen who used to run the First Division. They didn’t – i.e. the 104th – get into the fight until after Normandy – and I couldn’t understand how that fellow could mention the congestion at Utah Beach – unless he had landed with another outfit and then transferred to the 104th. There was no congestion after the first six weeks. I don’t remember whether I told you or not, dear – but the 438th landed at Omaha – although I did go up to Utah Beach once to evacuate a fellow in our outfit who had cracked up mentally. In those days there were no General Hospitals on the Continent and all such cases were being evacuated to England by air. They had an airstrip right next to the Beach.

Anyway – I’m glad you found the stories interesting, darling, because I know I’m going to have a lot to tell you. Of course – to stimulate your interest – I’ll tell you how I never slept in a chateau but what I missed you and wished you were with me; how I loved and wanted you hour by hour and day by day. And I can imagine my story telling being postponed to a later date at that point due to circumstances beyond our control. Oh me oh my!

Your reference to Pete and “the girl he took to the dances” dear, goes all the way back to Sherborne, England. Pete never did go out much with girls – but he fell for a V.A.D. (Voluntary Aid Detachment) girl associated with the British Naval Hospital in town and he used to take her to dances held in town. That’s all there was to that.

The days are drifting by, sweetheart, and they must be bringing us closer together. It’s hard to see from here – but we’ve got to believe it. I can say only, darling, that I love you and miss you more and more each day and I’m just praying for the day when we’re together once again.

Will stop now, dear. My love to the folks – and

All my sweetest love is yours –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about The Soviet Union's Declaration of War

The dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima by the Americans did not have the effect intended: unconditional surrender by Japan. Half of the Japanese inner Cabinet, called the Supreme War Direction Council, refused to surrender unless guarantees about Japan's future were given by the Allies, especially regarding the position of the emperor, Hirohito. The only Japanese civilians who even knew what happened at Hiroshima were either dead or suffering terribly.

On 8 August 1945, the Soviet Union officially declared war on Japan. Here is Foreign Commissar Molotov’s announcement of the declaration of war, as broadcast by Moscow:

On August 8, People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R. Molotov received the Japanese Ambassador, Mr. Sato, and gave him, on behalf of the Soviet Government, the following for transmission to the Japanese Government:

After the defeat and capitulation of Hitlerite Germany, Japan became the only great power that still stood for the continuation of the war.

The demand of the three powers, the United States, Great Britain and China, on July 26 for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces was rejected by Japan, and thus the proposal of the Japanese Government to the Soviet Union on mediation in the war in the Far East loses all basis.

Taking into consideration the refusal of Japan to capitulate, the Allies submitted to the Soviet Government a proposal to join the war against Japanese aggression and thus shorten the duration of the war, reduce the number of victims and facilitate the speedy restoration of universal peace.

Loyal to its Allied duty, the Soviet Government has accepted the proposals of the Allies and has joined in the declaration of the Allied powers of July 26.

The Soviet Government considers that this policy is the only means able to bring peace nearer, free the people from further sacrifice and suffering and give the Japanese people the possibility of avoiding the dangers and destruction suffered by Germany after her refusal to capitulate unconditionally.

In view of the above, the Soviet Government declares that from tomorrow, that is from August 9, the Soviet Government will consider itself to be at war with Japan.

07 August 1945

No letter today. Just this:

Here are some random pictures. Some are from Nancy but others were left out of their appropriate places...

Greg in Nancy, France - August 1945


Bastogne, Belgium - June 1944, not 1945


Houffalize, Belgium - July 1944, not 1945


Houffalize, Belgium - July 1944, not 1945


Neufchateau on the Moselle - August 1945


Belgium - August 1944


Nancy, France - August 1945


Plaque to the returning French soldier
Nancy, France - July 1945


Reassembled V-1 Rocket
Nancy, France - August 1945

* TIDBIT *

about The Day After
the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima

In her senior thesis at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Diana Steele wrote this:

7 August 1945, the day after the atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima, brought new challenges, new hardships, new sufferings, more death and despair. Hiroshima had been completely destroyed. The atomic bomb had detonated about 2,000 feet over Hiroshima, and almost every building in the city had been turned to dust. In less than half a second, heat rays with temperatures of more than 3,000 degrees Celsius caused primary burns within two miles of the hypocenter, and the city turned into a sea of fire.

The thousands of victims who had fled the day before returned in the desperate hope that some shred of their lives remained for them to collect and hold dear. Most found nothing but ashes where once stood their house, broken glass that once served as their dinnerware, twisted metal that they once rode as a bicycle. Burned bloody corpses were piled high everywhere. Huge funeral pyres burned throughout the city, while mass graves for the ashes were being dug wherever the pyre was built, by whomever was strong enough to dig. The search for relatives and loved ones rarely met with success or joy.

At the Red Cross Hospital, patients let their presence be known by painting their names on the wall in their own blood in the chance that someone would come looking for them. Along the rivers floated boats with large white flags with the names of people written across them in the hopes that someone would see their name and come to be reunited with their loved ones.

Most, however, found the search hopeless and fruitless. Toshiko Saeki went everyday into Hiroshima to search for her lost family members, but

I couldn't identify people by their faces. Trying to find my family, I had to take a look at their clothing . . . I couldn't find any of my family, so I went out to the playground. There were four piles of bodies and I stood in front of them. I just didn't know what to do. . . If I tried to find my beloved ones, I would have to remove the bodies one by one. It just wasn't possible. I really felt sad.

Toshiko would lose 13 family members to the bomb, including her mother and father and brother.

Those who came to Hiroshima from other towns and cities were not prepared for what they saw. Familiar landmarks were gone, buildings were gone, and only a few shells of structures remained to haunt the smoldering city. Two friends of Dr. Hachiya arrived in Hiroshima from his home town to check on his condition. They continuously repeated the horrors they had seen to convince themselves what they had witnessed was reality, not a nightmare. Mr. Katsutani, one of his friends, recounted in a broken tone,

I came onto I don't know how many [Japanese soldiers], burned from the hips up; and where the skin had peeled, their flesh was wet and mushy. . . And they had no faces! Their eyes, noses and mouths had been burned away, and it looked like their ears had melted off. It was hard to tell front from back.

He explained further of countless bodies along the river, dead from drowning as they tried to get a drink or cool their burns; the thousands of burned corpses filling the roads that led to Hiroshima; the smell everyone who was burned gave off; the pain of having nothing to help them.

Dr. Hachiya, as many of the people of Hiroshima, was a broken man, devoid of hope and spirit:

I found myself accepting whatever was told me with equanimity and a detachment I would have never believed possible. . . . I felt lonely, but it was an animal loneliness. I became part of the darkness of the night. . .

The second day found Hiroshima a city of broken souls, on the edge of death still clinging to life.

Meanwhile, on 7 August 1945 on the island of Guam, the decision to drop the second bomb was made. It's use was calculated to indicate that the United States had an endless supply of the new weapon.

06 August 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 513 % Postmaster, N.Y.

6 August, 1945      1050

Nancy

Dearest darling Wilma –

A late start this morning and this will probably be a shortie because I have several things to do today.

Yesterday was as quiet a day – Sunday – as we’ve spent in a long time. We played Bridge from 1300 to 1730 without a break. It killed the p.m. beautifully. In the evening we decided to go to the concert in the park. It was a pleasant evening and the music was light and enjoyable.

This morning has been quite busy so far and there’s more to do. But, darling, I wanted to take time out to tell you that I love you this Monday morning just as dearly, constantly, as every other minute of every other day. And miss you? Good Lord, dear – it’s awful. These past 2 weeks in particular have been very hard to take; I don’t know why exactly – but it’s probably because you are so near to me in every sense of the word – and yet so darned far!

Well – we lost one high point officer this a.m. – and the latest rumor – but it’s very likely a fact is that Col. MacW. will leave on the 14th. He has 121 points. That will leave Major Hoag in charge and the old 438th is disintegrating slowly but surely. I hope it stays together long enough for me to add on more good time. MC’s – from what I hear – are still being plucked from all over the place and hooked on to outgoing outfits. So far I’m safe and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I still haven’t heard from Lawrence. I wish I would – because I didn’t know what his shipping out APO number is and there’s no point in writing to Camp Beale.

Sweetheart – I have to stop now and run over to the Guardhouse and see some sick prisoner. I have to be there before noon – so will you excuse me for now? I hope you’re hearing from me fairly regularly now, dear. I know it helps.

Love to the folks – and remember – I am and will always be –

Yours alone –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima


An area of Hiroshima near ground zero,
before and after the atomic bomb struck.
Circles indicate 1000 feet (914 meters).

According to Alan Bellows in "Eyewitnesses to Hiroshima and Nagasaki", as posted on the "Damn Interesting" web site:

At 2:45 a.m. on 06 August 1945, the Allies' B-29 "Enola Gay" left the island of Tinian near Saipan. Its primary target was Hiroshima, where the 2nd Japanese Army stood poised to defend against an expected Allied invasion of their homeland. The Enola Gay was carrying "Little Boy," a 9,700-pound uranium bomb. Piloted by the commander of the 509th Composite Group, Colonel Paul Tibbets, the B-29 flew at low altitude on automatic pilot before climbing to 31,000 feet as it neared the target area. The weather over the target was satisfactory, and the bombardier, Major Thomas Ferrebee, was able to use a visual approach.

At approximately 8:15 AM Hiroshima time the Enola Gay released Little Boy over the city. Tibbets immediately dove away to avoid the anticipated shock wave. Forty-three seconds later, a huge explosion lit the morning sky as Little Boy detonated directly over a parade field where soldiers of the Japanese Second Army were doing calisthenics. The bomb's detonation point was only approximately 550 feet from the aiming point, the Aioi Bridge, an easily identifiable location near the center of the city. The bomb detonated at an altitude of 1800 feet. The yield of the bomb was equivalent of 12,500 tons of TNT.

Though already eleven and a half miles away, the Enola Gay was rocked by the blast. At first, Tibbets thought he was taking flak. After a second shock wave (reflected from the ground) hit the plane, the crew looked back at Hiroshima. "The city was hidden by that awful cloud . . . boiling up, mushrooming, terrible and incredibly tall," Tibbets recalled.

Those closest to the explosion died instantly, their bodies turned to black char. Nearby birds burst into flames in mid-air, and dry, combustible materials such as paper instantly ignited as far away as 6,400 feet from ground zero. The detonation formed a high-temperature, high-pressure fireball which rapidly expanded to a diameter of about 400 meters in the first second. The fireball emitted intense heat for three seconds, and glowed brightly for about ten seconds. The temperature on the ground near ground zero ("hypocenter") reached thousands of degrees Celsius. On the ground near the hypocenter the overpressure reached tons per square meter. The fireball created a supersonic shockwave, which was followed by winds blowing hundreds of meters per second. The shock wave traveled 6.8 miles (eleven kilometers) in 30 seconds.

Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall
before (above) and after (below) the atomic bomb struck.
The building was 175 yards (160 meters) from impact.

Those who survived called the A-bomb "pika don". "Pika" referred to the flash of light, and "Don" was an onomatopoeic reference to the tremendous sound. Survivors close to the hypocenter, the point directly beneath the detonation, heard no sound, and called it merely "pika".

The white light acted as a giant flashbulb, burning the dark patterns of clothing onto skin and the shadows of bodies onto walls. Survivors outdoors close to theblast generally describe a literally blinding light combined with a sudden and overwhelming wave of heat. The blast wave followed almost instantly for those close-in, often knocking them from their feet.

Those that were indoors were usually spared the flash burns, but flying glass from broken windows filled most rooms, and all but the very strongest structures collapsed. One boy was blown through the windows of his house and across the street as the house collapsed behind him. Within minutes 9 out of 10 people half a mile or less from ground zero were dead.

People farther from the point of detonation experienced first the flash and heat, followed seconds later by a deafening boom and the blast wave. Nearly every structure within one mile of ground zero was destroyed, and almost every building within three miles was damaged.

In the case of wooden houses, those which were within one kilometer of the hypocenter were smashed at the moment of the explosion. In the case of reinforced concrete buildings, the roofs of those near the center of the explosion collapsed. Some of the buildings were flattened and became piles of rubble. A fierce fire followed destruction by the violent blast caused by the explosion. Every building within one kilometer of the hypocenter was totally destroyed by the fire whether it was wooden or reinforced concrete.

Wooden houses in the area between one kilometer and two kilometers from the hypocenter were completely destroyed. The buildings located one to two kilometers from the center were mostly destroyed by the fire. Wooden houses in the area two to three kilometers away were severely damaged. Even houses three to four kilometers from the center of the explosion were badly damaged. The buildings two to three kilometers from the center were partially destroyed.

Less than 10 percent of the buildings in the city survived without any damage, and the blast wave shattered glass in suburbs twelve miles away. The most common first reaction of those that were indoors even miles from ground zero was that their building had just suffered a direct hit by a bomb.

The firestorm eventually engulfed 4.4 square miles of the city, killing anyone who had not escaped in the first minutes after the attack. One postwar study of the victims of Hiroshima found that less than 4.5 percent of survivors suffered leg fractures. Such injuries were not uncommon; it was just that most who could not walk were engulfed by the firestorm.

Yoshitaka Kawamoto was thirteen years old when the bomb exploded over Hiroshima, in a classroom less than a kilometer away from the hypocenter.

One of my classmates, I think his name is Fujimoto, he muttered something and pointed outside the window, saying, “A B-29 is coming.” He pointed outside with his finger. So I began to get up from my chair and asked him, “Where is it?” Looking in the direction that he was pointing towards, I got up on my feet, but I was not yet in an upright position when it happened. All I can remember was a pale lightening flash for two or three seconds. Then, I collapsed. I don't know much time passed before I came to. It was awful, awful. The smoke was coming in from somewhere above the debris. Sandy dust was flying around. I was trapped under the debris and I was in terrible pain and that’s probably why I came to. I couldn’t move, not even an inch. Then, I heard about ten of my surviving classmates singing our school song. I remember that. I could hear sobs. Someone was calling his mother. But those who were still alive were singing the school song for as long as they could. I think I joined the chorus. We thought that someone would come and help us out. That’s why we were singing a school song so loud. But nobody came to help, and we stopped singing one by one. In the end, I was singing alone.”

Approximately 80,000 people were killed as a direct result of the blast, and an equal number were injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout. There were 90,000 buildings in Hiroshima before the bomb was dropped; only 28,000 remained after the bombing. Over 90% of Hiroshima’s doctors and 93% of its nurses were killed. 30% of Hiroshima’s population was killed immediately, with about 30% more wounded.

The oleander is the official flower of the city of Hiroshima because it was the first to bloom again after the explosion of the atomic bomb in 1945.

Oleander

Debate after the war has centered around whether or not the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima was necessary to win the war, with scholars and historians divided.

05 August 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 513 % Postmaster, N.Y.

5 August, 1945      0950

Nancy

My dearest fiancée –

It’s Sunday morning and I’m here at the Dispensary having just completed sick-call. I’m waiting for my jeep to get back from the hospital so I can go back to our quarters. On Sunday we spend most of the day around the house.

Yesterday was quiet – and a few of us did the unusual thing by going to the movies in the p.m. – 1500. We saw “The Woman in the Window” – E.G. Robinson and J. Bennet. For ability to keep us interested – it was good – and besides, there was nothing about the war in it – and that fact alone made it easy to take. Darling – you’ll have to be careful to ask me to go to the right sort of movie after I get back and movies with war backgrounds are not the right sort.

Well in the evening we didn’t have a darned thing to do. No one felt like getting dressed up particularly – so we just sat around our O.D’s. Then someone produced some gin and fruit juice and we decided to celebrate Christmas – last year – because the German breakthrough had interfered considerably with our ability to enjoy that day. We celebrated – sang, yelled and generally tied one on. I was one of the few at breakfast this morning because I’m rarely affected the next day, but I guess we’ll all rest, relax and probably play some Bridge later on today.

My detachment is gradually thinning out, dear. First – just after V.E. day – I lost one boy. I don’t remember if I mentioned it to you – either thru an accidental shooting or by suicide. Since then I’ve lost two excellent men – over 40 and tomorrow I lose one of the men who was in my original cadre – one of my twins. They’re being split up for the first time in 5 years but it can’t be helped. This boy has 108 points and he’s getting out on that. And we’re losing our first officer tomorrow, too – a Lt. with 135 points – just think of it! He’s been in a long time and besides has two kids – for 24 points. Boy oh boy if he’d only let me have 3 points to bring me up to 85. That’s supposed to be the critical score for officers to keep them with their unit and allow them to leave this theater for reassignment to the States. Below that it is said they can do anything they want with an officer – but one thing has come out from the Chief Surgeon’s office and that is that no medical officer with 75 points or over – will go directly to the Pacific – so that’s one thing we don’t have to sweat out.

By the way – I read with surprise your note about a Dr. Alpert being located at 387 Essex St. That used to be Dr. Bean’s house – before he sold it and went into the Navy. There have been a couple of Doctors in and out – since – but this one’s a new one on me.

387 Essex Street, Salem, MA, USA
From Google Maps

I wonder if that Tobe Friedman is one of the Friedman girls I knew of. At any rate – I don’t know this Alpert fellow – but I’d like to know how he stayed out of the service – or how he got out – if he was in. But you’re right, darling – I’m not afraid of the competition one bit. Surgery or no – I think I can come back and pick up a decent practice after awhile. I’ll take my chances against most of the other young men in town. And with your love and help and understanding – we can’t miss, can we, dear? Remember that I love you dearly and I have even more of an incentive to make good than I had before. So the others better watch out – I’m going to give them a run for their money. All for now, dear – love to the folks – and

All my sincerest love,

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about a Mother in Hiroshima
the Night Before the Bomb

The following excerpt comes from Hiroshima, written by John Hershey. It was first published in The New Yorker, 31 August 1946 and then published by Penguin Books Ltd. in November, 1946. The book was written from interviews of six people who experienced the bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.

"Hiroshima" in The New Yorker

At nearly midnight, the night before the bomb was dropped, an announcer on the city's radio station said that about two hundred B-29s were approaching southern Honshu and advised the population of Hiroshima to evacuate to their designated "safe areas." Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamara, the tailor's widow who lived in the section called Nobori-cho and who had long had the habit of doing as she was told, got her three children – a ten-year-old boy, Toshio, an eight-year-old girl, Yaeko, and a five-year-old girl, Myeko – out of bed and dressed them and walked with them to the military area known as the East Parade Ground, on the north-east edge of the city. There she unrolled some mats and the children lay down on them.

They slept until about two, when they were awakened by the roar of the planes going over Hiroshima. As soon as the planes had passed, Mrs. Nakamura started back with her children. They reached home a little after two-thirty and she immediately turned on the radio, which, to her distress, was just then broadcasting a fresh warning. When she looked at the children and saw how tired they were, and when she thought of the number of trips they had made in past weeks, all to no purpose, to the East Parade Ground, she decided that in spite of the instructions on the radio, she simply could not face starting out all over again. She put the children in their bedrolls on the floor, lay down herself at three o'clock, and fell asleep at once, so soundly that when planes passed over later, she did not waken to their sound.

CLICK HERE to read Hiroshima in its entirety online.

04 August 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 513 % Postmaster, N.Y.

4 August, 1945      1000

Nancy

Dearest darling Wilma –

Gosh I feel as if I’ve just been talking with you. I’ve re-read a letter I received yesterday post-marked 27 July and that’s not bad! First of all I was glad to read that you were getting some of my mail. It seems quite obvious that V-mail is way ahead of Airmail now – in your direction – and that’s why I used it a bit more this past month. It apparently still takes between 2-3 wks for airmail to reach you, but if you don’t mind, of course I don’t. I’ll still sneak in a V-mail every now and then – because I insist on keeping my love for you up to date, sweetheart, and six or seven days old love must have a bit more warmth to it than 3 week old love – or shall I be perfectly frank, dear, and admit that there’s no substitute for the real thing?

Anyway – it was swell hearing from you – just as it always is. The subject of marriage, darling, is pleasant for me, too. You’re correct in saying there’s no point in discussing or rather in planning anything along that line until I actually am home. You just can’t plan when you don’t know when or how long. And if you want to wear white, dear, that’s O.K. with me. I’ll marry you if you’re wearing a bathing suit; all I want to do is marry you. I guess I won’t have much choice in what I wear; a uniform is a uniform no matter how you look at it.

Yes, dear, I find and have always found the discussion by young married couples of the personal, intimate affair – out in the open – somewhat revolting. I ran across a great deal of that when I was in the States – in the Army Corps when the officers’ wives lived just outside Camp. Nothing was sacred and everyone knew what went on – from night to night. I never liked it and I don’t think that once I’m married my ideas on that subject will change. Marriage – and some of the things if connotes – is a very intimate thing; no more intimate and personal relationship between two people is possible. And if it is so – why on earth degrade it by making it a subject of public conversation? I think it shows poor taste, poor judgment, poor upbringing and an imposition upon the listener. I hope my attitude – our attitude on that subject – does not change.

Gee – I’ve had no word at all from Law – and I was glad to read he had reached Hawaii safely. I hate to think of him going on, farther – but I know it’s inevitable. If he only doesn’t hook up with the Infantry! It looks as if he’s to see another side of the world.

Guess that’s all for now, sweetheart. Oh last nite I went to dinner at the home of a perfectly charming French family – by far the most intelligent group I’ve run into in France. I had a lovely evening – talking, discussing literature and history. Unfortunately they’re leaving Nancy to go to the country. They’ve asked me to visit them. I might be able to get down for a day sometime – but I’ll have to ask the Colonel. It’s about 40 miles from here – in the Vosges Mountains and should be a pretty spot.

And now, darling, so long for a while; hope to hear from you again today. I love to get your letters, dear – because I love you deeply and the letters are from you.

Love to the folks, regards to Mary – and

All my deepest and everlasting love

Greg

P.S. The word is “enema” - and yes – it isn’t nice.

L.

G.

* TIDBIT *

about The Countdown to Hiroshima
X Minus 2 Days

On his blog "Pressing Issues," Greg Mitchell posted "Countdown to Hiroshima" in 2022. Here was his article about 4 August 1945.

— On Tinian, Little Boy is ready to go, awaiting word on weather, with General LeMay to make the call. With the weather clearing near Hiroshima, still the primary target, taking off the night of August 5 appears the most likely scenario. Secretary of War Stimson writes of a “troubled” day due to the uncertain weather, adding: “The S-1 operation was postponed from Friday night [August 3] until Saturday night and then again Saturday night until Sunday.”

Little Boy

— Hiroshima remains the primary target, with Kokura #2 and Nagasaki third.

— Paul Tibbets, pilot of the lead plane, the Enola Gay, finally briefs others in the 509th Composite Group  who will take part in the mission at 3pm. Military police seal the building. Tibbets reveals that they will drop immensely powerful bombs, but the nature of the weapons are not revealed, only that it is “something new in the history of warfare.” When weaponeer Deke Parsons says, “We think it will knock out almost everything within a three-mile radius,” the audience gasps. Then he tries to show a film clip of the recent Trinity test — but the projector starts shredding the film.

Paul Tibbets and Enola Gay

Parsons adds, “No one knows exactly what will happen when the bomb is dropped from the air,” and he distributes welder’s glasses for the men to wear. But he does not relate any warnings about radioactivity or order them not to fly through the mushroom cloud.

William "Deke" Parsons

— On board the ship Augusta steaming home for the USA after the Potsdam meeting, President Truman relaxes and plays poker with one of the bomb drop’s biggest boosters, Secretary of State Jimmy Byrnes. Truman’s order to use the bomb had simply stated that it could be used any time after August 3, so he had nothing to do but watch and wait. The order included the directive to use a second bomb, as well, without a built-in pause to gauge the results of the first bomb or the Japanese response.