Protestors gather at Y-12 to remember
victims, destruction of Hiroshima 80 years later
WATE.com,
by
Hope McAlee
Original Article
Posted By: Heil Liberals,
8/6/2025 9:53:20 PM
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WATE) — Wednesday marked 80 years since the United States attacked Hiroshima, Japan with an atomic bomb. One group gathered in Oak Ridge at the main entrance of the Y-12 National Security Complex to remember the victims and destruction of that bombing.
The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance gathered before sunrise on Wednesday, in a similar manner that it has for the last 20 years, for a remembrance ceremony. The ceremony included a reading of the names of the victims killed in the bombing, bell ringing, and hanging paper cranes. There was also a time when accounts from those who witnessed the account were read.
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
DVC 8/6/2025 10:03:20 PM (No. 1987509)
These idiots used to hang around where I worked many years ago. We ignored them.
Fools don't grasp that more than a couple of million Japanese lives and at least 100,000 American lives were saved by those bombs.
Damned ignorant clowns who imagine that they are intelligent. So misinformed.
49 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
itsonlyme 8/6/2025 10:03:27 PM (No. 1987510)
The "gooks" are fortunate that their entire society wasn't annihilated.
15 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 8/6/2025 10:04:45 PM (No. 1987511)
We firebombed Tokyo and killed more than 100,000 civilians. The Japanese were preparing to fight to the death including the women who only had sharpened bamboo lances. If we had had to invade, there would have been hundreds of thousands of Japanese killed and thousands of our soldiers. Even after Hiroshima, it took a week before Nagasaki and another bomb to convince them to surrender. As horrible as the bomb was, it ended up saving lives on both sides.
52 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
philsner 8/6/2025 10:05:23 PM (No. 1987512)
Clueless people on parade.
31 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
chance_232 8/6/2025 10:13:46 PM (No. 1987516)
Its easy to condemn the actions of people in the past when you view history through the prism on modern sensibilities. Where you haven't lost friends and family to war. Where you live a life of comfort and convenience. Where you've never wanted for anything and have never had to sacrifice anything. And most important, live a life secure in the knowledge that the very same military that wan WWII is providing the blanket of security a safety that you now sleep under.
48 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
DVC 8/6/2025 10:30:30 PM (No. 1987521)
Re #3, you have the idea exactly correct, but your numbers, on both sides seem to be way too low.
The Battle of Okinawa involved over 105,000 Japanese dead and 12,500 American dead.....not casualties, but dead.
Okinawa has an area of 466 sq miles. Japan has an area of 146,000 sq miles. 300 times the area, 300 million population of Japan then. They vowed to fight to the last breath "for the Emperor", and Okinawa proved that they would do It.
Expecting 1 or 2 million Japanese dead during the land conquest of Japan strikes me as a very low estimate.
23 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
WV.Hillbilly 8/6/2025 10:38:30 PM (No. 1987524)
They started it.
We finished it.
31 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
thomthomp 8/6/2025 10:58:49 PM (No. 1987525)
We should have a memorial with a list of those, Americans AND Japanese, who did NOT DIE as a result of using those bombs. It would be a big list.
19 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Catherine 8/6/2025 11:05:12 PM (No. 1987527)
I've always heard the reason for the two bombs on Japan that ended the war. I accepted it but honestly, to my mind, it was odd. Then I heard another reason a few years ago and that seems to be the real reason. The president had been told that Germany had a missile system that could reach the continental United States. Remember Von Braun, the scientist the US managed to hire after the war? He was the one who created that missile. We needed him working for us after the war and we out-bid every other country. That, to me, makes more sense for the drastic actions that ended the war. Now I only read this one place and don't remember where. I just believe it.
4 people like this.
a reading of the names of the victims killed in the bombing...
Wow. They had time to read 100,000+ names? And as already pointed out, firebombs probably killed more than the nukes did - and in a much uglier manner. We stopped dropping napalm only because we ran out of it in theater.
11 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Newtsche 8/6/2025 11:24:10 PM (No. 1987529)
We are hated most for showing the world what we had. The bomb didn't just put an end to Japan's militarism. A lot of plans were put on hold, for a while.
11 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Historybuff 8/6/2025 11:25:01 PM (No. 1987530)
Did Japan have an atomic program?
The answer is yes. If they had gotten the bomb first, who would they have used it on?
13 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
thefield 8/6/2025 11:28:07 PM (No. 1987532)
In all the documentaries over one million Americans would have been killed in an invasion attempt. Many of their grandfathers and some grandmothers would have been killed. Many of them would not have been born.
22 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Geoman 8/6/2025 11:50:56 PM (No. 1987534)
If you are a fellow boomer and disagree with #3 and had your wishes retroactively granted, then you would likely have never been born, nor would your kids and grandkids. It was that big of a deal in 1945, and Truman made the right call for generations of Americans and Japanese.
29 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
DVC 8/7/2025 12:42:14 AM (No. 1987538)
My father was two weeks from his fighter squadron embarking on an aircraft carrier to go to Japan when the war ended. He met my mother 3 or 4 years later, and if he had died in the battle for Japan, very likely to have happened, I would not be here.
LOTS more of us would not be here, and our kids and grandkids would not be here, either.
23 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Hazymac 8/7/2025 6:20:51 AM (No. 1987563)
I hate to break this to the antis, but those two atomic bombs saved about one million American lives ... and ten million Japanese lives. If we had had to invade Japan, our WW2 casualties would have at least doubled. Cruel to be kind.
21 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
petrichor 8/7/2025 6:40:52 AM (No. 1987569)
I like their tone. Never again! I'm all for that. Never another atomic bomb. Never another war. Never another reason to go to war. That all works for me. Meanwhile ... no regrets.
6 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Bur Oak 8/7/2025 6:44:32 AM (No. 1987570)
The country still has a stockpile of Purple Heart Medals that are left from preparations for the invasion of Japan.
16 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
privateer 8/7/2025 6:48:43 AM (No. 1987574)
Never another bunch of self-important, benighted idiots, bloviating their mendacious nonsense.
8 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
FunOne 8/7/2025 7:23:38 AM (No. 1987579)
Yes, the warrior mentality of the Japanese was demonstrated on every Pacific island we won from them--indicating that American losses would have been great if an invasion of mainland Japan were undertaken. Also, an invasion of the Japanese homeland would have finally resulted in Stalin keeping his promise to declare war on Japan and joined us in that invasion--of course, this would include dividing Japan up into a northern and southern zone just like was the case with Germany. Such a condition would have greatly strangled the economic growth of a united Japan in the postwar era that they experienced.
The dropping of the atomic bombs did result in Stalin finally declaring was on Japan, but Truman advised him that Uncle Sam could handle the conclusion of the war without their help--though Russia would be allowed to become a signatory on the surrender document. Yes, the remarkable economic recovery of postwar Japan would not have occurred if Russia were allowed half of the country to "govern" as to "help the Japanese rebuild.
10 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
JackBurton 8/7/2025 7:56:59 AM (No. 1987582)
There's a book that came out in 2001 by an historian (with the unfortunate name) named Bruce Lee. "Marching Orders: The Untold Story of World War II" It talks about how we decripted Japanese coded communiques and their secret agreements of non-aggression with the Russians (yeh. Surprise. The Russkies were OK with selling us out.) Toward the war's end, the Russians offered to fight for a peace between Japan and the allies that left the Japanese forces intact with the plan that the Russians and the Japanese would then divide up China. Ever read 1984? It was the Eastasia-Oceania alliance in the making. Dropping the bomb stopped Stalin cold. Avoiding 1984.
The information came from documents that had been kept for 50+ years as top secret but were then declassified under Clinton (the top secret classification was time limited. Bill only sped things up a couple years.) Lee read the docs and wrote the book. It revealed that battles were we won by pluck or luck were also aided by having read the enemies secret mail. I remember the annual August 6th 'memorials' as being a big deal. In my town, people would float paper boats with lit candles down the river. The book came out and those stopped... that year. But I guess they're thinking people will forget.
5 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
BarryNo 8/7/2025 9:00:08 AM (No. 1987594)
If Hiroshima/Nagasaki hadn't happened:
It's estimated that am additional 1, million Allied soldiers would have died, and 10 million Japanese. There would be no Imperial Japanese court. MacArthur wanted to execute the Emperor, and that kind of resistance would have guaranteed it. Truman dropped the bombs because MacArthur had the political support to invade, and wanted the glory of victory over Japan to sooth his ego.
Trust me... The alternative to Hiroshima/Nagasaki was much, much worse.
5 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
kdog 8/7/2025 9:17:49 AM (No. 1987599)
More evidence of the shabby product turned out by our education system.
3 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
Kafka2 8/7/2025 9:42:07 AM (No. 1987618)
In their conquest of Asia, Japan had slaughtered 25,000,000 people by the time the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Japan refused to surrender. So, three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped. Finally, after a week, Japan surrendered. About 100,000 people were killed by each bomb. If we had been forced to invade Japan the death tolls would have easily exceeded 1,000,000 deaths on each side. I cannot imagine what the death tolls would have been if Japan completed their atomic bomb before us.
5 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
hershey 8/7/2025 9:42:52 AM (No. 1987619)
People of Pearl Harbor were not available for comment....
6 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
Trump Won 8/7/2025 9:51:53 AM (No. 1987624)
Estimates of casualties from an invasion of Japan by Secretary of War Stimson, estimated potential U.S. casualties ranging from 1.7 to 4 million, with 400,000 to 800,000 deaths. These estimates also projected Japanese fatalities between 5 and 10 million.
From the Rape of Nanking, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Battan Death March, Korean comfort women, etc., the Japanese were brutal savages during WWII. They are lucky that we used the atomic bomb and didn't have to invade the Japanese home islands. They would not have an emperor nor much of a country left. We were very lenient towards them and MacArthur allowed them to rebuild their country and enact democratic reforms so that we now have a strong ally in the Pacific. People who want to rewrite history like the United States committed genocide by using atomic weapons need to read a book or two.
11 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
Vaquero45 8/7/2025 9:57:40 AM (No. 1987627)
These nitwits have been around ever since the war ended. Back in the 1950’s a bunch of them started the rumor that the crew of the Enola Gay had all descended into madness and alcoholism, which was a total lie. In the 60’s they were all whining that we didn’t need to use the bombs on Japan. There was a group of them in Ann Arbor when I lived there in the 80’s; every August 6th they floated little folded paper cranes down the Huron River. They were all a bunch of Marxists and aging hippies. Everything everybody said on this thread is true, but these people are immune to truth and can’t be reasoned with. Ignore them.
6 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
Italiano 8/7/2025 10:10:55 AM (No. 1987641)
#8.
My Dad likely would have been on it.
2 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
jalo1951 8/7/2025 10:28:11 AM (No. 1987649)
I am sorry the leadership of Japan failed their country. Am I sorry we actually had to drop the bomb, no. And their leadership went right on f-ing over their own country. Bomb #2 on the way. Those two bombs actually saved lives in the end.
4 people like this.
Reply 30 - Posted by:
mc squared 8/7/2025 10:48:32 AM (No. 1987662)
FTA: "On August 6th, 1945, it was a beautiful morning..."
So it was in Hawaii, December 7th 1941
11 people like this.
Reply 31 - Posted by:
Trump Won 8/7/2025 11:06:12 AM (No. 1987673)
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve"
Admiral Yamamoto after Pearl Harbor
7 people like this.
Reply 32 - Posted by:
Ruhn 8/7/2025 11:53:55 AM (No. 1987699)
OP is correct. Protestors and historical revisionists like these have absolutely no context about why Little Boy and Fat Man were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Frankly, I suspect that proteststors like these are deliberately obtuse. Deep down they know that there's more to the story but they don't want to know.
BTW, Hiroshima was not an innocent bystander on the receiving end of an unprovoked 'attack'. This was total (world) war and everyone and everything that was war-supporting infrastructure was fair game.
2 people like this.
Reply 33 - Posted by:
udanja99 8/7/2025 1:15:02 PM (No. 1987726)
I’ll bet you that not a single one of those protestors has ever visited Pearl Harbor.
2 people like this.
Reply 34 - Posted by:
Luandir 8/7/2025 1:50:08 PM (No. 1987737)
Dittos, OP!
0 people like this.
Reply 35 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 8/7/2025 2:14:59 PM (No. 1987742)
"The Most Controversial Decision" by Wilson D. Mescamble C.S.C. is a very interesting book that examines the decision to drop the nuclear bombs on Japan. It has very interesting maps showing the location of Japanese troops massed on the southern end of Japan presumably to repel an attack from the south. The Japanese strategy was to inflict so many casualties on the invading Allied troops that they would lose heart and settle for leaving Japan intact to fight another day. Even after the surrender, younger officers attempted a coup to continue fighting.
1 person likes this.
Reply 36 - Posted by:
mifla 8/8/2025 9:42:46 AM (No. 1987981)
Some of those protesters would never had been born if not for the atomic bomb.
War is horrible. If you don't want one, don't start one.
0 people like this.
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I'm sick to death of the prostrating, mewling anti-everything crowd making the end of WW II an issue of cruelty and murder by the United States. These idiots would do well to remember that the Japanese slaughtered over 25,000,000 people across China and Indochina from 1931 until the end of the war. For me, there is nothing to apologize for. War is hell, the innocent die with the guilty, and there are nations full of the decedents who were never, ever held accountable including the Japanese royal family.