Reflections of Hiroshima

"I see that they are holding a trial for war criminals in Tokyo just now.  I think they ought to try the men who decided to use the bomb and they should hang them all." -- Dr. Terufumi Sasaki,  Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital, 1945

"Some of us consider the bomb in the same category as poison gas and were against its use on a civilian population.  Others were of the opinion that in total war, as carried on in Japan, there

was no difference between civilians and soldiers.... It seems logical that he who supports total war in principle cannot complain of a war against civilians.  The crux of the matter is whether total war in its present form is justifiable, even when it serves a just purpose.  Does it not have material and spiritual evil as its consequences which far exceed whatever good might result?"-- Father Siemes, SJ in a 1945 report to the Holy See in Rome

The official order states: "The 509 Composite Group, 20th Air Force will deliver its first special bomb as soon as the weather will permit visual bombing after about 3 August 1945 on one of the targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, and Nagasaki."

"It was hell all over the city. I don't think I can describe a ten-thousandth of the reality by... telling a story. I think only those who experienced it can understand. Black rain was falling." -- Hamano Matsushita, A Hiroshima survivor

"...technological civilization has just reached its final degree of savagery. We will have to choose, in the relatively near future, between collective suicide and the intelligent use of scientific conquests." -- Albert Camus,  French philosopher