#august091945

dkkhorsheed@diasp.org

#Remembering #Hiroshima #Nagasaki #Japan #Atomic #Bombings #Nuclear #Weapons #Devastation #LittleBoy #FatMan #US #WorldWar11 #August01945 #August091945 #Death #Never_Forget #Our #Sad #World

Never Forget / Hiroshima and Nagasaki

August 06 - 09, 1945

August 6th 1945 was just a regular day. Little did the citizens of Hiroshima know, but for thousands of them, life was about to come to an end. Hiroshima had been selected by the United States as the very first atomic bomb target. Nobody knew for certain what the effect would be. The single atomic bomb weighed 4 tons, which is 3,600 kilograms. The person who dropped the bomb was Major Tom Ferebee from the aircraft, the “Enola Gay”. The pilot who was flying the “Enola Gay” at the time was Colonel Paul Tibbets. The dropping happened just after 8:00 a.m. Less than a minute after the dropping, the atomic bomb exploded. The explosion produced a temperature of 5,400 Fahrenheit, which is twice as high as the melting point of iron. Victims' skin began to peel off their faces, hands, and arms. It has been estimated that people living within 1,100 yards (1km) of the bomb site burned to death. Survivors were in a state of shock. Dead and dying people lay all around Hiroshima. Hiroshima used to be a city of 245,000 people with only 150 doctors and 1,780 nurses. 65 doctors were killed and the rest were wounded, and 1,654 nurses were dead or wounded. At the biggest hospital, only 1 doctor out of 30 was uninjured and the nursing staff of over 200 was down to 10. Nobody knows the exact number of people who died in Hiroshima. Official figures estimated 100,000 died. However, due to radiation sicknes the estimate rose to 140,000 by the end of 1945. After the bombing, Japan rejected the United States’ ultimatum to surrender unconditionally, so America dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. It is estimated that the bomb killed 80,000 people. Japan surrendered to the United States on August 14, 1945, eight days following the first bombing.

Photo: Victims of the Hiroshima Bombing, Japan / August 06,1945