It was just like a living hell

Today, 57 years ago, the world entered a new era of warfare, fear, destruction and misery when the United States dropped the first atomic device used in war on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. An estimated 70,000 were killed instantly with another 70,000 instantly injured. By 1950, about 200,000 had died from either the blast or blast-related effects.

In one horrible moment, more people were killed than the number of U.S. servicemen and women who died during the whole of Vietnam War. With one bomb, everything within four miles was destroyed.

Three days later, the U.S. repeated the destruction by dropping a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. An estimated 40,000 were killed instantly. Tens of thousands were injured. By 1950, the bomb would claim 140,000.

There will be controversy without end about whether using the bomb was the right thing to do. One side will say the bomb prevented a bloody and costly invasion of Japan while the other will counter that with the bomb, we let a horrible genie out of a bottle.

Since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no nuclear weapon has ever been fired in anger. We've been lucky in that respect, but with stories of nuclear stockpiles going unguarded and even nuclear material going missing in the U.S., it's just a matter of time before someone with a grudge and weapons-grade plutonium decides to sprout a mushroom cloud over a major city. Once a city has been bombed, no one is sure how the world will react, especially if a U.S. city is vaporized. Would the White House use nuclear weapons in return? How will it end? Will anyone be left alive?

It's time to bring these damnable things to an end. The nuclear-backed ideological stalemate of the Cold War is over. The U.S. and former U.S.S.R, along with all the other nuclear players, have little need to fear each other anymore. The atomic fence we put up near the opponent's back yard is irrelevant. Any leader with a half a brain knows even a limited exchange will poison the planet for thousands of years, and using a atomic bomb against a shadow, porous target like terrorists is naive, at best. Let's get rid of the damn things before they fall into the wrong hands.

Tonight, in Seattle, the annual lantern floating ceremony will take place on the northwest shore of Green Lake starting at 6:30 p.m. The ceremony, a re-enactment of an ancient Buddhist tradition, floats paper lanterns representing the souls of the bombing victims out onto the water, a gesture by living to help the dead rest in peace.

The ceremony also forces the living remember what happened, to hold it close to them that such the bombing was a terrible action that should never occur again. The world is lucky to have survivors of the bomb who are brave and strong enough to recall what happened when the world changed forever. The people are known as the Hibakusha, or "A-bomb survivor." One by one, they are passing on, taking with them their memories of the bombing. Soon, they will join their ancestors, perhaps finding a place free of pain and nightmare. Their gift to us is their stories of suffering and hope. Their stories shouldn't give the reader hope that one can survive an atomic blast, but should be a warning from those who have seen death blossom with ferocity and an all-consuming hunger.

The following is an except from the Hibakusha link above. It is the testimony of survivor Toshiko Saeki, who lost 13 members of her family in the destruction of Hiroshima.


Nuclear war has nothing good. Whether you win or lose, it leaves your feeling futile with only your rage and with fear about the aftereffects of a radioactivity. The survivors have to live with this fear. At times I have thought I should have died then, it would have been better. But I must live for the sake of the people, all the people who lost their lives then. So I relate my experiences hoping that my talk would discourage people from making war. Our experience must not forgotten. What we believed in during the war turned out to be worth nothing. We don't know to whom we should turn our rage. I went through hell on earth of Hiroshima should not be repeated again. That is why I keep telling the same old story over and over again. And I'll keep repeating it.