AUGUST 6, 1945 THE DAY THE WORLD SHUDDERED

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By Allen L Roland (about the author) Page 1 of 2 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: Allen L Roland - Writer

None of us can afford to forget the devastation wrought by
the first Atomic Bomb used in anger on August 6, 1945.

I was a very young child but I vividly remember the incredulous
shock of this event. It felt like the world shuddered but it was really the mass extermination of over 200,000 people in a blinding few seconds ~ a few seconds that indelibly touched the consciousness of every inhabitant of this planet.

I think the whole world mirrored what Enola Gay co-pilot Robert Lewis wrote in his diary after looking back at the growing mushroom cloud ~ " MY GOD , WHAT HAVE WE DONE ? "

Here's a must read pictorial review of the day the world changed forever.

Allen L Roland

The Day The World Changed Forever

August 6, 1945
http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/st/~lovenson/thedayitchanged.html

Enormous Atomic Cloud
About one hour after the bombing on 6 August 1945. Photo: the U.S. Army.
Picture From WWW Museum

Kengo Futagawa (59 at the time) was crossing the Kannon Bridge (1,600 meters from the hypocenter) by bicycle on his way to do fire prevention work. He jumped into the river, terribly burned. He returned home, but died on August 22, 1945.

Picture by Hiromi Tsuchida Collection

After being released, it took about a minute for Little Boy to reach the point of explosion. Little Boy exploded at approximately 8:15 a.m. (Japan Standard Time) when it reached an altitude of 2,000 ft above the building that is today called the "A-Bomb Dome."

Little boy
Picture From WWW Museum
The July 24, 1995 issue of Newsweek writes: "A bright light filled the plane," wrote Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb. "We turned back to look at Hiroshima. The city was hidden by that awful cloud...boiling up, mushrooming." For a moment, no one spoke. Then everyone was talking. "Look at that! Look at that! Look at that!" exclaimed the co-pilot, Robert Lewis, pounding on Tibbets's shoulder. Lewis said he could taste atomic fission; it tasted like lead. Then he turned away to write in his journal. "My God," he asked himself, "what have we done?" (special report, "Hiroshima: August 6, 1945") note: Paul Tibbets was Colonel, not "Lt. Colonel," when he was the pilot of the Enola Gay.

The Little Boy generated an enormous amount of energy in terms of air pressure and heat. In addition, it generated a significant amount of radiation (Gamma ray and neutrons) that subsequently caused devastating human injuries.

The people who saw the Little Boy often say "We saw another sun in the sky when it exploded." The heat and the light generated by the Little Boy were far stronger than bombs which they had seen before. When the heat wave reached ground level it burnt all before it including people.

The strong wind generated by the bomb destroyed most of the houses and buildings within a 1.5 miles radius. When the wind reached the mountains, it was reflected and again hit the people in the city center. The wind generated by Little Boy caused the most serious damage to the city and people.

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Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website more...)

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.