Atomic bombs ended World War II, reshaped history

In August 1945, Germany had surrendered in Europe earlier in the year, but World War II was still going on in the Pacific against the Japanese. It was apparent that the Japanese were going to lose, but they would not surrender; the leaders wanted to fight to the death. 

The United States had developed and tested the atomic bomb in Los Alamos, N.M. General Douglas MacArthur and other top American generals did not want to use this terrible bomb. They wanted to continue with conventional bombing and then a land attack. But they admitted the United States could suffer up to 1 million casualties. So, President Truman was faced with making a very tough decision. He decided to use the atomic bomb to avoid the estimated 1 million casualties.

So, on Aug. 6, 1945, the 9,000-pound bomb was loaded into the Enola Gay, piloted by Col. Paul Tibbets, and Tibbets dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, a city of 350,000 people. An area of about 5 square miles was completely wiped out, resulting in around 80,000 deaths. But Japan would not surrender, so a few days later a second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, resulting in nearly 50,000 immediate deaths. Emperor Hirohito of Japan then announced over the radio the immediate surrender of Japan.

Then tens of thousands more would die due to radiation. It is not known what the total death toll from the dropping of these two bombs was, but it is estimated that the death toll was between 150,000 and 246,000 people.

An interesting fact is that in the bombing of Hiroshima, a second plane was behind Tibbets' plane that took the famous photos. That pilot was from Spokane, Wash.

Roger Gregory served as a captain in the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam. He is a Priest River businessman.