Oppenheimer Finally Opens In Japan; Met With Mixed Reactions

It must be said that after Hiroshima the Japanese military attempted a coup in order to keep the war going and force America to invade Japan.

Bloodiest battle in WW2 was invading the island of Okinawa. Mainland was going to be a bloodbath ten million fold.
 
The author William Manchester was a wounded veteran of the Okinawa battle. In August 1945, he was healed and waiting for the upcoming invasion of Japan, an invasion in which he believed he would certainly be killed.

After the war. Manchester was giving a talk about his experiences to a Japanese audience. He told them when he heard about the A-bomb he was "ecstatic". For Manchester, the news was a reprieve from a death sentence.

After the talk, he was approached by an elderly Japanese man, a veteran, who wanted to speak to him about the word "ecstatic". Manchester began to explain that he wasn't ecstatic about all the Japanese who lost their lives. He was just glad he had been spared certain death.

The Japanese veteran interrupted. "No, don't apologize. You see I was a soldier back then defending a hopeless position on the shore. When I heard about the bomb, I was ecstatic too."
 

Forum List

Back
Top