Hiroshima 1945 Ground Zero
62 years ago today.
Taken by the ships photographer of aircraft Carrier HMS Vengeance – my Fathers Ship – after delivering Royal Indian Air force Spitfires to Japan in late 1945.
After service in the North Atlantic, the Med and Indian ocean, HMS Vengeance was at sea on the 6th August 1945, steaming to start offensive operations against Japanese Forces in Formosa. It was part of the British Pacific Fleet, scheduled to provide close air support to Allied Forces invading Japan on the 1st November 1945.
The bomb stopped that, and HMS Vengeance was diverted to help liberate Hong Kong.
Was dropping the bomb neccessary, and am I here because it was dropped (and therefore my Dad came home, and had me) or was Japan on the brink of collapse and the loss of hundreds of thousands of civilian lives a total waste?
Do you know - I don't know. I do not think that we will ever know.
But I do know that if the bomb had not been dropped hundreds of thousands of different people could have died, perhaps more than at Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
Just in different ways.
Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccgd/sets/708728/
