Writings - A-bomb Anniversary

This series of stories was written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. The trickiest part was tracking down area veterans who had taken part in that phase of the war and citizens who were caught up in the events of the time ("Memories of A-bomb still vivid"). Once I did, through local veterans affairs workers and connections with local peace movements, all were fairly willing to talk. I was surprised at the range of opinions about the United States' use of the atomic weapons — not among the civilians, which I anticipated, but among the military personnel themselves. I was amazed at the story of the soldier who was happy to have been a human guinea pig during a test blast ("Human guinea pig defends bombing"). And when I heard about potential peace overtures from Japan shortly before the bombing ("Debate still simmers about the need to drop the bomb"), I was shocked.

I hope these stories help give you a small sense of the debates raging at the dawn of the Atomic Age. For me, researching them and talking to the people who witnessed these events firsthand was a real education in politics and human perception.