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Given the talk about the a-bomb debate at the Simsonian, I sent this message to Dr. Rollins and he suggested that I post it. Perhaps we could have other members tell the stories they have about the end of the war and its impact. As a side note, my father learned about the a-bomb from the ship board newspaper. I asked him recently what was his conceptualization of the a-bomb on Aug 8, 1945 (the day he found out about it) He said that he, and those with him on the ship did not think in terms of an atomic weapon (as we would) but rather from what it was called then, "a superbomb". To him, that meant instead of a 1000 lb bomb, it was a 10,000 lb bomb. He said that it would be until later (the fall of 1945) that people would understand the mechanics of what an a-bomb entailed. I think that it is important to understand such things as the Enola Gay in the context of the time. For those in the Pacific in Aug of 1945, they saw the war with Japan lasting until 1946 or even 1947. -Drew ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 20 Oct 94 8:17:27 CDT From:Rollins@osuunx.ucc.okstate.edu To: Drew Halevy <dhalevy@comp.uark.edu> Subject: Re: invasion of Japan My father too would have fought (and perhaps died) in the invasion of Japan. He was in the 86th (Blackhawks) Infantry. He was wounded near Munich on April 31, 1945, and was on a hospital ship back to the United States when he got word of the dropping on the bomb.-Drew Hey, Drew, how about posting this item. Peter. Thanks for sharing.
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