I am one of those who is probably alive because of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. My father, a veteran of the Normandy invasion, got to return home and marry my mother instead of being sent to the Pacific Theater to be part of the invasion of Japan. His older brother, a survivor of the Bataan Death March, was liberated from a Prisoner of War camp in Japan instead of being killed as the invasion started. I am thankful for both their lives, and those of many others saved by the use of these bombs.
The destruction of cities in war is terrible, whether it is by a single bomb (like Hiroshima or Nagasaki) or thousands (like Tokyo or Dresden). Indeed, nearly everything about war is terrible. That is one of the things we need to remember about it. But we must also remember that war is sometimes necessary.
More of my thoughts on this anniversary are incorporated in posts on Hiroshima and its preceding Trinity Test on my own site.
