I was a Marine 1st Lieutenant at Okinawa when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. In the offing was the invasion of Kyushu, the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan. It was scheduled for Novemmber 1, 1945 if I recall correctly. Our casualties on Okinawa and Iwo and a year earlier at Peleliu were heavy. The war in the Pacific revealed extraordinary Japanese brutality. Marines found dismembered Marines among the dead on Okinawa as they gained control of Japanes held territory. No one doubted for a moment that Kyushu would be worse, since it was a Japanese home island. Kamikazes had become more efficient in approaching a target ship, using multiple plane attacks on the same target. They would most certainly have inflicted greater losses on American ships at Kyushu since their targets would be at their doorstep. When placed on a balance scale, the decision to use the A bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki rather than not, leaves no room for argument. The Japanes civilian population would have suffered severe losses if the invasion occurred. The use of the A bombs inflicted Japanes civilian losses, indeed, but cost no American lives.
