I was five years old when we heard on the radio that Hiroshima had been bombed with a new Atomic Bomb and I remember clearly that we all wondered why Japan did not surrender. Japan had first attacked The United States on December 8, 1941 at Pearl Harbor on a quiet Sunday morning. I do not remember that since I was far too young to grasp something as complicated as war but I do remember Hiroshima. I also remember Nagasaki, the surrender of Japan, the signing of the peace agreement on The Missouri and VJ Day.
I did not know at the time that Japan had attacked Hong Kong, Malaya, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies as well as Pearl Harbor. I did not know at the time that China had lost somewhere up to 20 million; that the Soviet Union up to 27 million; Germany up to 9 million; Poland up to 6 million and that The United States and The United Kingdom each lost over 418 thousand. The total deaths of World War II are currently estimated up to 85 million. I remember Iwo Jima. I remenber Okinawa. I remember Guadacanal.
How many Japanese died at Hiroshima? Up to 140,000.
How many Japanese died at Nagasaki? Up to 80,000. So Japan lost 220,000 people at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 220,000 Divided by 85 million that’s .0026. In percentages it’s 0.0259%. that’s roughly one quarter of one percent.
Japan was killing people to expand it’s empire and to force their rule over more and more people. In terms of morality, Japan was the aggressor. In reality it would have been moral to eliminate the entire civilization because the morality of Japan at that time was an idea that was impossible to calculate.
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