
Towards the end WWII, the Germans had surrendered and the only war that remained was the Pacific War - Japan vs. the Allies. The Japanese didn't see defeated as an option and American had planned a full scale attack on the Japanese Homeland, whose resources and military equipment were slowly getting more sparce. This plan had a huge expected casuality toll for American Soliders. Americas "Manhattan Project" was finally completed and they had access to nuclear weapons. It was decided that a suprise nuclear strike upon Japan would be the most effective way to force the country into submission with the smallest loss of American lives. America gave Japan one last opportunity to sign a peace treaty with an ultimatum that if they didn't Japan would face "the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese homeland". When the Japanese rejected the treaty the Americans planned to use their untested nuclear weapon - the Uranium bomb (having only tested a plutonium bomb so far). In an attempt to save face (if the bomb didn't work) and in an effort to ensure the POW weren't moved to the Hiroshima, the Americans did not warn Japan of this strike. At 8.15am on the 6th August 1945, Enola Gray flew over the city of Hiroshima dropping the first ever nuclear weapon on a city.

Around the park were several statues and memorials to the bombing. These included a children's memorial that was created after the death of a girl who was exposed to the radiation at 2 and died from Leukemia 8 years later. Her friends and school friends raised the money for the memorial for all the children that were effected by the bomb. At the far end of the park stood the Atomic Bomb Museum. This may have been the worst place I have ever been.

We left the Museum feeling quite upset and tried to find food. A local delicacy was recommended to us and a restaurant that served it even had a vegetarian menu. The food was really tasty and surprisingly filling.


I have always been against war and violence and death always upsets me. Seeing the state of Hiroshima after that bomb was dropped was unreal. The ground was scorched and trees destroyed. All life looked like it was gone. Hiroshima asks for world peace. It asks that nuclear weapons are never used again, that people will never again face the fate and the future that they did. Families were destroyed and even the lucky people who survived the initial attack have suffered with long term effects for their entire life. Stories from children who survived and witnessed the aftermath should be enough to prevent something like this ever happening again. I will never understand how it was agreed to release a second bomb over Nagasaki after witnessing what happened in Hiroshima. When the bomb was released, we had an understanding of the effect of radiation poisoning but never at this level. I agree with Hiroshima, that a weapon of mass destruction like this should never, ever be used again.
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