Vigil marks nuclear attack on Japan
Sixty-three years ago, the course of world history shifted.
On Aug. 6, 1945, a United States bomber flying high over Japan
dropped a single bomb, dubbed Little Boy.
Vigil marks nuclear attack on Japan
Sixty-three years ago, the course of world history shifted.
On Aug. 6, 1945, a United States bomber flying high over Japan dropped a single bomb, dubbed Little Boy.
In the blinding flash that followed, as many as 140,000 people died.
Three days later, on Aug. 9, Fat Man fell on Nagasaki, and another 80,000 people perished.
The two bombs were the only nuclear weapons ever used in warfare. President Harry Truman’s decision to use the bombs came after six months of intensive firebombing of Japan failed to gain surrender. Six days later, Japan announced its surrender.
Many historians believe that the two bombs ultimately saved lives that would have been lost in a protracted conflict, but the horror of the weapons means they have not been used again since.
While, most of the world was not yet born when the bombs fell on Japan, a handful of local residents are eager to see that the world never forgets.
While the downtown Hollister Street Festival was winding down last Saturday evening, Aug. 9, about 10 local residents gathered at the corner of Fourth and San Benito streets to hold a silent vigil.
“We didn’t really have time to plan it, but we just wanted to do something to commemorate the event,” said Natasha Wist of Hollister People for Peace, who coordinated the gathering.
Wist said the weapons precipitated an arms race with the Soviet Union that ultimately “cost both countries trillions of dollars.”
“We’re at the end of our empire,” she said. “We can go out with a bang or with a whimper. We can work for peace.”
