Cain

Guess it's time to put my banhammer back into its display case. 
 
I finally got around to re-installing Arma on my new rig, and uni has started to calm down a bit so I figured, 'Hey, I might as well come back for a while at least', so here I am.
 
Looking forward to seeing how things have developed in our game, praise be to BIS, and rejoining game nights to yell at people for not carrying extra SAW ammo for me. Ta to all the old guys that may or may not remember me, looking forward to mucking around with you all again.
 
Edit: I notice both my avatar and signature are broken/incorrect. Guess I'll have to fix those.
 

MY BODY IS READY. 

Disclaimer - I will not be including any graphic images of the injuries caused by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, nor any close-ups of the large amounts of dead that were photographed in the city immediately after the bombing. However, I urge you to look at some of these yourselves along with my descriptions, in order to fully understand the level of horror, pain and suffering which the inhabitants of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered. 
 
Note - I will mostly be talking about Hiroshima in this post, as it is the anniversary of that bombing today, and also because if I were to include the same amount of information about Nagasaki, this post would be much longer than it is now. However, understand that I am not belittling the Nagasaki bombings, they deserve as much attention as the Hiroshima bombings, as these are the only two cities in the world to have nuclear weapons dropped on them.
 
The Bombing
 
On this day, 70 years ago, at 8.15 in the morning, the first atomic weapon dropped in anger detonated 600 meters above the city of Hiroshima, a large military and industrial hub with a population of 350,000, located on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, in southern Japan.
 
The weapon, nicknamed 'Little Boy', exploded with a force roughly equal to 15 kilotons of TNT, missed its intended target, the Aioi Bridge, by 250m and detonated directly overhead the Shima Surgical Clinic.
 

 
 
Immediately, a massive blast-wave completely destroyed everything within a 1.6 kilometer radius of the hypocenter, barring heavily-reinforced and earthquake-resistant concrete buildings, of which only their shells remained standing, such as the famous 'A-Bomb Dome', what was previously the Prefectural Industry Promotion Building, which has been conserved and remains standing today in the Peace Park.
 

 
Severe blast damage radiated from the hypocenter, ranging from very serious damage and collapses of almost all buildings within a 2-3 kilometer radius, to light damage as far as 5 kilometers away.
 
A massive, blinding fireball 370 meters in diameter, reaching temperatures in excess of 6000 degrees celcius, caused fires to break out everywhere, resulting in a massive firestorm twenty minutes after the initial blast. Roughly 3 kilometers in diameter, it was fueled by the damaged and collapsed buildings due to the blast, completely razing them to the ground. People became trapped in their predominantly wooden houses, screaming for help to no avail as they burned alive. The fires only started to die down after reaching the edge of the blast-zone, where there was less fuel.
 

 
Upon detonation, a huge amount of neutron and gamma radiation was emitted, resulting in a lethal radiation dose within a 1.3 kilometer radius, roughly half of the firestorm-affected area. This radiation reached dozens of kilometers, causing many people that were relatively unharmed by the blast or fires to suffer acute radiation syndrome in the period after the bombing, some causing life-long health complications and increased chances of cancer.
 
Many would succumb to injuries from the blast and fires; with water being in such low supply due to mains being burst and rivers being either inaccessible or contaminated, the last word on many of the dying's lips were 'Water', their thirst arising from the heat which had enveloped the city. 
 
In total, the blast resulted in ~80,000 direct deaths, approximately 70% of the city's buildings destroyed, with another approximate ~80,000 deaths by the end of the year due to injuries or acute radiation syndrome. 
 
Why the news post?
 
Now you may be asking yourselves, why are you telling me this Cain? I already know about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, maybe not all the details as you've laid out, but the general impression of the event.
 
The answer is, because it's the 70th anniversary of the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, with Nagasaki's being on the 9th of August.
Also, because last month I visited Japan on holiday, and went to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, visiting the memorials, museums and everything else dedicated to the bomb and the victims of it. I feel quite strongly about this, and as such I wanted to share it on this forum.
 
My trip to Hiroshima & Nagasaki
 
Personally, I had always been on the fence about the usage of the atomic bombs to 'end' the war in the Pacific. I'm an avid historian, and whilst I thought I understood that the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a horrible act, I believed it was necessary to finally bring about the closure of the Second World War; as it was likely that many more lives of both sides would have been lost in the brutal and bloody Pacific fighting, especially if the USA were to attempt a mainland invasion of Japan to finally force a surrender.
 
And this was the impression and viewpoint I had when I visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When I left both cities, I had completely changed my view. As to why that's the case, allow me to expand a little on my trip.
 
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both quite nice cities, of course have a lot dedicated to memorials and museums of the atomic bombs dropped. In fact you could say that if you are visiting either of the two cities to do some tourism, you are likely going to spend most of your time learning about the atomic bombs, and visiting memorials to the victims. All of these are very well done, in particular the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Peace Park in which it is situated in (which contains several dozen monuments and memorials, as well as the famous A-Bomb dome I linked a picture of earlier); and also Nagasaki's equivalent Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and Nagasaki Peace Park. 
 
I visited Hiroshima first, and the first order of business was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. I was astounded by how well done the museum is. First, there were some short summaries of Hiroshima's history, and what it was like before the bomb and even before the war itself. The exhibition then moved onto the dropping of the bomb, its immediate effects, then its long-term affects, then onto how the bomb actually worked and the various forms of damage, finally ending on survivors' stories, and images/messages left by various high-level dignitaries that have visited the Museum and Park. (There is another large wing of the museum, but it was currently closed for the first stage of a two-part renovation in which they are re-doing and upgrading the entire museum and exhibits, due to be completely finished in 2018 I believe. If you are thinking of visiting, make sure you check to see if the Museum is open!)
 
As to the exhibits themselves, its very hard to not get emotional. The museum has dozens of items which were from the blast; pieces of clothing, personal effects, etc, all from a wide variety of people who ultimately perished either on the day or soon afterwards. Bits of twisted glasses-frames, half-charred school-uniforms, battered and broken lunch-boxes, disfigured and damaged toys, the list goes on. The items all have descriptions of who they belonged to (if identified) as well as a short description of who they were, what they did, and how they ultimately perished.
 
The walls are lined of images of the injuries caused by the blast; horrific burns causing skin to literally be hanging off someone's flesh; lines and patterns of clothing burnt into the bare skin of people; large keloids (large bumpy and inflamed scars), again, the list goes on.
 

 
 
Included in the exhibition was the chunk of stone steps (image above) from the front of the Sumitomo bank, in which an ordinary, unidentified person had been sitting on whilst waiting for the bank to open at the time of the bombing, his/her shadow burnt into the stone by the fireball when the bomb detonated, leaving nothing else behind. Even despite the low-lighting in the museum and the fact that the shadow has somewhat faded, it is still clearly visible, and staring at such a stark reminder in your face is a very hard thing to tolerate.
 
The last section, hearing recordings of survivors giving interviews and reading their descriptions of the minutes, hours, and days immediately after the bombing were completely gut-wrenching. They leave out no details of the level of human suffering and despair which was experienced by the people of Hiroshima; the scenes of hell-like horror of fires, rubble, screams and bodies; and the stories of human strength in which people aided others. I would highly recommend you looking into some of the stories of survivors, some of the examples of human kindness and strength are absolutely astounding, given the situation they were in.
 
All this, I will willingly admit, left me teary, emotional, and struggling to handle with what I was being presented with. When I walked out of the museum, I had to sit down on a bench in the 25 degree heat in the middle of the park and just comprehend everything for a while. It was strikingly similar to the feeling I had when I visited the Auschwitz camps last year.
 
Remembrance
 
All this being said, I am not here to spark debate on whether the bombings were truly 'right' or 'justified', nor am I here to particularly attempt to educate you in what happened, however if you did learn some things and want to learn more, then I am grateful for that. 
 
I will say that personally, my opinion of the bombings and nuclear weapons has been affirmed; I do not wish the level of human suffering in which the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered upon anyone else in this world, and as long as nuclear weapons remain stockpiled by the thousands in the hands of many, there is a chance that it could happen again. As such, and this is probably the most preachy part, I would ask that you re-think about your stance on nuclear weapons. Do some research, have a deeper look at the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, and maybe come to the same realization that I have.
 
This is about what I experienced.
 
However, ultimately, I am asking for you to give remembrance to the victims of the bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Remembrance for the pain, suffering, despair and everything else in which those people suffered, something that was not experienced anywhere else.
Remembrance of this act humanity committed upon itself.
Remembrance and understanding of the hope that this is something that should never be experienced by anyone in the world, and it is an utter tragedy that several hundred thousand people were killed, untold amount more injured and affected, had to go through this level of suffering.
 
I urge you to take part in your own little minute of silence or anything of the sort both today, and on the 9th, for the two respective bombings.
 
Thank you.
 
 
 
P.S For those that actually got through the whole thing, I congratulate and thank you. Hope you're not too depressed.
 
P.P.S I would highly, highly recommend that you visit both Hiroshima and Nagasaki at some point in your lives. What I've said and described here may be depressing enough, but I honestly think it is something everyone should do. Reading this post is one thing, but standing in the middle of the Peace Park, looking at the A-Bomb dome, and being only a few hundred meters away from the hypocenter of the blast; it is definitely a worthwhile experience. Especially considering how large and nice the cities have grown to become today. It's somewhat like a phoenix rising out of its ashes. Definitely a worthwhile experience.

Disclaimer - I will not be including any graphic images of the injuries caused by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, nor any close-ups of the large amounts of dead that were photographed in the city immediately after the bombing. However, I urge you to look at some of these yourselves along with my descriptions, in order to fully understand the level of horror, pain and suffering which the inhabitants of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered. 
 
Note - I will mostly be talking about Hiroshima in this post, as it is the anniversary of that bombing today, and also because if I were to include the same amount of information about Nagasaki, this post would be much longer than it is now. However, understand that I am not belittling the Nagasaki bombings, they deserve as much attention as the Hiroshima bombings, as these are the only two cities in the world to have nuclear weapons dropped on them.
 
The Bombing
 
On this day, 70 years ago, at 8.15 in the morning, the first atomic weapon dropped in anger detonated 600 meters above the city of Hiroshima, a large military and industrial hub with a population of 350,000, located on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, in southern Japan.
 
The weapon, nicknamed 'Little Boy', exploded with a force roughly equal to 15 kilotons of TNT, missed its intended target, the Aioi Bridge, by 250m and detonated directly overhead the Shima Surgical Clinic.
 

 
 
Immediately, a massive blast-wave completely destroyed everything within a 1.6 kilometer radius of the hypocenter, barring heavily-reinforced and earthquake-resistant concrete buildings, of which only their shells remained standing, such as the famous 'A-Bomb Dome', what was previously the Prefectural Industry Promotion Building, which has been conserved and remains standing today in the Peace Park.
 

 
Severe blast damage radiated from the hypocenter, ranging from very serious damage and collapses of almost all buildings within a 2-3 kilometer radius, to light damage as far as 5 kilometers away.
 
A massive, blinding fireball 370 meters in diameter, reaching temperatures in excess of 6000 degrees celcius, caused fires to break out everywhere, resulting in a massive firestorm twenty minutes after the initial blast. Roughly 3 kilometers in diameter, it was fueled by the damaged and collapsed buildings due to the blast, completely razing them to the ground. People became trapped in their predominantly wooden houses, screaming for help to no avail as they burned alive. The fires only started to die down after reaching the edge of the blast-zone, where there was less fuel.
 

 
Upon detonation, a huge amount of neutron and gamma radiation was emitted, resulting in a lethal radiation dose within a 1.3 kilometer radius, roughly half of the firestorm-affected area. This radiation reached dozens of kilometers, causing many people that were relatively unharmed by the blast or fires to suffer acute radiation syndrome in the period after the bombing, some causing life-long health complications and increased chances of cancer.
 
Many would succumb to injuries from the blast and fires; with water being in such low supply due to mains being burst and rivers being either inaccessible or contaminated, the last word on many of the dying's lips were 'Water', their thirst arising from the heat which had enveloped the city. 
 
In total, the blast resulted in ~80,000 direct deaths, approximately 70% of the city's buildings destroyed, with another approximate ~80,000 deaths by the end of the year due to injuries or acute radiation syndrome. 
 
Why the news post?
 
Now you may be asking yourselves, why are you telling me this Cain? I already know about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, maybe not all the details as you've laid out, but the general impression of the event.
 
The answer is, because it's the 70th anniversary of the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, with Nagasaki's being on the 9th of August.
Also, because last month I visited Japan on holiday, and went to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, visiting the memorials, museums and everything else dedicated to the bomb and the victims of it. I feel quite strongly about this, and as such I wanted to share it on this forum.
 
My trip to Hiroshima & Nagasaki
 
Personally, I had always been on the fence about the usage of the atomic bombs to 'end' the war in the Pacific. I'm an avid historian, and whilst I thought I understood that the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a horrible act, I believed it was necessary to finally bring about the closure of the Second World War; as it was likely that many more lives of both sides would have been lost in the brutal and bloody Pacific fighting, especially if the USA were to attempt a mainland invasion of Japan to finally force a surrender.
 
And this was the impression and viewpoint I had when I visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When I left both cities, I had completely changed my view. As to why that's the case, allow me to expand a little on my trip.
 
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both quite nice cities, of course have a lot dedicated to memorials and museums of the atomic bombs dropped. In fact you could say that if you are visiting either of the two cities to do some tourism, you are likely going to spend most of your time learning about the atomic bombs, and visiting memorials to the victims. All of these are very well done, in particular the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Peace Park in which it is situated in (which contains several dozen monuments and memorials, as well as the famous A-Bomb dome I linked a picture of earlier); and also Nagasaki's equivalent Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and Nagasaki Peace Park. 
 
I visited Hiroshima first, and the first order of business was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. I was astounded by how well done the museum is. First, there were some short summaries of Hiroshima's history, and what it was like before the bomb and even before the war itself. The exhibition then moved onto the dropping of the bomb, its immediate effects, then its long-term affects, then onto how the bomb actually worked and the various forms of damage, finally ending on survivors' stories, and images/messages left by various high-level dignitaries that have visited the Museum and Park. (There is another large wing of the museum, but it was currently closed for the first stage of a two-part renovation in which they are re-doing and upgrading the entire museum and exhibits, due to be completely finished in 2018 I believe. If you are thinking of visiting, make sure you check to see if the Museum is open!)
 
As to the exhibits themselves, its very hard to not get emotional. The museum has dozens of items which were from the blast; pieces of clothing, personal effects, etc, all from a wide variety of people who ultimately perished either on the day or soon afterwards. Bits of twisted glasses-frames, half-charred school-uniforms, battered and broken lunch-boxes, disfigured and damaged toys, the list goes on. The items all have descriptions of who they belonged to (if identified) as well as a short description of who they were, what they did, and how they ultimately perished.
 
The walls are lined of images of the injuries caused by the blast; horrific burns causing skin to literally be hanging off someone's flesh; lines and patterns of clothing burnt into the bare skin of people; large keloids (large bumpy and inflamed scars), again, the list goes on.
 

 
 
Included in the exhibition was the chunk of stone steps (image above) from the front of the Sumitomo bank, in which an ordinary, unidentified person had been sitting on whilst waiting for the bank to open at the time of the bombing, his/her shadow burnt into the stone by the fireball when the bomb detonated, leaving nothing else behind. Even despite the low-lighting in the museum and the fact that the shadow has somewhat faded, it is still clearly visible, and staring at such a stark reminder in your face is a very hard thing to tolerate.
 
The last section, hearing recordings of survivors giving interviews and reading their descriptions of the minutes, hours, and days immediately after the bombing were completely gut-wrenching. They leave out no details of the level of human suffering and despair which was experienced by the people of Hiroshima; the scenes of hell-like horror of fires, rubble, screams and bodies; and the stories of human strength in which people aided others. I would highly recommend you looking into some of the stories of survivors, some of the examples of human kindness and strength are absolutely astounding, given the situation they were in.
 
All this, I will willingly admit, left me teary, emotional, and struggling to handle with what I was being presented with. When I walked out of the museum, I had to sit down on a bench in the 25 degree heat in the middle of the park and just comprehend everything for a while. It was strikingly similar to the feeling I had when I visited the Auschwitz camps last year.
 
Remembrance
 
All this being said, I am not here to spark debate on whether the bombings were truly 'right' or 'justified', nor am I here to particularly attempt to educate you in what happened, however if you did learn some things and want to learn more, then I am grateful for that. 
 
I will say that personally, my opinion of the bombings and nuclear weapons has been affirmed; I do not wish the level of human suffering in which the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered upon anyone else in this world, and as long as nuclear weapons remain stockpiled by the thousands in the hands of many, there is a chance that it could happen again. As such, and this is probably the most preachy part, I would ask that you re-think about your stance on nuclear weapons. Do some research, have a deeper look at the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, and maybe come to the same realization that I have.
 
This is about what I experienced.
 
However, ultimately, I am asking for you to give remembrance to the victims of the bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Remembrance for the pain, suffering, despair and everything else in which those people suffered, something that was not experienced anywhere else.
Remembrance of this act humanity committed upon itself.
Remembrance and understanding of the hope that this is something that should never be experienced by anyone in the world, and it is an utter tragedy that several hundred thousand people were killed, untold amount more injured and affected, had to go through this level of suffering.
 
I urge you to take part in your own little minute of silence or anything of the sort both today, and on the 9th, for the two respective bombings.
 
Thank you.
 
 
 
P.S For those that actually got through the whole thing, I congratulate and thank you. Hope you're not too depressed.
 
P.P.S I would highly, highly recommend that you visit both Hiroshima and Nagasaki at some point in your lives. What I've said and described here may be depressing enough, but I honestly think it is something everyone should do. Reading this post is one thing, but standing in the middle of the Peace Park, looking at the A-Bomb dome, and being only a few hundred meters away from the hypocenter of the blast; it is definitely a worthwhile experience. Especially considering how large and nice the cities have grown to become today. It's somewhat like a phoenix rising out of its ashes. Definitely a worthwhile experience.

Disclaimer - I will not be including any graphic images of the injuries caused by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, nor any close-ups of the large amounts of dead that were photographed in the city immediately after the bombing. However, I urge you to look at some of these yourselves along with my descriptions, in order to fully understand the level of horror, pain and suffering which the inhabitants of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered. 
 
Note - I will mostly be talking about Hiroshima in this post, as it is the anniversary of that bombing today, and also because if I were to include the same amount of information about Nagasaki, this post would be much longer than it is now. However, understand that I am not belittling the Nagasaki bombings, they deserve as much attention as the Hiroshima bombings, as these are the only two cities in the world to have nuclear weapons dropped on them.
 
The Bombing
 
On this day, 70 years ago, at 8.15 in the morning, the first atomic weapon dropped in anger detonated 600 meters above the city of Hiroshima, a large military and industrial hub with a population of 350,000, located on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, in southern Japan.
 
The weapon, nicknamed 'Little Boy', exploded with a force roughly equal to 15 kilotons of TNT, missed its intended target, the Aioi Bridge, by 250m and detonated directly overhead the Shima Surgical Clinic.
 

 
 
Immediately, a massive blast-wave completely destroyed everything within a 1.6 kilometer radius of the hypocenter, barring heavily-reinforced and earthquake-resistant concrete buildings, of which only their shells remained standing, such as the famous 'A-Bomb Dome', what was previously the Prefectural Industry Promotion Building, which has been conserved and remains standing today in the Peace Park.
 

 
Severe blast damage radiated from the hypocenter, ranging from very serious damage and collapses of almost all buildings within a 2-3 kilometer radius, to light damage as far as 5 kilometers away.
 
A massive, blinding fireball 370 meters in diameter, reaching temperatures in excess of 6000 degrees celcius, caused fires to break out everywhere, resulting in a massive firestorm twenty minutes after the initial blast. Roughly 3 kilometers in diameter, it was fueled by the damaged and collapsed buildings due to the blast, completely razing them to the ground. People became trapped in their predominantly wooden houses, screaming for help to no avail as they burned alive. The fires only started to die down after reaching the edge of the blast-zone, where there was less fuel.
 

 
Upon detonation, a huge amount of neutron and gamma radiation was emitted, resulting in a lethal radiation dose within a 1.3 kilometer radius, roughly half of the firestorm-affected area. This radiation reached dozens of kilometers, causing many people that were relatively unharmed by the blast or fires to suffer acute radiation syndrome in the period after the bombing, some causing life-long health complications and increased chances of cancer.
 
Many would succumb to injuries from the blast and fires; with water being in such low supply due to mains being burst and rivers being either inaccessible or contaminated, the last word on many of the dying's lips were 'Water', their thirst arising from the heat which had enveloped the city. 
 
In total, the blast resulted in ~80,000 direct deaths, approximately 70% of the city's buildings destroyed, with another approximate ~80,000 deaths by the end of the year due to injuries or acute radiation syndrome. 
 
Why the news post?
 
Now you may be asking yourselves, why are you telling me this Cain? I already know about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, maybe not all the details as you've laid out, but the general impression of the event.
 
The answer is, because it's the 70th anniversary of the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, with Nagasaki's being on the 9th of August.
Also, because last month I visited Japan on holiday, and went to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, visiting the memorials, museums and everything else dedicated to the bomb and the victims of it. I feel quite strongly about this, and as such I wanted to share it on this forum.
 
My trip to Hiroshima & Nagasaki
 
Personally, I had always been on the fence about the usage of the atomic bombs to 'end' the war in the Pacific. I'm an avid historian, and whilst I thought I understood that the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a horrible act, I believed it was necessary to finally bring about the closure of the Second World War; as it was likely that many more lives of both sides would have been lost in the brutal and bloody Pacific fighting, especially if the USA were to attempt a mainland invasion of Japan to finally force a surrender.
 
And this was the impression and viewpoint I had when I visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When I left both cities, I had completely changed my view. As to why that's the case, allow me to expand a little on my trip.
 
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both quite nice cities, of course have a lot dedicated to memorials and museums of the atomic bombs dropped. In fact you could say that if you are visiting either of the two cities to do some tourism, you are likely going to spend most of your time learning about the atomic bombs, and visiting memorials to the victims. All of these are very well done, in particular the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Peace Park in which it is situated in (which contains several dozen monuments and memorials, as well as the famous A-Bomb dome I linked a picture of earlier); and also Nagasaki's equivalent Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and Nagasaki Peace Park. 
 
I visited Hiroshima first, and the first order of business was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. I was astounded by how well done the museum is. First, there were some short summaries of Hiroshima's history, and what it was like before the bomb and even before the war itself. The exhibition then moved onto the dropping of the bomb, its immediate effects, then its long-term affects, then onto how the bomb actually worked and the various forms of damage, finally ending on survivors' stories, and images/messages left by various high-level dignitaries that have visited the Museum and Park. (There is another large wing of the museum, but it was currently closed for the first stage of a two-part renovation in which they are re-doing and upgrading the entire museum and exhibits, due to be completely finished in 2018 I believe. If you are thinking of visiting, make sure you check to see if the Museum is open!)
 
As to the exhibits themselves, its very hard to not get emotional. The museum has dozens of items which were from the blast; pieces of clothing, personal effects, etc, all from a wide variety of people who ultimately perished either on the day or soon afterwards. Bits of twisted glasses-frames, half-charred school-uniforms, battered and broken lunch-boxes, disfigured and damaged toys, the list goes on. The items all have descriptions of who they belonged to (if identified) as well as a short description of who they were, what they did, and how they ultimately perished.
 
The walls are lined of images of the injuries caused by the blast; horrific burns causing skin to literally be hanging off someone's flesh; lines and patterns of clothing burnt into the bare skin of people; large keloids (large bumpy and inflamed scars), again, the list goes on.
 

 
 
Included in the exhibition was the chunk of stone steps (image above) from the front of the Sumitomo bank, in which an ordinary, unidentified person had been sitting on whilst waiting for the bank to open at the time of the bombing, his/her shadow burnt into the stone by the fireball when the bomb detonated, leaving nothing else behind. Even despite the low-lighting in the museum and the fact that the shadow has somewhat faded, it is still clearly visible, and staring at such a stark reminder in your face is a very hard thing to tolerate.
 
The last section, hearing recordings of survivors giving interviews and reading their descriptions of the minutes, hours, and days immediately after the bombing were completely gut-wrenching. They leave out no details of the level of human suffering and despair which was experienced by the people of Hiroshima; the scenes of hell-like horror of fires, rubble, screams and bodies; and the stories of human strength in which people aided others. I would highly recommend you looking into some of the stories of survivors, some of the examples of human kindness and strength are absolutely astounding, given the situation they were in.
 
All this, I will willingly admit, left me teary, emotional, and struggling to handle with what I was being presented with. When I walked out of the museum, I had to sit down on a bench in the 25 degree heat in the middle of the park and just comprehend everything for a while. It was strikingly similar to the feeling I had when I visited the Auschwitz camps last year.
 
Remembrance
 
All this being said, I am not here to spark debate on whether the bombings were truly 'right' or 'justified', nor am I here to particularly attempt to educate you in what happened, however if you did learn some things and want to learn more, then I am grateful for that. 
 
I will say that personally, my opinion of the bombings and nuclear weapons has been affirmed; I do not wish the level of human suffering in which the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered upon anyone else in this world, and as long as nuclear weapons remain stockpiled by the thousands in the hands of many, there is a chance that it could happen again. As such, and this is probably the most preachy part, I would ask that you re-think about your stance on nuclear weapons. Do some research, have a deeper look at the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, and maybe come to the same realization that I have.
 
This is about what I experienced.
 
However, ultimately, I am asking for you to give remembrance to the victims of the bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Remembrance for the pain, suffering, despair and everything else in which those people suffered, something that was not experienced anywhere else.
Remembrance of this act humanity committed upon itself.
Remembrance and understanding of the hope that this is something that should never be experienced by anyone in the world, and it is an utter tragedy that several hundred thousand people were killed, untold amount more injured and affected, had to go through this level of suffering.
 
I urge you to take part in your own little minute of silence or anything of the sort both today, and on the 9th, for the two respective bombings.
 
Thank you.
 
 
 
P.S For those that actually got through the whole thing, I congratulate and thank you. Hope you're not too depressed.
 
P.P.S I would highly, highly recommend that you visit both Hiroshima and Nagasaki at some point in your lives. What I've said and described here may be depressing enough, but I honestly think it is something everyone should do. Reading this post is one thing, but standing in the middle of the Peace Park, looking at the A-Bomb dome, and being only a few hundred meters away from the hypocenter of the blast; it is definitely a worthwhile experience. Especially considering how large and nice the cities have grown to become today. It's somewhat like a phoenix rising out of its ashes. Definitely a worthwhile experience.

Disclaimer - I will not be including any graphic images of the injuries caused by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, nor any close-ups of the large amounts of dead that were photographed in the city immediately after the bombing. However, I urge you to look at some of these yourselves along with my descriptions, in order to fully understand the level of horror, pain and suffering which the inhabitants of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered. 
 
Note - I will mostly be talking about Hiroshima in this post, as it is the anniversary of that bombing today, and also because if I were to include the same amount of information about Nagasaki, this post would be much longer than it is now. However, understand that I am not belittling the Nagasaki bombings, they deserve as much attention as the Hiroshima bombings, as these are the only two cities in the world to have nuclear weapons dropped on them.
 
The Bombing
 
On this day, 70 years ago, at 8.15 in the morning, the first atomic weapon dropped in anger detonated 600 meters above the city of Hiroshima, a large military and industrial hub with a population of 350,000, located on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, in southern Japan.
 
The weapon, nicknamed 'Little Boy', exploded with a force roughly equal to 15 kilotons of TNT, missed its intended target, the Aioi Bridge, by 250m and detonated directly overhead the Shima Surgical Clinic.
 

 
 
Immediately, a massive blast-wave completely destroyed everything within a 1.6 kilometer radius of the hypocenter, barring heavily-reinforced and earthquake-resistant concrete buildings, of which only their shells remained standing, such as the famous 'A-Bomb Dome', what was previously the Prefectural Industry Promotion Building, which has been conserved and remains standing today in the Peace Park.
 

 
Severe blast damage radiated from the hypocenter, ranging from very serious damage and collapses of almost all buildings within a 2-3 kilometer radius, to light damage as far as 5 kilometers away.
 
A massive, blinding fireball 370 meters in diameter, reaching temperatures in excess of 6000 degrees celcius, caused fires to break out everywhere, resulting in a massive firestorm twenty minutes after the initial blast. Roughly 3 kilometers in diameter, it was fueled by the damaged and collapsed buildings due to the blast, completely razing them to the ground. People became trapped in their predominantly wooden houses, screaming for help to no avail as they burned alive. The fires only started to die down after reaching the edge of the blast-zone, where there was less fuel.
 

 
Upon detonation, a huge amount of neutron and gamma radiation was emitted, resulting in a lethal radiation dose within a 1.3 kilometer radius, roughly half of the firestorm-affected area. This radiation reached dozens of kilometers, causing many people that were relatively unharmed by the blast or fires to suffer acute radiation syndrome in the period after the bombing, some causing life-long health complications and increased chances of cancer.
 
Many would succumb to injuries from the blast and fires; with water being in such low supply due to mains being burst and rivers being either inaccessible or contaminated, the last word on many of the dying's lips were 'Water', their thirst arising from the heat which had enveloped the city. 
 
In total, the blast resulted in ~80,000 direct deaths, approximately 70% of the city's buildings destroyed, with another approximate ~80,000 deaths by the end of the year due to injuries or acute radiation syndrome. 
 
Why the news post?
 
Now you may be asking yourselves, why are you telling me this Cain? I already know about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, maybe not all the details as you've laid out, but the general impression of the event.
 
The answer is, because it's the 70th anniversary of the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, with Nagasaki's being on the 9th of August.
Also, because last month I visited Japan on holiday, and went to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, visiting the memorials, museums and everything else dedicated to the bomb and the victims of it. I feel quite strongly about this, and as such I wanted to share it on this forum.
 
My trip to Hiroshima & Nagasaki
 
Personally, I had always been on the fence about the usage of the atomic bombs to 'end' the war in the Pacific. I'm an avid historian, and whilst I thought I understood that the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a horrible act, I believed it was necessary to finally bring about the closure of the Second World War; as it was likely that many more lives of both sides would have been lost in the brutal and bloody Pacific fighting, especially if the USA were to attempt a mainland invasion of Japan to finally force a surrender.
 
And this was the impression and viewpoint I had when I visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When I left both cities, I had completely changed my view. As to why that's the case, allow me to expand a little on my trip.
 
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both quite nice cities, of course have a lot dedicated to memorials and museums of the atomic bombs dropped. In fact you could say that if you are visiting either of the two cities to do some tourism, you are likely going to spend most of your time learning about the atomic bombs, and visiting memorials to the victims. All of these are very well done, in particular the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Peace Park in which it is situated in (which contains several dozen monuments and memorials, as well as the famous A-Bomb dome I linked a picture of earlier); and also Nagasaki's equivalent Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and Nagasaki Peace Park. 
 
I visited Hiroshima first, and the first order of business was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. I was astounded by how well done the museum is. First, there were some short summaries of Hiroshima's history, and what it was like before the bomb and even before the war itself. The exhibition then moved onto the dropping of the bomb, its immediate effects, then its long-term affects, then onto how the bomb actually worked and the various forms of damage, finally ending on survivors' stories, and images/messages left by various high-level dignitaries that have visited the Museum and Park. (There is another large wing of the museum, but it was currently closed for the first stage of a two-part renovation in which they are re-doing and upgrading the entire museum and exhibits, due to be completely finished in 2018 I believe. If you are thinking of visiting, make sure you check to see if the Museum is open!)
 
As to the exhibits themselves, its very hard to not get emotional. The museum has dozens of items which were from the blast; pieces of clothing, personal effects, etc, all from a wide variety of people who ultimately perished either on the day or soon afterwards. Bits of twisted glasses-frames, half-charred school-uniforms, battered and broken lunch-boxes, disfigured and damaged toys, the list goes on. The items all have descriptions of who they belonged to (if identified) as well as a short description of who they were, what they did, and how they ultimately perished.
 
The walls are lined of images of the injuries caused by the blast; horrific burns causing skin to literally be hanging off someone's flesh; lines and patterns of clothing burnt into the bare skin of people; large keloids (large bumpy and inflamed scars), again, the list goes on.
 

 
 
Included in the exhibition was the chunk of stone steps (image above) from the front of the Sumitomo bank, in which an ordinary, unidentified person had been sitting on whilst waiting for the bank to open at the time of the bombing, his/her shadow burnt into the stone by the fireball when the bomb detonated, leaving nothing else behind. Even despite the low-lighting in the museum and the fact that the shadow has somewhat faded, it is still clearly visible, and staring at such a stark reminder in your face is a very hard thing to tolerate.
 
The last section, hearing recordings of survivors giving interviews and reading their descriptions of the minutes, hours, and days immediately after the bombing were completely gut-wrenching. They leave out no details of the level of human suffering and despair which was experienced by the people of Hiroshima; the scenes of hell-like horror of fires, rubble, screams and bodies; and the stories of human strength in which people aided others. I would highly recommend you looking into some of the stories of survivors, some of the examples of human kindness and strength are absolutely astounding, given the situation they were in.
 
All this, I will willingly admit, left me teary, emotional, and struggling to handle with what I was being presented with. When I walked out of the museum, I had to sit down on a bench in the 25 degree heat in the middle of the park and just comprehend everything for a while. It was strikingly similar to the feeling I had when I visited the Auschwitz camps last year.
 
Remembrance
 
All this being said, I am not here to spark debate on whether the bombings were truly 'right' or 'justified', nor am I here to particularly attempt to educate you in what happened, however if you did learn some things and want to learn more, then I am grateful for that. 
 
I will say that personally, my opinion of the bombings and nuclear weapons has been affirmed; I do not wish the level of human suffering in which the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered upon anyone else in this world, and as long as nuclear weapons remain stockpiled by the thousands in the hands of many, there is a chance that it could happen again. As such, and this is probably the most preachy part, I would ask that you re-think about your stance on nuclear weapons. Do some research, have a deeper look at the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, and maybe come to the same realization that I have.
 
This is about what I experienced.
 
However, ultimately, I am asking for you to give remembrance to the victims of the bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Remembrance for the pain, suffering, despair and everything else in which those people suffered, something that was not experienced anywhere else.
Remembrance of this act humanity committed upon itself.
Remembrance and understanding of the hope that this is something that should never be experienced by anyone in the world, and it is an utter tragedy that several hundred thousand people were killed, untold amount more injured and affected, had to go through this level of suffering.
 
I urge you to take part in your own little minute of silence or anything of the sort both today, and on the 9th, for the two respective bombings.
 
Thank you.
 
 
 
P.S For those that actually got through the whole thing, I congratulate and thank you. Hope you're not too depressed.
 
P.P.S I would highly, highly recommend that you visit both Hiroshima and Nagasaki at some point in your lives. What I've said and described here may be depressing enough, but I honestly think it is something everyone should do. Reading this post is one thing, but standing in the middle of the Peace Park, looking at the A-Bomb dome, and being only a few hundred meters away from the hypocenter of the blast; it is definitely a worthwhile experience. Especially considering how large and nice the cities have grown to become today. It's somewhat like a phoenix rising out of its ashes. Definitely a worthwhile experience.

Disclaimer - I will not be including any graphic images of the injuries caused by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, nor any close-ups of the large amounts of dead that were photographed in the city immediately after the bombing. However, I urge you to look at some of these yourselves along with my descriptions, in order to fully understand the level of horror, pain and suffering which the inhabitants of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered. 
 
Note - I will mostly be talking about Hiroshima in this post, as it is the anniversary of that bombing today, and also because if I were to include the same amount of information about Nagasaki, this post would be much longer than it is now. However, understand that I am not belittling the Nagasaki bombings, they deserve as much attention as the Hiroshima bombings, as these are the only two cities in the world to have nuclear weapons dropped on them.
 
The Bombing
 
On this day, 70 years ago, at 8.15 in the morning, the first atomic weapon dropped in anger detonated 600 meters above the city of Hiroshima, a large military and industrial hub with a population of 350,000, located on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, in southern Japan.
 
The weapon, nicknamed 'Little Boy', exploded with a force roughly equal to 15 kilotons of TNT, missed its intended target, the Aioi Bridge, by 250m and detonated directly overhead the Shima Surgical Clinic.
 

 
 
Immediately, a massive blast-wave completely destroyed everything within a 1.6 kilometer radius of the hypocenter, barring heavily-reinforced and earthquake-resistant concrete buildings, of which only their shells remained standing, such as the famous 'A-Bomb Dome', what was previously the Prefectural Industry Promotion Building, which has been conserved and remains standing today in the Peace Park.
 

 
Severe blast damage radiated from the hypocenter, ranging from very serious damage and collapses of almost all buildings within a 2-3 kilometer radius, to light damage as far as 5 kilometers away.
 
A massive, blinding fireball 370 meters in diameter, reaching temperatures in excess of 6000 degrees celcius, caused fires to break out everywhere, resulting in a massive firestorm twenty minutes after the initial blast. Roughly 3 kilometers in diameter, it was fueled by the damaged and collapsed buildings due to the blast, completely razing them to the ground. People became trapped in their predominantly wooden houses, screaming for help to no avail as they burned alive. The fires only started to die down after reaching the edge of the blast-zone, where there was less fuel.
 

 
Upon detonation, a huge amount of neutron and gamma radiation was emitted, resulting in a lethal radiation dose within a 1.3 kilometer radius, roughly half of the firestorm-affected area. This radiation reached dozens of kilometers, causing many people that were relatively unharmed by the blast or fires to suffer acute radiation syndrome in the period after the bombing, some causing life-long health complications and increased chances of cancer.
 
Many would succumb to injuries from the blast and fires; with water being in such low supply due to mains being burst and rivers being either inaccessible or contaminated, the last word on many of the dying's lips were 'Water', their thirst arising from the heat which had enveloped the city. 
 
In total, the blast resulted in ~80,000 direct deaths, approximately 70% of the city's buildings destroyed, with another approximate ~80,000 deaths by the end of the year due to injuries or acute radiation syndrome. 
 
Why the news post?
 
Now you may be asking yourselves, why are you telling me this Cain? I already know about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, maybe not all the details as you've laid out, but the general impression of the event.
 
The answer is, because it's the 70th anniversary of the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, with Nagasaki's being on the 9th of August.
Also, because last month I visited Japan on holiday, and went to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, visiting the memorials, museums and everything else dedicated to the bomb and the victims of it. I feel quite strongly about this, and as such I wanted to share it on this forum.
 
My trip to Hiroshima & Nagasaki
 
Personally, I had always been on the fence about the usage of the atomic bombs to 'end' the war in the Pacific. I'm an avid historian, and whilst I thought I understood that the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a horrible act, I believed it was necessary to finally bring about the closure of the Second World War; as it was likely that many more lives of both sides would have been lost in the brutal and bloody Pacific fighting, especially if the USA were to attempt a mainland invasion of Japan to finally force a surrender.
 
And this was the impression and viewpoint I had when I visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When I left both cities, I had completely changed my view. As to why that's the case, allow me to expand a little on my trip.
 
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both quite nice cities, of course have a lot dedicated to memorials and museums of the atomic bombs dropped. In fact you could say that if you are visiting either of the two cities to do some tourism, you are likely going to spend most of your time learning about the atomic bombs, and visiting memorials to the victims. All of these are very well done, in particular the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Peace Park in which it is situated in (which contains several dozen monuments and memorials, as well as the famous A-Bomb dome I linked a picture of earlier); and also Nagasaki's equivalent Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and Nagasaki Peace Park. 
 
I visited Hiroshima first, and the first order of business was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. I was astounded by how well done the museum is. First, there were some short summaries of Hiroshima's history, and what it was like before the bomb and even before the war itself. The exhibition then moved onto the dropping of the bomb, its immediate effects, then its long-term affects, then onto how the bomb actually worked and the various forms of damage, finally ending on survivors' stories, and images/messages left by various high-level dignitaries that have visited the Museum and Park. (There is another large wing of the museum, but it was currently closed for the first stage of a two-part renovation in which they are re-doing and upgrading the entire museum and exhibits, due to be completely finished in 2018 I believe. If you are thinking of visiting, make sure you check to see if the Museum is open!)
 
As to the exhibits themselves, its very hard to not get emotional. The museum has dozens of items which were from the blast; pieces of clothing, personal effects, etc, all from a wide variety of people who ultimately perished either on the day or soon afterwards. Bits of twisted glasses-frames, half-charred school-uniforms, battered and broken lunch-boxes, disfigured and damaged toys, the list goes on. The items all have descriptions of who they belonged to (if identified) as well as a short description of who they were, what they did, and how they ultimately perished.
 
The walls are lined of images of the injuries caused by the blast; horrific burns causing skin to literally be hanging off someone's flesh; lines and patterns of clothing burnt into the bare skin of people; large keloids (large bumpy and inflamed scars), again, the list goes on.
 

 
 
Included in the exhibition was the chunk of stone steps (image above) from the front of the Sumitomo bank, in which an ordinary, unidentified person had been sitting on whilst waiting for the bank to open at the time of the bombing, his/her shadow burnt into the stone by the fireball when the bomb detonated, leaving nothing else behind. Even despite the low-lighting in the museum and the fact that the shadow has somewhat faded, it is still clearly visible, and staring at such a stark reminder in your face is a very hard thing to tolerate.
 
The last section, hearing recordings of survivors giving interviews and reading their descriptions of the minutes, hours, and days immediately after the bombing were completely gut-wrenching. They leave out no details of the level of human suffering and despair which was experienced by the people of Hiroshima; the scenes of hell-like horror of fires, rubble, screams and bodies; and the stories of human strength in which people aided others. I would highly recommend you looking into some of the stories of survivors, some of the examples of human kindness and strength are absolutely astounding, given the situation they were in.
 
All this, I will willingly admit, left me teary, emotional, and struggling to handle with what I was being presented with. When I walked out of the museum, I had to sit down on a bench in the 25 degree heat in the middle of the park and just comprehend everything for a while. It was strikingly similar to the feeling I had when I visited the Auschwitz camps last year.
 
Remembrance
 
All this being said, I am not here to spark debate on whether the bombings were truly 'right' or 'justified', nor am I here to particularly attempt to educate you in what happened, however if you did learn some things and want to learn more, then I am grateful for that. 
 
I will say that personally, my opinion of the bombings and nuclear weapons has been affirmed; I do not wish the level of human suffering in which the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered upon anyone else in this world, and as long as nuclear weapons remain stockpiled by the thousands in the hands of many, there is a chance that it could happen again. As such, and this is probably the most preachy part, I would ask that you re-think about your stance on nuclear weapons. Do some research, have a deeper look at the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, and maybe come to the same realization that I have.
 
This is about what I experienced.
 
However, ultimately, I am asking for you to give remembrance to the victims of the bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Remembrance for the pain, suffering, despair and everything else in which those people suffered, something that was not experienced anywhere else.
Remembrance of this act humanity committed upon itself.
Remembrance and understanding of the hope that this is something that should never be experienced by anyone in the world, and it is an utter tragedy that several hundred thousand people were killed, untold amount more injured and affected, had to go through this level of suffering.
 
I urge you to take part in your own little minute of silence or anything of the sort both today, and on the 9th, for the two respective bombings.
 
Thank you.
 
 
 
P.S For those that actually got through the whole thing, I congratulate and thank you. Hope you're not too depressed.
 
P.P.S I would highly, highly recommend that you visit both Hiroshima and Nagasaki at some point in your lives. What I've said and described here may be depressing enough, but I honestly think it is something everyone should do. Reading this post is one thing, but standing in the middle of the Peace Park, looking at the A-Bomb dome, and being only a few hundred meters away from the hypocenter of the blast; it is definitely a worthwhile experience. Especially considering how large and nice the cities have grown to become today. It's somewhat like a phoenix rising out of its ashes. Definitely a worthwhile experience.

Disclaimer - I will not be including any graphic images of the injuries caused by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, nor any close-ups of the large amounts of dead that were photographed in the city immediately after the bombing. However, I urge you to look at some of these yourselves along with my descriptions, in order to fully understand the level of horror, pain and suffering which the inhabitants of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered. 
 
Note - I will mostly be talking about Hiroshima in this post, as it is the anniversary of that bombing today, and also because if I were to include the same amount of information about Nagasaki, this post would be much longer than it is now. However, understand that I am not belittling the Nagasaki bombings, they deserve as much attention as the Hiroshima bombings, as these are the only two cities in the world to have nuclear weapons dropped on them.
 
The Bombing
 
On this day, 70 years ago, at 8.15 in the morning, the first atomic weapon dropped in anger detonated 600 meters above the city of Hiroshima, a large military and industrial hub with a population of 350,000, located on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, in southern Japan.
 
The weapon, nicknamed 'Little Boy', exploded with a force roughly equal to 15 kilotons of TNT, missed its intended target, the Aioi Bridge, by 250m and detonated directly overhead the Shima Surgical Clinic.
 

 
 
Immediately, a massive blast-wave completely destroyed everything within a 1.6 kilometer radius of the hypocenter, barring heavily-reinforced and earthquake-resistant concrete buildings, of which only their shells remained standing, such as the famous 'A-Bomb Dome', what was previously the Prefectural Industry Promotion Building, which has been conserved and remains standing today in the Peace Park.
 

 
Severe blast damage radiated from the hypocenter, ranging from very serious damage and collapses of almost all buildings within a 2-3 kilometer radius, to light damage as far as 5 kilometers away.
 
A massive, blinding fireball 370 meters in diameter, reaching temperatures in excess of 6000 degrees celcius, caused fires to break out everywhere, resulting in a massive firestorm twenty minutes after the initial blast. Roughly 3 kilometers in diameter, it was fueled by the damaged and collapsed buildings due to the blast, completely razing them to the ground. People became trapped in their predominantly wooden houses, screaming for help to no avail as they burned alive. The fires only started to die down after reaching the edge of the blast-zone, where there was less fuel.
 

 
Upon detonation, a huge amount of neutron and gamma radiation was emitted, resulting in a lethal radiation dose within a 1.3 kilometer radius, roughly half of the firestorm-affected area. This radiation reached dozens of kilometers, causing many people that were relatively unharmed by the blast or fires to suffer acute radiation syndrome in the period after the bombing, some causing life-long health complications and increased chances of cancer.
 
Many would succumb to injuries from the blast and fires; with water being in such low supply due to mains being burst and rivers being either inaccessible or contaminated, the last word on many of the dying's lips were 'Water', their thirst arising from the heat which had enveloped the city. 
 
In total, the blast resulted in ~80,000 direct deaths, approximately 70% of the city's buildings destroyed, with another approximate ~80,000 deaths by the end of the year due to injuries or acute radiation syndrome. 
 
Why the news post?
 
Now you may be asking yourselves, why are you telling me this Cain? I already know about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, maybe not all the details as you've laid out, but the general impression of the event.
 
The answer is, because it's the 70th anniversary of the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, with Nagasaki's being on the 9th of August.
Also, because last month I visited Japan on holiday, and went to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, visiting the memorials, museums and everything else dedicated to the bomb and the victims of it. I feel quite strongly about this, and as such I wanted to share it on this forum.
 
My trip to Hiroshima & Nagasaki
 
Personally, I had always been on the fence about the usage of the atomic bombs to 'end' the war in the Pacific. I'm an avid historian, and whilst I thought I understood that the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a horrible act, I believed it was necessary to finally bring about the closure of the Second World War; as it was likely that many more lives of both sides would have been lost in the brutal and bloody Pacific fighting, especially if the USA were to attempt a mainland invasion of Japan to finally force a surrender.
 
And this was the impression and viewpoint I had when I visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When I left both cities, I had completely changed my view. As to why that's the case, allow me to expand a little on my trip.
 
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both quite nice cities, of course have a lot dedicated to memorials and museums of the atomic bombs dropped. In fact you could say that if you are visiting either of the two cities to do some tourism, you are likely going to spend most of your time learning about the atomic bombs, and visiting memorials to the victims. All of these are very well done, in particular the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Peace Park in which it is situated in (which contains several dozen monuments and memorials, as well as the famous A-Bomb dome I linked a picture of earlier); and also Nagasaki's equivalent Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and Nagasaki Peace Park. 
 
I visited Hiroshima first, and the first order of business was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. I was astounded by how well done the museum is. First, there were some short summaries of Hiroshima's history, and what it was like before the bomb and even before the war itself. The exhibition then moved onto the dropping of the bomb, its immediate effects, then its long-term affects, then onto how the bomb actually worked and the various forms of damage, finally ending on survivors' stories, and images/messages left by various high-level dignitaries that have visited the Museum and Park. (There is another large wing of the museum, but it was currently closed for the first stage of a two-part renovation in which they are re-doing and upgrading the entire museum and exhibits, due to be completely finished in 2018 I believe. If you are thinking of visiting, make sure you check to see if the Museum is open!)
 
As to the exhibits themselves, its very hard to not get emotional. The museum has dozens of items which were from the blast; pieces of clothing, personal effects, etc, all from a wide variety of people who ultimately perished either on the day or soon afterwards. Bits of twisted glasses-frames, half-charred school-uniforms, battered and broken lunch-boxes, disfigured and damaged toys, the list goes on. The items all have descriptions of who they belonged to (if identified) as well as a short description of who they were, what they did, and how they ultimately perished.
 
The walls are lined of images of the injuries caused by the blast; horrific burns causing skin to literally be hanging off someone's flesh; lines and patterns of clothing burnt into the bare skin of people; large keloids (large bumpy and inflamed scars), again, the list goes on.
 

 
 
Included in the exhibition was the chunk of stone steps (image above) from the front of the Sumitomo bank, in which an ordinary, unidentified person had been sitting on whilst waiting for the bank to open at the time of the bombing, his/her shadow burnt into the stone by the fireball when the bomb detonated, leaving nothing else behind. Even despite the low-lighting in the museum and the fact that the shadow has somewhat faded, it is still clearly visible, and staring at such a stark reminder in your face is a very hard thing to tolerate.
 
The last section, hearing recordings of survivors giving interviews and reading their descriptions of the minutes, hours, and days immediately after the bombing were completely gut-wrenching. They leave out no details of the level of human suffering and despair which was experienced by the people of Hiroshima; the scenes of hell-like horror of fires, rubble, screams and bodies; and the stories of human strength in which people aided others. I would highly recommend you looking into some of the stories of survivors, some of the examples of human kindness and strength are absolutely astounding, given the situation they were in.
 
All this, I will willingly admit, left me teary, emotional, and struggling to handle with what I was being presented with. When I walked out of the museum, I had to sit down on a bench in the 25 degree heat in the middle of the park and just comprehend everything for a while. It was strikingly similar to the feeling I had when I visited the Auschwitz camps last year.
 
Remembrance
 
All this being said, I am not here to spark debate on whether the bombings were truly 'right' or 'justified', nor am I here to particularly attempt to educate you in what happened, however if you did learn some things and want to learn more, then I am grateful for that. 
 
I will say that personally, my opinion of the bombings and nuclear weapons has been affirmed; I do not wish the level of human suffering in which the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered upon anyone else in this world, and as long as nuclear weapons remain stockpiled by the thousands in the hands of many, there is a chance that it could happen again. As such, and this is probably the most preachy part, I would ask that you re-think about your stance on nuclear weapons. Do some research, have a deeper look at the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, and maybe come to the same realization that I have.
 
This is about what I experienced.
 
However, ultimately, I am asking for you to give remembrance to the victims of the bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Remembrance for the pain, suffering, despair and everything else in which those people suffered, something that was not experienced anywhere else.
Remembrance of this act humanity committed upon itself.
Remembrance and understanding of the hope that this is something that should never be experienced by anyone in the world, and it is an utter tragedy that several hundred thousand people were killed, untold amount more injured and affected, had to go through this level of suffering.
 
I urge you to take part in your own little minute of silence or anything of the sort both today, and on the 9th, for the two respective bombings.
 
Thank you.
 
 
 
P.S For those that actually got through the whole thing, I congratulate and thank you. Hope you're not too depressed.
 
P.P.S I would highly, highly recommend that you visit both Hiroshima and Nagasaki at some point in your lives. What I've said and described here may be depressing enough, but I honestly think it is something everyone should do. Reading this post is one thing, but standing in the middle of the Peace Park, looking at the A-Bomb dome, and being only a few hundred meters away from the hypocenter of the blast; it is definitely a worthwhile experience. Especially considering how large and nice the cities have grown to become today. It's somewhat like a phoenix rising out of its ashes. Definitely a worthwhile experience.

Disclaimer - I will not be including any graphic images of the injuries caused by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, nor any close-ups of the large amounts of dead that were photographed in the city immediately after the bombing. However, I urge you to look at some of these yourselves along with my descriptions, in order to fully understand the level of horror, pain and suffering which the inhabitants of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered. 
 
Note - I will mostly be talking about Hiroshima in this post, as it is the anniversary of that bombing today, and also because if I were to include the same amount of information about Nagasaki, this post would be much longer than it is now. However, understand that I am not belittling the Nagasaki bombings, they deserve as much attention as the Hiroshima bombings, as these are the only two cities in the world to have nuclear weapons dropped on them.
 
The Bombing
 
On this day, 70 years ago, at 8.15 in the morning, the first atomic weapon dropped in anger detonated 600 meters above the city of Hiroshima, a large military and industrial hub with a population of 350,000, located on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, in southern Japan.
 
The weapon, nicknamed 'Little Boy', exploded with a force roughly equal to 15 kilotons of TNT, missed its intended target, the Aioi Bridge, by 250m and detonated directly overhead the Shima Surgical Clinic.
 

 
 
Immediately, a massive blast-wave completely destroyed everything within a 1.6 kilometer radius of the hypocenter, barring heavily-reinforced and earthquake-resistant concrete buildings, of which only their shells remained standing, such as the famous 'A-Bomb Dome', what was previously the Prefectural Industry Promotion Building, which has been conserved and remains standing today in the Peace Park.
 

 
Severe blast damage radiated from the hypocenter, ranging from very serious damage and collapses of almost all buildings within a 2-3 kilometer radius, to light damage as far as 5 kilometers away.
 
A massive, blinding fireball 370 meters in diameter, reaching temperatures in excess of 6000 degrees celcius, caused fires to break out everywhere, resulting in a massive firestorm twenty minutes after the initial blast. Roughly 3 kilometers in diameter, it was fueled by the damaged and collapsed buildings due to the blast, completely razing them to the ground. People became trapped in their predominantly wooden houses, screaming for help to no avail as they burned alive. The fires only started to die down after reaching the edge of the blast-zone, where there was less fuel.
 

 
Upon detonation, a huge amount of neutron and gamma radiation was emitted, resulting in a lethal radiation dose within a 1.3 kilometer radius, roughly half of the firestorm-affected area. This radiation reached dozens of kilometers, causing many people that were relatively unharmed by the blast or fires to suffer acute radiation syndrome in the period after the bombing, some causing life-long health complications and increased chances of cancer.
 
Many would succumb to injuries from the blast and fires; with water being in such low supply due to mains being burst and rivers being either inaccessible or contaminated, the last word on many of the dying's lips were 'Water', their thirst arising from the heat which had enveloped the city. 
 
In total, the blast resulted in ~80,000 direct deaths, approximately 70% of the city's buildings destroyed, with another approximate ~80,000 deaths by the end of the year due to injuries or acute radiation syndrome. 
 
Why the news post?
 
Now you may be asking yourselves, why are you telling me this Cain? I already know about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, maybe not all the details as you've laid out, but the general impression of the event.
 
The answer is, because it's the 70th anniversary of the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, with Nagasaki's being on the 9th of August.
Also, because last month I visited Japan on holiday, and went to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, visiting the memorials, museums and everything else dedicated to the bomb and the victims of it. I feel quite strongly about this, and as such I wanted to share it on this forum.
 
My trip to Hiroshima & Nagasaki
 
Personally, I had always been on the fence about the usage of the atomic bombs to 'end' the war in the Pacific. I'm an avid historian, and whilst I thought I understood that the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a horrible act, I believed it was necessary to finally bring about the closure of the Second World War; as it was likely that many more lives of both sides would have been lost in the brutal and bloody Pacific fighting, especially if the USA were to attempt a mainland invasion of Japan to finally force a surrender.
 
And this was the impression and viewpoint I had when I visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When I left both cities, I had completely changed my view. As to why that's the case, allow me to expand a little on my trip.
 
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both quite nice cities, of course have a lot dedicated to memorials and museums of the atomic bombs dropped. In fact you could say that if you are visiting either of the two cities to do some tourism, you are likely going to spend most of your time learning about the atomic bombs, and visiting memorials to the victims. All of these are very well done, in particular the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Peace Park in which it is situated in (which contains several dozen monuments and memorials, as well as the famous A-Bomb dome I linked a picture of earlier); and also Nagasaki's equivalent Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and Nagasaki Peace Park. 
 
I visited Hiroshima first, and the first order of business was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. I was astounded by how well done the museum is. First, there were some short summaries of Hiroshima's history, and what it was like before the bomb and even before the war itself. The exhibition then moved onto the dropping of the bomb, its immediate effects, then its long-term affects, then onto how the bomb actually worked and the various forms of damage, finally ending on survivors' stories, and images/messages left by various high-level dignitaries that have visited the Museum and Park. (There is another large wing of the museum, but it was currently closed for the first stage of a two-part renovation in which they are re-doing and upgrading the entire museum and exhibits, due to be completely finished in 2018 I believe. If you are thinking of visiting, make sure you check to see if the Museum is open!)
 
As to the exhibits themselves, its very hard to not get emotional. The museum has dozens of items which were from the blast; pieces of clothing, personal effects, etc, all from a wide variety of people who ultimately perished either on the day or soon afterwards. Bits of twisted glasses-frames, half-charred school-uniforms, battered and broken lunch-boxes, disfigured and damaged toys, the list goes on. The items all have descriptions of who they belonged to (if identified) as well as a short description of who they were, what they did, and how they ultimately perished.
 
The walls are lined of images of the injuries caused by the blast; horrific burns causing skin to literally be hanging off someone's flesh; lines and patterns of clothing burnt into the bare skin of people; large keloids (large bumpy and inflamed scars), again, the list goes on.
 

 
 
Included in the exhibition was the chunk of stone steps (image above) from the front of the Sumitomo bank, in which an ordinary, unidentified person had been sitting on whilst waiting for the bank to open at the time of the bombing, his/her shadow burnt into the stone by the fireball when the bomb detonated, leaving nothing else behind. Even despite the low-lighting in the museum and the fact that the shadow has somewhat faded, it is still clearly visible, and staring at such a stark reminder in your face is a very hard thing to tolerate.
 
The last section, hearing recordings of survivors giving interviews and reading their descriptions of the minutes, hours, and days immediately after the bombing were completely gut-wrenching. They leave out no details of the level of human suffering and despair which was experienced by the people of Hiroshima; the scenes of hell-like horror of fires, rubble, screams and bodies; and the stories of human strength in which people aided others. I would highly recommend you looking into some of the stories of survivors, some of the examples of human kindness and strength are absolutely astounding, given the situation they were in.
 
All this, I will willingly admit, left me teary, emotional, and struggling to handle with what I was being presented with. When I walked out of the museum, I had to sit down on a bench in the 25 degree heat in the middle of the park and just comprehend everything for a while. It was strikingly similar to the feeling I had when I visited the Auschwitz camps last year.
 
Remembrance
 
All this being said, I am not here to spark debate on whether the bombings were truly 'right' or 'justified', nor am I here to particularly attempt to educate you in what happened, however if you did learn some things and want to learn more, then I am grateful for that. 
 
I will say that personally, my opinion of the bombings and nuclear weapons has been affirmed; I do not wish the level of human suffering in which the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered upon anyone else in this world, and as long as nuclear weapons remain stockpiled by the thousands in the hands of many, there is a chance that it could happen again. As such, and this is probably the most preachy part, I would ask that you re-think about your stance on nuclear weapons. Do some research, have a deeper look at the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, and maybe come to the same realization that I have.
 
This is about what I experienced.
 
However, ultimately, I am asking for you to give remembrance to the victims of the bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Remembrance for the pain, suffering, despair and everything else in which those people suffered, something that was not experienced anywhere else.
Remembrance of this act humanity committed upon itself.
Remembrance and understanding of the hope that this is something that should never be experienced by anyone in the world, and it is an utter tragedy that several hundred thousand people were killed, untold amount more injured and affected, had to go through this level of suffering.
 
I urge you to take part in your own little minute of silence or anything of the sort both today, and on the 9th, for the two respective bombings.
 
Thank you.
 
 
 
P.S For those that actually got through the whole thing, I congratulate and thank you. Hope you're not too depressed.
 
P.P.S I would highly, highly recommend that you visit both Hiroshima and Nagasaki at some point in your lives. What I've said and described here may be depressing enough, but I honestly think it is something everyone should do. Reading this post is one thing, but standing in the middle of the Peace Park, looking at the A-Bomb dome, and being only a few hundred meters away from the hypocenter of the blast; it is definitely a worthwhile experience. Especially considering how large and nice the cities have grown to become today. It's somewhat like a phoenix rising out of its ashes. Definitely a worthwhile experience.

I say just pop it through a RNG, and re-do if it comes up with a track that's been done before. Easiest way to avoid polling/votes/ties etc.

Data collection has now ended.  Thank you to everyone who took part

We changed the start time? D;
It's okay I can still attend but not for as long as I'd hoped

Myself and raz went flying in a full motion 737-800 simulator yesterday! A few may have already seen it but I thought I'd post it here
 

 
I start off with a circle to land approach at Chambery (approach chart we were following is here), I then do a night landing at Gatwick followed by one in the crosswind from the right at about 15kts, I didn't do it very well though 
 
Raz takes over and does an engine start and taxi out onto the runway followed by a takeoff, we fly around for a bit then land at Leeds Bradford, it all goes well until the crosswind disappears and we have to go around, raz goes for a second attempt and lands.
 
Overall an awesome day.

No matter what, don't let Cain get hold of a Zafir LMG. He will turn into "Trigger", and stay that way throughout the gamenight. And history has proven that there is no logistical service in the world that can keep up with the amount of ammo he uses.

I'm not even going to lie, we have those here. 

//AHOYWORLD end of the year awards!
 
Thanks everybody for voting! 
 
And the winners are:
 
 
It was a close battle between "The deck" and the "Arma channels" but we have a clear winner with 43% of the votes.
AW Best teamspeak channel: The deck
 
The best game we host is....
AW best game: ArmA 3
 
It seems you guys like modded allot because
Best ArmA server : EU3
 
AW most friendly admin 2014: Danny
 
AW most helpful admin 2014: Kamaradski
 
AW most effective admin 2014: Mykeyrm with an amazing 127 bans
 
AW most tactical ARMA player 2014: Christiansen
 
AW best ARMA pilot 2014: Hoax 
 
AW best Teamspeak singer 2014: Zissou
 
AW most funny person on Teamspeak 2014: No clear winner guess we are not so funny
 
AW forums best day: 190 people online at the same time 30 august 2014, still not sure what happened that day
 
AW most liked post 2014: http://www.ahoyworld.co.uk/topic/3196-how-to-report-disruptive-behaviour-on-our-servers-and-make-your-and-our-admins-life-better/?hl=%2Bsummer+%2Bholidays
 
AW best ban reason 2014: Revealing Server Password (it was Razgriz33) by typing "login adminpass" in side chat in a full server.
 
AW most password giveaway fail: Razzgriz33 revealed the password 5 times on twitch and 2 times in chat on a full server.
 
Ban statistics 2014... so think twice next time you teamkil 
 

 
 
 
 
I'm off for a 2 week trip now so I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year and hope to see you guys next year on AhoyWorld!
 
 
 

Who wants to fly the overbudget, overdue and completely useless F-35!
 
Thing's worse than the fake-ten.

http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/8/6881629/inside-shack-tactical-shacktac-military-simulation-arma
 
 
Was surprised to see this on today's featured articles, they go into a lot of depth interviewing different shack-tac people, and its a really good read if anyone's interested.

http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/8/6881629/inside-shack-tactical-shacktac-military-simulation-arma
 
 
Was surprised to see this on today's featured articles, they go into a lot of depth interviewing different shack-tac people, and its a really good read if anyone's interested.

I'll be waiting.

Oh man Cain #5! I had completely forgotten about that quad-bike thing! Haha I felt so guilty when we stole it but then I didn't want to walk so the guilt passed

I have a tonne of things that happened during gamenights or other periods of organized play:
 
1) On one game night when I was in charge of a squad, I split the squad into two fireteams and knowingly sent one fireteam on a suicide mission because I had selected the people in the squad that were really ticking me off.
 
2) On a separate game night, again in charge of a squad, I gave permission for my squad to blue-on-blue the entire force in the middle of a debrief (which sounded like it was finished) after several elements had proposed the idea and the rest of the squad were up for it.
 
3) One time, one of my AT guys said he spotted several MRAPs in the distance and wanted to engage. Too busy pouring over my maps and attempting to locate the other squad which had fallen far behind, I gave him permission to fire, he destroyed the first vehicle and the second blew up by hitting the back of the wreckage. The third survived. I only found out later when the remnants of the squad met us that two of their vehicles had been destroyed by an AT ambush. I had their grid coords the wrong way round and they were much closer to us than I thought. I told them we eliminated the AT team.
 
4) A reoccurring problem one game night was some non-AW lads who had signed up and were doing their own thing, disregarding our commands/orders and what we were trying to do. They had an MRAP as their vehicle, and when we caught up to their pos one time and they had disembarked, I got in their vehicle and ran over them before linking back up with my squad and telling our lead that I had solved both the problem of our dwindling ammo and our non-abiding teammates.
 
5) In I believe our second large joint-op with JTF2 (where Angel's mission started with us being AAF and suppressed in a shack, and I was assigned leader of AAF because I thought I signed up as a fireteam leader, not team leader), after we had been picked up by NATO (after a beautiful meeting with them swooping down in a littlebird in the middle of the night) and we had been split as an AAF force due to vehicles' passenger constraints, some of my team had taken it upon themselves to jog for about 15 minutes to arrive at an old vehicle camp and picked up a quadbike, and brought it all the way back to us. In what was not my proudest moment, I was tired of being dicked around by JTF2 over transport to the final AO, and pulled rank on the guys who painstakingly found the quad (which was Angel himself and someone else), relieved them of it and took myself (and either Christiansen or Danny?) to the rest of the team where Raz, as 2ic, had set up a preparatory assault position in a forest. It was about 8 km away from where we originally were, and Angel and the other man had to jog all the way over to us.
 
I remember a lot of those ones Raz, especially the heli music one. We were all yelling because we thought someone in TS was mic-spamming and we damn-near shat ourselves when it started playing.
 
 
It led to Smith terming me 'The ruiner of gamenights'. That was a funny gamenight.

As of recent here at Ahoy we've been probing into different spaces... No matter how disgusting that sounds the findings are interesting!
 

 
Thanks to our team the new insurgency server is definitely alive. although if you are reading this insurgency user, we want you! sign up and chat to us today. the statistics for active users are great. So much so that once we joked about having a second server, but now perhaps it's more serious than that, we're currently ranked 9th according to the tracker
 
want a link to insurgency? look no further
 
 

 
In ARMA 3 news
 
EU1 updates are streaming out however we're taking a fresh look into I&A3, can't say much about it but it's core is ready, it just needs making a little more user friendly. Another Rarek masterpiece for sure though.
 
EU 2, is always empty so we have some ideas for this to try spruce it up a tad! One idea in particular i'm not sure i can talk about, another is a public Zeus event where even joe bloggs can have a go at trying to make a fun mission on the fly, it isn't easy trust me! Finally our game night missions of past could even be thrown into rotation. If you have any ideas or would like to see something in particular go ahead and reply to this or whack me an email! [email protected]
 
Eu 3 still hosting modded missions, namely Patrol ops, a bit like I&A but better suited to smaller operations, involving Task Force radio, this server is a favourite amongst our members and admins, if you'd like to give it a go try out Arma3 sync, our modded catalogue is available on there. Using Arma3 sync you can keep up to date easily too. Here's a guide for you to follow step-by-step
 
Life server? interested in it? please let us know so we can gauge the interest and hopefully provide another well administrated server
 
 

Fancy something different? David's pc went on the blink and as a result we've got some great new twitch content.
perhaps you'd like to see some trucking or an ALMIGHTY TRAFFIC JAM!!!
 
Other games we've been playing lately include: (click pictures for more information)

Shit, I haven't even checked as to how long ago it was since I joined. Here's to Badger, Danny! 

We should've come up with that ages ago
 
 
Edit: Yeah so my one-year mark was 4 months ago lol

Shit, I haven't even checked as to how long ago it was since I joined. Here's to Badger, Danny! 

We should've come up with that ages ago
 
 
Edit: Yeah so my one-year mark was 4 months ago lol