Never Again

Seventy five years ago today President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that resulted in the internment of Japanese-American citizens and resident aliens who lived in the west coast states of California, Oregon and Washington and the seizing of their property  

Next to the turning away of the MS St Louis, it was another fail in FDR's otherwise remarkable presidency, and has has lasting negative effects in the japanese American community.

This day is necessary to remember in light of the fact that Trump wishes to do the same to Muslim Americans.   To this all of us who love this country, the Constitution and our human rights must stand up and say in a loud collective voice, "Never Again!".

Hiroshima Plus 70

70 years ago on this date in 1945, the first atomic bomb used in warfare was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by a lone B-29 bomber piloted by Col.. Paul Tibbets named the Enola Gay.

When the 'Little Boy' exploded in an air burst 2000 feet over the city at 8:15 AM local time, 60,000 people were instantly killed and five square miles of the city was left in ruins.  Thousands of other Hiroshima residents who survived the initial blast later succumbed to burns, radiation poisoning or died of cancer and other illnesses combined with effects of malnutrition.

It is estimated that 140,000 people were killed in Hiroshima and 70,000 in Nagasaki.

While the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki three days later are credited with ending World War II, they are still considered the most controversial events of the war.  The atomic bombings are still being argued in hindsight whether they were even necessary seven decades later.

A ceremony was held yesterday at 6:15 PM Houston time in Hiroshima Peace Park in which representatives from over 100 nations including US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy were there to mark that somber anniversary with a one minute moment of silence and renew the call to work toward a world without nuclear weapons. 

This 70th anniversary also dovetails nicely with the debate going on inside I-495  about whether the recent Iran nuclear deal will not only shut down their ability to build The Bomb, but be enforceable.

While that's another issue for discussion, what we know is that the Little Boy and Fat Man bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were primitive compared to the nuclear weapons we possess now that can be sent zooming off to their targets in mere minutes..  

We have come close in 1962, 1973, 1979 and twice in 1983 because of mistakes, military system glitches and political miscalculations of the US and the Soviet Union launching nuke attacks on each others respective nations and imperiling life on Planet Earth as a result.  

We must do our utmost to ensure that these are the last instances of cities being nuked in anger, and get people to remember, as I paraphrase a line from the movie WarGames, in that the only way to win a nuclear war is not start one in the first place.

70th Anniversary Of D-Day Invasion

June 6, 1944 was one of the pivotal moments not only of World War II but of world history.  

70 years ago on this date on the shores of Normandy, the fate of the world was in the balance as the D-Day invasion to liberate France and Europe from the clutches of Nazi occupation began.

The largest seaborne fleet ever assembled sailed from southern English ports laden with 156, 000 British, Canadian and American troops, tanks and other weapons to land at five code named beaches along 50 miles of heavily fortified French coastline. 

The 5000 ship amphibious invasion fleet was protected by a massive air umbrella of over 11,000 airplanes that flew ahead of the ships speeding south to not only drop paratroopers behind the invasion beaches but attack any German forces moving toward them by road, canal or rail.  

While the British and Canadian troops landing at Gold, Juno and Sword beaches and the Americans landing at Utah Beach encountered light resistance that morning, that wasn't the case at Omaha  Beach.   

Bad luck in terms of nothing going as planned for the American invaders and fierce German resistance at the water's edge caused over 2000 casualties and had General Omar Bradley briefly consider a withdrawal of troops from the tenuous beachhead. 

But the determined attackers pushed through, eventually made their way off Bloody Omaha and inland although not at the planned rate of advance.

It wasn't a good day for the German defenders either.   Their commander, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was in Germany celebrating his wife's June 6 birthday as his command staff was occupied at a military conference.   Indecision and confusion reigned from Berchtesgaden to the Normandy invasion front as the massive invasion caught them by surprise.  . Attempts to move German reinforcements to the area met savage air attacks by the Allied aircraft that ruled the skies. 
 

By the end of the day the Allies would be starting the liberation of France and Western Europe.  The five separate landing beaches would be linked into a single front containing a half million men by the end of the week being reinforced by thousands of tanks tasked for the breakout from the Normandy region in Operation Cobra.  Paris was liberated by August and nearly a year later, the European phase of the war ended as Germany surrendered. 

The stories of that day have been written in endless books, articles and told in documentaries and movies such as The Longest Day.    But without the ultimate sacrifices of these 9000 men that we remember 70 years later, the world might be a far different place.

70th Anniversary Of The Pearl Harbor Attack

70 years ago today the Sunday morning calm at Hawaii's Pearl Harbor was broken at 7:55 AM local time by a surprise Japanese attack on the bases and airfields in the area from six carriers commanded by Imperial Japanese Navy Admiral Chuichi Nagumo and a two wave carrier aircraft strike force under the command of IJN Captain Mitsuo Fuchida. 

The Japanese were also busy that morning on the other side of the International Date Line launching air attacks on Hong Kong, Singapore, Guam, Wake Island and Clark Air base near Manila.  

They also launched ground invasions of Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Malaya in the opening steps of their drive to conquer Southeast Asia and build what they euphemistically called the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."

But the Japanese were deeply concerned about the US Pacific Fleet and its 3 carriers, 8 battleships and other ships anchored at Pearl Harbor.  They wished to neutralize it before they continued their plans of military conquest. 



'The day that will live in infamy' as President Franklin Roosevelt called it resulted in the catastrophic loss of the battleship USS Arizona when its magazine exploded and three other battleships, damage to four others, the battleship USS Nevada grounded, 2 destroyers sunk, 188 aircraft destroyed, 2402 people killed along with 57 civilians and 1247 people wounded.   




Fortunately for the United States the carriers USS Lexington, USS Enterprise and USS Hornet were not at Pearl Harbor on that fateful day and Admiral Nagumo decided not to launch a third air strike to lay waste to the drydocks, oil storage tank farm and other Pearl Harbor support facilities and head back to the Japanese home islands despite the urging of Captain Fuchida and other officers to do so . The successful surprise attack galvanized and unified the US population on a level we haven't seen since and led to the entry of the United States into World War II.

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August 6, 1945

And what happened in Hiroshima on this date and Nagasaki on August 9 came too damn close close to being repeated in October 1962, September 26, 1983 and November 1983