Letters

Our look back at the bright atomic blasts and dark mushroom clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki 60 years ago stirred undying memories, renewed debate about the conduct of the war and inspired a frail hope that humanity may survive its ongoing relationship with nuclear weapons

Thank you for the report on the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing [Aug. 1]. Your stories were a reminder that most countries still consider the possession of nuclear weapons more a point of pride than the potential for murder. Why does a country have to prove its supremacy through its ability to destroy? Nations should instead boast of creating something that can benefit mankind: cures for illness, sustainable crops that can reduce famine and inspiring artistic and literary works that show the best of the human spirit.

XIAO ZHENG

Bethesda, Md.

Your story about the atom bomb brought back memories. I was on the island of Tinian at that time, in the 4th Marine Air Wing, and often watched those big B-29s take off. When the Enola Gay returned, it just about blew our tents down, since it came in so low in celebration of what the crew suspected it had done: end the war. Later we flew our C-46 transport plane to Omura, Japan. As we looked down at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it seemed as if somebody had taken a rake and cleared those cities off the earth. I am now 80 years old, and while those memories may have been suppressed, they were never erased from my mind. I only pray such bombs will never be used again.

ROBERT P. GOOD

Shenandoah, Va.

I was very moved by the oral histories of the U.S. servicemen aboard the planes that struck Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I hope they know they are heroes. They helped end WW II and ensured that my grandpa and millions of other grandpas would go home instead of invading Japan. It was estimated that an invasion might have caused 1 million Allied casualties. There would be a lot fewer dads and grandpas of ours around today had that taken place.

JONAS LINDGREN, OFFICER CANDIDATE

ILLINOIS ARMY NATIONAL GUARD

Glenview, Ill.

As a student ambassador to Japan a few years ago, I visited Hiroshima and placed 1,000 paper cranes as an offering at the Peace Memorial. I realized that emotions of sorrow are universal. Once you stand in a place that has suffered as much as Hiroshima, you understand that world peace is not some cliche idea.

TRISHA SAHA

Ann Arbor, Mich.

How much longer do Americans have to feel guilty about Hiroshima? By dropping the atom bombs, the U.S. delivered millions of people from the jaws of the Japanese war machine. Every story about the fate of the Japanese victims should also mention the suffering the Japanese inflicted on China, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

WAN CHIU

Hong Kong

I am the same age as Sakuru Takigawa, one of the men whose picture was included in your report on the survivors of Hiroshima. As a young Marine who would probably have played a role in the scheduled invasion of Japan, I cheered when I heard the news about the bombing. Since then, 60 years of reflection have tempered my enthusiasm.

AL SARTOR

Walnut Creek, Calif.

Has TIME forgotten the hundreds of thousands of civilian Chinese slaughtered in Nanking? If Japan finds it appropriate to honor the victims of the atom bombs, it should own up to all the war crimes its armed forces committed.

LISA AHLQVIST

Copenhagen

The debt that the world owes the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is rarely articulated. It is in large part because of the horrific nature of their suffering that atomic weapons have not been used again.

RAYMOND LLOYD

London