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Reddit user shares grandfather-in-law’s 1945 photos of Nagasaki

A user of Reddit.com has shared the following collection of photos showing Nagasaki in 1945 after the atomic bombing. If his story is true, the photos have spent decades in a box, not having been shown to many people:

I was recently upstate and over dinner the talk of cancer came up. My father-in-law mentioned that it was “his time in Nagasaki” that killed his father. Of course this piqued my interest, so he pulled these photos out. I thought Reddit would appreciate them.

His father was in the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines. He also shipped a crate of guns, swords, and a Battleship flag home. All that remains is the crate and these photos. Apparently he traded the guns and swords for a mandolin and banjo in the Sixties. The flag is unaccounted for.

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28 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - October 18, 2012 at 7:51 pm

Categories: General Japan Tags:

Far East

I cannot and really do not want to imagine the hell this must have been
for those hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians to be burnt alive
in the fire of the atomic bombs. All this for what ? The people were
starving of hunger, the army was already defeated. The only reason for
that was to stop the progress of the Soviet in the north of Japan.

Anonymous

Well, stopping the Red Army advance WAS important. Don’t dismiss that as something minor. Japan emerged from World War II as a unitary country, unlike China, Korea, and Vietnam, all of which were divided into communist and anti-communist camps. There was no People’s Republic of Hokkaido, and Sapporo was not renamed New Stalingrad. Japanese should be grateful for that.

Masa Chekov

So the US destroyed Japan in order to save it, is that what you’re saying?

flowby

Whether that was intent or not. I’ll leave to your own speculative devices.
However the US did have great intent to stop the perceived ogre of communism with manic dictator Stalin at it’s helm.
I’m guessing their (US) own vested interests (security for trade, commerce, industry etc) were paramount, desiring a Japan conducive to it’s own image of world order.
It’s quite reasonable to assume (but we’ll never know) that given 2 more weeks, Hokkaido could well have become East Asia’s East Germany. Stalin’s voracious appetite for terror, plunder and revenge is well documented.
Sadly so many people died in the nuclear attacks – as so many did elsewhere – and the world at Japan’s expense, learnt an awful lesson. I’m sure Stalin noted it.

Defend

Don’t forget the 142,000 Okinawan civilians who died during the American island hoping or the 100,000+ Tokyo residents who perished in ONE night when American forces used incendiary(fire) bombs on wooden buildings.

You rarely see stories about Japanese civilians being systematically targeted by Allies in WWII but the “so-called Nanjing Massacre” and the comfort women issue are a weekly occurrence. I guess headlines NANKING! NANKING! or “forced sex slave” helps take the attention away from the US horrific treatment of Japanese civilians during the closing stages of WWII…

flowby

Why on earth would you be addressing me with these particular comments?
Your thoughts are on another concern.
And just to make sure you know “I didn’t forget”, perhaps you should have read my penultimate comment more closely.

Anonymous

What a ridiculous exaggeration. As awful as the two atomic bombings were, that did not amount to “destroying Japan.”

Masa Chekov

Oh, so just slaughtering hundreds of thousands of civilians in the Tokyo firebombings, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki in order to “save” Japan. Sorry I offended you with my exaggerations of the mass murders.
Zeto

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raids_on_Japan

Anonymous

couldn’t have said it better myself
yankdownunder

“stopping the Red Army advance”

US asked Russia to break its treaty and attack Japan.
Japanese should be grateful for that?!?!

“Japan emerged from World War II as a unitary country”

It lost Okinawa, Northern Territories and its colonies.
Japanese should be grateful for that?!?!

China?!?!
If you mean the civil war, what does Japan have to do with that?

Vietnam
was returned whole as a colony of France, as were other European colonies(with the help of Japanese surrendered soldiers).

Korea
Yes today it would be “whole” if Japan had not made it a colony. Of course it would be a part of China like Tibet but it would be whole.

Anonymous

Oh boy, looks like I’ve raised the ire of the “Japan as victim” advocates. Yes, considering what happened to fellow aggressor nation Germany, Japan should be thankful that their territorial losses were limited to just Okinawa, the Northern Territories, and its colonial holdings. No North Japan, no South Japan. Very fortunate to have avoided that outcome. Your comments about Korea are ridiculous. More propaganda about Japan “liberating” Korea from Chinese rule in the 1890s, when in fact Korea had been sovereign and self-governing for centuries. I’m not condoning the atomic bombings, I just find it bizarre that people can be so dismissive of the fact that Hokkaido managed to avoid falling under Soviet domination.

colorful

>
All this for what?
That’s a question you should be asking Japan first.

Seriously, let it go. Whining about ancient history only makes you look as stupid as the Chinese/Koreans.

Far East

It is not so much about whining than it is about learning from history when making decision for tomorrow.
History has a load of record of stupid policies conducted by States around the world. WWII Japan imperialism was one, especially as it was trying to mimic western countries! U.S. nuke of hundreds of thousands of people mainly out of anti-communism tactic was folly.
It is mildly pathetic that some nations like China criticize this part of history while deliberately replicating it.
At the end, those countries need to face up to their history, but some just are in denial and re-invent it.
Zeto

And you can stop whining about Pearl Harbor, or the 9-11.

Anonymous

So you are saying Far East that if the US was to para drop soldiers into Nagasaki that day not a single shot would have been fired by the Japanese Army? The argument of the Japanese army being defeated is a weak one at best considering we all know that if the US and its allies were to land soldiers in Japan whether by sea or by air the Japanese army would have launched a counter attack. So yes Japan’s defeat was inevitable but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have plenty of fight left.

Far East

It is a historical fact that Japense army was without resource, people were starving. Civilians in Japan still alive today tell the time when they were out there in the country eating roots and even insects to survive.
Sure, the Japanese would have put a fight, since they were very dedicated, but what is really important is the balance of force.
Was the force available by the allies insufficient to beat the Japanese Imperial Army to the point of requiring 2 atomic bombs ? The answer is just no. That’s just a historical fact.

flowby

The historical fact is as you say “The forces were sufficient enough to defeat the Imperial army”.
That has rarely been questioned. However the length of time needed to wage a successful campaign is not an historical fact and never will be, because we just don’t know.
And as has been mentioned countless times, a show of force to the Russians, hobbling their rapid-fire attack plans, surely was of great significance for dropping the bombs.
Rightfully or wrongfully that is a fact.

http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

The historical fact is that Japan had sued for peace before we invaded either Iwo Jima or Okinawa.
It was denied, allegedly because it wasn’t “unconditional”. Though the so-called “unconditional” surrender later that same year had the exact same condition — imperial family gets off scott free.

This idea that we “saved” lives by fire-bombing and nuking hundreds of thousands of civilians is rather disgusting and horrific.
The reality is that we wasted our own military service member’s lives over 2 islands that we didn’t need.

flowby

Are you addressing me?

I never mentioned anything re saving lives by fire bombing(???) or nuclear weapons.

What i did indicate though was, we will never know how any pre A-bomb surrender would have transformed, because simply it didn’t happen so we don’t know – unless you’re privy to something that others aren’t

And I also suggested that it was in America’s interest to menace, by a show of ultimate force, Stalins invading intent. Of course this sadly resulted in the loss of thousands and I agree as you stated – it was horrific.

I reitterate – all are punish’d.

http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

“all are punish’d”

Are you daft?

The murderers who planned and gave these orders not only received no punishment, they’re lauded as heroes in History textbooks. You may as well be defending Unit 731 and Concentration Camps as far as I’m concerned. The only difference is who “won” and who “lost”. Because it’s quite evident that the ones perpetrating WWII had no morals on either side.

flowby

Daft – do you mean brick-wall daft, no-one-at-home-daft, cunningly daft or the quandries of absurdism daft – just to mention a few.
And who am I defending? Pleas read more carefully.
And if you know your shakespeare – all are punish’d – refers to all of us – humanity.
We, the peoples of the world lost. All of us.
Go Home

Agree. America’s actions were not born out of benign interests. They were born out of its own desire, and clearly documented long term plan, to politically and economically dominate by force the Asian-Pacific region. They took their chance of weakened and distracted ‘old world’ powers to knock out a rising ‘new world’ power, Japan, in order to secure the region for themselves as much and for as long as possible.

There was nothing ‘moral’ about it. The Japanese and Okinawan women, children and old folk who were made to pay the price and suffer – and the fabric of culture within Japanese society – where of no more concern to the Americans than cockroaches.

I’d never seen anyone censor America for the act of cultural vandalism it carried out during the firebombing and the losses to the world that happened during that time, nor heard it apologise for it.

Anonymous

The torii remaining standing unphased by the nuclear bomb might evoke some nationalistic pride in the Japanese, if they have any left today. But in general, devastation isn’t that interesting without before/after photos.
yankdownunder

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/index.htm

The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II.
A Collection of Primary Sources.

the Committee members agreed that the “most desirable target would be a vital war plant employing a large number of workers and closely surrounded by workers’ houses.”

Osaka
http://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/1093po/aerial_view_of_extensive_damage_throughout_the/

Tokyo
http://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/x8cbe/tokyo_japan_neighborhood_after_firebombing_1945/

Most cities were already destroyed. They purposely saved some cities for their test.
Hamachiman

Now why did I know that a series of pictures about the devastation of an atomic bomb in Japan would lead to yet another discourse touching on the ‘right or wrong’ about the decision to drop the bomb?

Can’t we just look at the pictures and see them for what they are just once?

http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

They’re evidence of mass-murder and gross war crimes.

flowby

Unfortunately the rule book on ‘how to play war’ was already decidedly dirtied by the time of August 1945.

Civilians had been killed in their millions over the past years, with gross perpetrators aplenty, including The said Imperial forces.

A level of disgust and savagery against innocents had been reached well before the bombs.

Romeo & Juliet. Act 5 Scene 1

Prince:

…………………….See what a scourge is laid upon your hate ……………………All are punish’d.

Reddit user shares grandfather-in-law’s 1945 photos of Nagasaki

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