Boomers and bomb

Aug. 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. While some may decree this to be a horrific event, a dark day in the annals of war, let me offer a slightly different perspective.

I wonder how many lives were saved by a sudden end to the war in the Pacific.

I speculate I may not have been born, as my father fought in the Pacific, made it to the Philippines. If fighting had continued, would he have been in the invasion of Japan where land battles could have continued with hundreds of thousands U.S. and Japanese combat causalities including citizenry of Japan in carpet bombing? My father did make it to Japan in the initial occupation forces in the fall of 1945, returning home in 1946 to finally start a family, my birth in 1947.

I wonder how many Baby Boomers would not be alive today because their fathers had died while fighting in the invasion of Japan? Something to ponder as we remember this 75th anniversary.

Let us pray no more of these bombs are ever used.

Bob Johnson

Buffalo Grove