from even a single enemy plane on the lives of the peoples of the world in
the event of any future war can easily be conjectured.

The atomic bomb did not alone win the war against Japan, but it most
certainly ended it, saving the thousands of Allied lives that would have
been lost in any combat invasion of Japan.



EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Hiroshima -- August 6th, 1945

by Father John A. Siemes, professor of modern philosphy at Tokyo's Catholic
University


Up to August 6th, occasional bombs, which did no great damage, had fallen
on Hiroshima. Many cities roundabout, one after the other, were destroyed,
but Hiroshima itself remained protected. There were almost daily
observation planes over the city but none of them dropped a bomb. The
citizens wondered why they alone had remained undisturbed for so long a
time. There were fantastic rumors that the enemy had something special in
mind for this city, but no one dreamed that the end would come in such a
fashion as on the morning of August 6th.

August 6th began in a bright, clear, summer morning. About seven o'clock,
there was an air raid alarm which we had heard almost every day and a few
planes appeared over the city. No one paid any attention and at about
eight o'clock, the all-clear was sounded. I am sitting in my room at the
Novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Nagatsuke; during the past half year,