What was the tragedy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki ?

As the little boy was finally assembled on the flight, if it had been shot down or accidentally exploded due to some reason the effect would be known as a “dirty bomb”- a crude blast of radiation instead of a massive explosion.

President Truman wanted to avoid a land invasion of Japan.

Yamaguchi is the first officially recognized person who survived both Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. It was found out that there were total 165 lucky double survivors.

There were 2.5 million Japanese troops stationed there and Truman's staff estimated that defeating them would cost the lives of 250,000 US soldiers.

Hibakusha in Japanese translates to ‘explosion affected people’ in English. Due to ignorance Hibakusha and their children faced severe discrimination as people thought the effects of radiation was contagious.

Some historians also say that the US wanted to avoid Japan being occupied by Russian troops.

Disturbingly, the thermal radiation from the explosions caused severe burns to those who were not killed. The severity of injury depended on the clothes as white and other light colored clothes reflected radiation whereas black absorbed it. Also the burn patterns matched the outfit, people wearing stripes had matching burns on their skin.

America and Russia were allies but they did not really trust each other.

The movie Godzilla was inspired by Hiroshima atomic attacks and the creature Godzilla was used as a metaphor for nuclear weapons.

A very old Bonsai tree that was planted in 1626 survived the explosion in Hiroshima. This Bonsai tree was gifted to United States by Japan and resides there in a museum ever since.

The disaster indeed left it shadows on the walls of Hiroshima. The atomic bomb had such great intensity that it permanently carved shadows of people and objects on the ground.

Till date most people think that Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were the most destructive incident mankind has ever witnessed. But as it turns out the Operation meetinghouse was even more destructive in which America firebombed Tokyo.

Pumpkin bombs were the nickname given to the 49 practice bombs dropped by US before nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They killed 400 people and injured 1,200.

US had also devised a hydrogen bomb that was 100 times more powerful than the one used on Hiroshima. It was blown up in outer space.

Before dropping the bombs, the United States Air Force dropped pamphlets in Hiroshima, warning people of the upcoming bombing.

For decades after the bombings, the mayor of Hiroshima, Tadatoshi Akiba wrote letters of protest every time a nuclear test was conducted, as a plea to end the use of nuclear weapons.

After the first Hiroshima bombs went off, one Hiroshima policeman went to Nagasaki to teach the police about ducking after the atomic flash. As a result of his warning, no policeman died in Nagasaki’s atomic blast.

The Flame of Peace in Hiroshima has burned since 1964 in honor of the victims. It will be extinguished only when all nuclear weapons are removed from the world and the Earth is free from nuclear threat.

In 1945, a man naed Tsutomu Yamaguchi survived the blast at Hiroshima, dragged himself into an air-raid shelter, spent the night there, and then caught a train in the morning so he could arrive at his job on time in Nagasaki, where he survived another atomic blast.

The olender is the official flower of Hiroshima because it was the first thing to bloom after the explosions.

There were 12 cyanide pills kept in the cockpit of the Enola Gay, which was the plane carrying the first atomic bomb, and pilots were instructed to take them if the mission was compromised during the bombing of Hiroshima.

Only 3 of the 12 people on board the Enola Gay actually knew the purpose of their mission to Hiroshima.

After the bombing of Hiroshima, hundreds of people went to Nagasaki searching for shelter. Of these, 165 managed to survive both bombings.

An American made bank vault managed to save the contents from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. After the bank was reconstructed, the new manager sent a congratulatory letter to the vault manufacturer.

Hiroshima is one of the only places outside the United States to observe Martin Luther King Day because he wrote a letter to Japan weeks before his death, requesting to visit the country and spread his message of peace.