Yeah, I've noticed that too. I also noticed that this more detailed drawing of the Americans did not carry over to Barefoot Gen 2, where the American soldiers are drawn pretty much in the same way as all the other characters. Of course, the drawing is generaly more detailed than in the prequel, but it still falls short of the drawing of the pilots. It's like they were etched straight out of a photograph or something.
I also liked the dialogue of the pilots, and showing the various maneuvers and instruments, like the bombardier's scope. It was like Dr. Strangelove, only this is no comedy. The dialogue went something like this:
(When the weatherplane arrives):
-Weatherplane Easerly(?), calling Enola Gay, calling Enola Gay, weather fine over Hiroshima, proceed with bombing.
-Roger, Easerly, proceeding to primary target.
(Just before Little Boy is dropped):
Bombardier: Altitude 3600 feet, release bomb.
Pilot: Releasing bomb.
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MissSchillinger
16 years ago
Imagine being that pilot, and telling your children, your grandchildren, that YOU dropped the bomb.
Fair enough, following orders.
I understand that it brought an end to the war.
But still ...
***********
Kirk Acevedo makes my heart feel strange
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briantoreilly616
14 years ago
Hitler's suicide brought an end to the war. Those bombs were simply an atrocity. But as for your point, I geuss that is the only way to rationalise it. Orders are orders, any other outlook and the oldiers turn into mass murderers, a title which should clearly be left to the ones giving those orders.
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apolloin
14 years ago
Examine the invasion of Okinawa and the huge casualties suffered by both sides. Also remember that Japan was given the option of surrendering before the drop on Hiroshima and before the follow up drop on Nagasaki.
In addition the atomic bomb drops actually caused less casualties than the conventional bombing of Dresden and Tokyo, where the concentration of high explosive was sufficient to cause the formation of the 'firestorm' phenomenon.
I don't think many people would say that it was a 'good thing' per se, but the alternative war end scenario included estimates of the casualties in a conventional invasion of the Japanese mainland that usually involve seven figures. As usual most of the brunt would have been borne by the civilian population, who were being mobilised into civilian militia units that would have pitted farmers, old men, children and women armed with a length of bamboo against US Marines hardened by the island hopping campaign.
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eganoch
12 years ago
Hitler's suicide brought an end to the war in Europe, Japan, even though it was Germany's ally, waged its own war, which continued for 3 months after the Victory in Europe.
Personally, I don't think you can hold anyone on that plane responsible. At most you can hold the discoverer/creator of the A-bomb responsible, but then again someone would have discovered/created the A-bomb 1 time or another. The point is what has happened has happened, learn and move on.
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DrPostman
10 years ago
Hitler's suicide brought an end to the war.
You do realize that Hitler was German and on the other side
of the world, right? He died at the end of April while the
1st bomb wasn't dropped until about 5 months later.
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chrissso
8 years ago
Hitler's suicide brought an end to the war ...
That is one of the stupidest statements I have ever read about the subject! You should be ashamed to be so ignorant!
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apolloin
14 years ago
Nobody who actually participated in the bombing has publicly admitted to any major misgivings, I think. Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, has rather said that he sleeps soundly over the issue.
The total loss of life caused by the Atomic Bombings is pretty unremarkable given the context of the rest of the war - what seems to freak people out is the ease with which it was accompanied and the lingering radiation. Firstly the pilots of the time would have been most appreciative of the lack of danger it put them and secondly, studying Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombings pretty much wrote the book on radiation exposure effects and the long term consequences of atomic weapons.
This was all information the air crews didn't have access to.
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Monk_Drunk
10 years ago
The crew were proud of their act, especially the pilot, so I imagine they told their kids/grandkids just fine. One of the crew even went to Hiroshima many years later, stared impassively at the various peace museum exhibits showing the damage and horrors inflicted by the attack, and told (now aged) relatives of the victims to their faces that it was necessary and he had no regrets.
I think he's a sh!thead (possibly a dead one too now, good riddance) and I hold him in roughly the same regard as I do the 'I was just following orders' Nazis and Japanese, but at least he actually had the balls to go to Hiroshima and confront the reality of what his actions entailed, as opposed to the me-toos that go on about how great the bombing was, how the japs deserved it etc without the slightest clue as to the reality of the suffering it caused. He also had the excuse (in 1945) of not really knowing the true complexities of the situation, and probably genuinely believed the bomb was the best way to stop the war. What's sad is that 70 years on when we now know a lot more about the ulterior motives behind the bombing and the way in which America purposefully dragged out the war with Japan when they could've ended it months earlier with fewer casualties on both sides, people are still getting hoodwinked by decades-old propaganda.
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