The downtown Hiroshima shopping district, c. 1945. Thankfully, I survived. My two younger sisters were injured heavily and died within a day of the bombing. My other sister was found dead at the foyer of our house. While Japan was still trying to comprehend this devastation, the United States dropped another atomic bomb. He was helping out a group of young students at the air raid shelter. Selected quotations from US officials about the dropping of nuclear weapons on Japan which demonstrate that the bombing was not to end the war, but was to issue a warning to its Cold War rival. Finally, my oldest brother gave in, suggesting that we take a piece of his skull based on a common practice in Japanese funerals in which family members pass around a tiny piece of the skull with chopsticks after cremation and leave him be. THE TWO CITIES AFTER ATTACK HIROSHIMA. Magazines, become part of the post-war national identity, destroying Japanese cars and attacking Asian-Americans, the first U.S. President to visit Hiroshima, Or create a free account to access more articles, How the U.S. and Japan Became Allies Even After Hiroshima and Nagasaki. National Archives photo. He was wearing a kimono and smiling, ever so slightly. Its destructive force wiped out about 30 percent of the city. I immediately headed to a nearby air raid shelter. 75 years ago, in August 1945, the United States dropped the first and last atomic bombs used in warfare. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a decision that could be made because the US government and its propaganda team seared into the collective American psyche the idea that the Japanese people were, as US General Joseph Stilwell said at the time and most vilely, "bowlegged cockroaches". More than a decade after the bombing, my mother began to notice glass shards growing out of her skin debris from the day of the bombing, presumably. The intense firestorm completely incinerated everything within around onemileof ground zero. The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 1945 Alfred Eisenstaedt/Pix Inc./The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images. The Aftermath of Hiroshima - Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Almost instantly, shock waves rippled through the town. When they didn't agree, the United States dropped another atomic bomb, this time on Nagasaki. The immediate aftermath of the Nagasaki bomb was equally chaotic, but in a much different way. Survivors of the atomic deviceare called "hibakusha"in Japan, and their eyewitness accounts shed some light into the utter horror of the scene. Why? my sister asked. I peered up at the sky. MPI/Getty Images. The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - ThoughtCo