Basic HTML Version
TheMeaningof
HIROSHIMA
Thirty-five years ago an átom bomb exploded over Hiroshima, Japan. The impact was felt
around the earth. People were shocked, stunned! Deep down, everyone knew the world would
never again be the same. What has occurred in the 35 years since is a matter of record. The
scientific advances, the arms race, the effect of the nuclear age upon peoples and nations are
all too familiar-we live with
it
every day. Yet the fui/ signi.ficance of the dangerous age in
which we live
is
only now beginning to dawn.
O
N THE MORNING
of Au–
gust 6, 1945, it was war–
time business as usual in
Hirosbima. The streets were full
of people. Men and women on
their way to work or shopping,
children goi ng to school.
The air raid siren started to
scream. But no one paid any
attention. The lone aircraft over
the city was thougbt to be on a
reconnaissance mission and did
not appear as a threat.
Forty-three seconds later,
there was a searing, blinding
34
by
B. Charles Braden
flash, brightet and hotter than a
thousand suns. Instantly, within a
half mile of ground zero, people,
animals, carts and houses ·were
no more.
They simply evaporated.
Disintegrating bodíes, in sorne
cases, left permanent ' 'shadows"
etched on rocks or concrete sur–
faces.
In the area surroundjng
ground zero, people out in the
open had their clothes burned off
and their skin seared.
If
they
were looking directly at the flash,
their eyes were burned in theír
sockets. In that moment 100,000
human beings died, and half
again that many would die later
from burns and mutilation.
Then carne the blast and shock
wave. Traveling thousands of
miles an hour, it flattened every–
thing for miles in all directions.
This was followed by the fireball
and resulting firestorm, which
consumed everything in its
reach.
A beavy cloud of Smoke and
dust spread and began to rise,
The
PLAIN TRUTH