Hiroshima Page #2

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I'll drink to that.

But before going ahead

with the new bomb,

Truman gave the Japanese

one last chance to surrender.

The Americans had broken

the secret Japanese codes,

and could decipher military

and diplomatic cables.

So, they knew their demands for total,

unconditional surrender had been seen

as a threat to the Emperor.

Now they decided to alter the terms,

and give the Japanese a way out.

On Truman's staff was a young

naval lieutenant, George Elsey.

The last surviving witness

to these events.

The Potsdam Declaration called

upon unconditional surrender.

It was modified in the light of this,

what we were learning from the intercepts,

to read, unconditional surrender

of the armed forces of Japan.

We call upon the government

of Japan to proclaim

now the unconditional surrender

of all Japanese armed forces.

That left the door open for

a retention of the Emperor.

The modified ultimatum

was broadcast to Japan.

But ironically,

the softening of the surrender terms

seems to have backfired.

Prime Minister Suzuki announced

that his government would

ignore the Potsdam Declaration.

He used the word, nokusatsu,

meaning, to kill with silent contempt.

From that moment,

the dropping of the bomb

on Hiroshima was inevitable.

The bomb left San Francisco on

board the USS Indianapolis, two hours

after the successful

Trinity test in New Mexico.

It travelled across the Pacific

on a ten-day voyage

to the island of Tinian,

just six hours flying time from Japan.

The island was the biggest

air base in the world,

with four large runways,

and it was home to more than 500

B-29 Super Fortresses.

It was also home to the

509th Composite Group,

the men who would drop

the atom bomb on Japan.

In charge was Commanding Officer,

Colonel Paul Tibbets,

a veteran of the bombing

campaign against the Germans.

At 29 years of age,

I was so shocked to ask what the

confidence of anything I couldn't do.

The two key members of his crew

were bombardier Tom Ferraby,

and navigator, Dutch Van Kirk.

You never heard the word atomic, nuclear,

or anything of that type around the group.

We always referred to the weapon as,

the gimmick, the weapon, that sort of thing.

And, if you did figure it out,

you'd better be smart enough

not to talk about it.

All right, gentlemen,

cities have been signed off.

Kyoto is out,

Stimpson likes the temples too much,

but we've got Nyagada, Kurkurra,

Nagasaki, and Hiroshima.

They're the only major cities

left we haven't roasted.

And the primary?

The primary is Hiroshima. All right.

Have you worked out an aiming point?

The T-shaped bridge. Here.

That's the most perfect AP

I've seen in this whole damn war.

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