Hiroshima Day — August 6th, 2022
When US dropped ‘Little Boy’ on this Japanese city.
Every year on the 6th of August, Hiroshima Day is observed. Hiroshima Day is a reminder of the day when a nuclear weapon was used as a part of an armed struggle between the United States and Japan, and the lives that were lost when an entire city was razed to the ground.
This year marks the 77th anniversary of one of the most devastating events in the history of mankind. In this post, we’ll study the day that shook the entire world and marked World War II's end.
At 8:15 a.m. on Aug 6, 1945, the U.S. B-29 warplane Enola Gay dropped a bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” and obliterated the metropolis with an estimated population of 350,000. A second bomb named ‘Fat Man’ was dropped three days after on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. These bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people and destroyed the infrastructure of both cities. Months after the bombing, more lives were lost due to the effects of bombings in both cities.
Along with the lives lost and people injured, there was massive structural damage too. The Japanese officials said that around 70 percent of the homes in Hiroshima were destroyed. Left with no choice, Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 15. The instrument of surrender was signed on September 2 in Tokyo Bay. This signaled the end of World War II. However, the citizens of Hiroshima endured and continued to suffer health problems years after due to long-term radiation exposure.
Watch U.S. B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay decimate Hiroshima with a nuclear bomb in the Pacific War
Together, the two nuclear attacks led to somewhere between 129,000 and 226,000 people losing their lives. Radiation poisoning also referred to as “atomic bomb disease”, led to serious health effects like increased risk of cancer, birth defects, severe mental illnesses, and other complications.
Hiroshima Day serves as a reminder of the devastation caused by nuclear warfare and aims to raise awareness about nuclear disarmament throughout the world.
