This period also marked another anniversary — that of the havoc caused by atom bombs dropped at Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Many visuals showing mushroom-shaped cloud billowing 2,000 ft above the earth over the doomed cities, revive memories of the horror that destroyed everything in these cities.

Although the destruction was total, the difference between the two bombs was amazing. The bomb dropped at Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, used uranium, while the one dropped at Nagasaki on August 9, used plutonium, a man-made element. The Nagasaki bomb, nicknamed ‘Fat Man’, was heavier of the two (about 20,000 lbs). The Hiroshima bomb was known as ‘Little Boy’ and weighed about 9000 lbs. The ‘Llittle Boy’ caused much more destruction than the ‘Fat Man’. The execution of the first bomb was smooth. A US air force aircraft, based on the Tinion Island in the east of Philipines, was used. The blast was heard 300 miles away. The plane with the second bomb had trouble right from the beginning. First, a faulty fuel pump was detected before take-off. Then, when the pilot reached the target, the two observation planes failed to rendezvous with him on time.

And the tragic fact was that Nagasaki was not even the primary target. The actual target was Kokura in northern Kyushu where there was massive Japanese military arsenal. But heavy clouds prevented visibility. The pilot made three runs to the target before diverting 100 miles south to its secondary target at Nagasaki.

The timing of dropping of the first bomb at Hiroshima was exactly the same as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941. The bombs caused a tremendous sustained roar and heavy pressure wave, which knocked down two men outside the control room six miles away from the scene of explosion. A blinding flash, brighter than the daylight, lighted up the whole area. Armymen in the posts, lying on ground with their faces down, found their feet pulled towards the explosion. The blast left a huge crater and specially equipped tanks were sent to examine it.

But bomb attacks on Japan prior to dropping the atom bombs had caused death and destruction far worse than these atom bombs combined. In 20 weeks preceding the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks, bombers had rained at least 150,000 fire bombs killing more than 5,00,000 persons and made 13 million homeless.

Alarmed over the grave situation, the Japanese Emperor Hirohito ultimately announced the surrender. All around the world celebrations intensified as Germany had also surrendered earlier.

At least 55 million were lost in the World War II. The peace accord was finally signed on September 2, 1945. But one’s mind is weighed with a question as to what should we tell our children? We, who have seen a glimpse of hell, should pass on our experience in the hope that the world will never forget and witness such an appalling evil again.