Atomic Mythologies

[Dennis P. Tyler]

I stopped by a local coffee shop last night and happened to pick up a 
copy of a local alternative zine called Preparation X to peruse while I 
drank my coffee.  What I discovered was an intriguing piece on the 
bombing of Hiroshima.  It suggested a reason this particular tragic event 
is so memorable is the amount of power that one person, specifically, 
Thomas Ferebee, the bombadier, had.  Obviously all those people at Los 
Alamos, Truman, FDR and many others shared in creating the moment when 
Ferebee had this killing potential, but Ferebee was the one who pushed 
the button or pulled the lever or whatever it took to actually drop it.  
The author included this list of statistics:
155,200 Hiroshima atomic bombing fatalities including radiation deaths 
(Guinness Book of Records)
140,00 Convential bombing of Tokyo in World War II (Guinness Book of Records)
136,612 Population of Durham [, North Carolina where the zine is 
published] (as of 1990 Census)
133,821 Estimated Confederate deaths and wounded in Civil War (U.S Dept 
of Defense)
122,058 Total deaths in North Carolina (Natl. Ctr. for Health Statistics)
116,708 Total US fatalities in World War I (Us Dept of Defense)
92,112 Total US fatalities in Korean Conflict, Vietnam War and Persian 
Gulf War combined (US Dept of Defense)
931 Total established number of people strangled by Behram, an Indian 
Thugee cult member, between 1790 and 1840.  He is considered to be the 
most successful murderer (Guinness Book of Records)

I'm in agreement with the general feeling on this list that there are 
atrocities in all wars and there's little point in trying to determine 
the "worst of all atrocities," but I found this piece interesting 
because of the introspection of the author.  He didn't come down on one 
side or the other in the right/wrong debate, but ends with:
"On August 6th, 1995, many will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 
Hiroshima bombing.  Many will also apologize and philosophize.  But how 
many will actually look back and say, "Oh yeah, that was the day the U.S 
Government gave a godlike power to some soldier for a couple of minutes."
I went to the refrigerator and got another beer.  I was 28 years old.  
Would I ever be able to wield such power?  It's doubtful anybody will."

--Anyway, what do ya'll think?  And who was the bombadier at Nagasaki?  
He/she (?) had the same "godlike" power...

Dennis