My Youthful Encounter with Nuclear Warfare

Today is the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb. It brings to mind a useful experience.

Sometime in the mid- or early-1950s, I was having dinner at my great aunt’s house with my brother, my parents, and my mother’s cousin, Morris Fiterman (sp?).  Morris was a medical doctor, who served in the Army as an hospital administrator and was a close friend of the President’s son, John Eisenhower. Morris was telling us about his work on any military commission to decide whether or not to use nuclear weapons against North Korea. He said that military rejected the idea only because the prevailing winds would have brought too much radiation down upon South Korea and the US soldiers.

I don’t remember any of the other details, except what he told us about the Bataan Death March in which the Japanese army supposedly starved American prisoners.  He said that the rations given to the Americans were identical to the Japanese. He also said that the Japanese prisoners complained that their American captors were putting their lives at risk by feeding them unpalatable food, such as bacon and eggs.

About these ads

« Outrageous Poverty and the Blue Dogs

Next Post »