NAGASAKI BOMBING | 77TH ANNIVERSARY

Three days after the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the Japanese surrender still not forthcoming. As a result, the Americans chose a second target. On August 9, a B-29 took off from Tinian airbase and dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, a large coastal city on the Japanese island of Kyushu. This bomb was nicknamed "Fat Man" and produced similar results as the Hiroshima bomb.

Three square miles of the city were leveled, and approximately 70,000 people were killed as an immediate result of the blast. Even after this second bombing and catastrophic destruction of two highly populated cities, it took the Japanese government another week to finally accept defeat. Military hardliners sought to continue the war even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and only agreed to surrender after a strong intervention from Emperor Hirohito himself.

"Giving the Past a Future, One Story at a Time."

WWII Veterans History Project