Memories of WWII
Re “Letters from Mindanao,” Opinion, Aug. 6
David Smollar brought back some vivid memories of Aug. 6, 1945, the day the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. My family spent the war years in the Philippines under Japanese rule. We were liberated in February 1945, and by the end of July we were on a troop ship back to the United States. I was 13 years old and playing with my two younger sisters when an announcement came that an atom bomb had been dropped in Japan. No one had any idea what an atom bomb was, so there wasn’t any excitement. Three days later, another atom bomb was dropped, with much the same reaction onboard.
It was a glorious day as we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco four days later. Soldiers kissed the ground as they descended the gangplank. We were in awe of our new home, happy to be away from the horrors of war. The next day we heard the news that Japan had surrendered. What a welcome to America.
Evelyn B. Empie
Rancho Palos Verdes
Smollar’s father understood wars -- the death, lost body parts, families and more. Too bad our power-hungry, oil-crazed group in Washington cannot understand this.
Ralph Orr
Manhattan Beach
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