| Erickson Sample Assignment-- Atomic Bomb Project |
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If there was one event that
changed the world more than any other in the last century I would argue
that it was the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Our U.S. History classes engage in an in depth study of the events leading
to the dropping of the bombs, their effects and, in particular, President
Truman's decision to have the United States become the first an only
country to use the powerful weapon. Most of our study focuses on primary documents including the one seen here below. This is an excerpt from Truman's personal journal after meeting with Stalin and Churchill just weeks before the bomb was dropped. Check out what was going on in his head. It is fascinating. By the way, his penmanship wasn't half bad. How much can you read? |
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A-Bomb Movie Trivia
For those of you with the patience to read through the
above journal entry, here is a little trivia.
The following monologue is one of my all-time favorites. It is
bone-chilling. We use it in class as an attention grabber when we begin
learning about the USS Indianapolis. Can you identify the movie,
character's name & actor's name?
Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, chief. It was comin'
back, from the island of Tinian Delady, just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima
bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in twelve
minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. Thirteen
footer. You know, you know that when you're in the water, chief? You tell by
lookin' from the dorsal to the tail. Well, we didn't know. `Cause our bomb
mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. Huh huh. They
didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, chief. The sharks come
cruisin'. So we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know it's... kinda like
`ol squares in battle like a, you see on a calendar, like the battle of
Waterloo. And the idea was, the shark would go for nearest man and then he'd
start poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark would go
away. Sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark, he looks right into
you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about a shark, he's got...lifeless
eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be
livin'. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah
then you hear that terrible high pitch screamin' and the ocean turns red and
spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin' they all come in and rip you to
pieces.
Y'know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men! I don't know how many
sharks, maybe a thousand! I don't know how many men, they averaged six an hour.
On Thursday mornin' chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from
Cleveland. Baseball player, bosom's mate. I thought he was asleep, reached over
to wake him up. Bobbed up and down in the water, just like a kinda top. Up
ended. Well... he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day, Mr.
Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us, he swung in low and he saw us. He'd a young
pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper, anyway he saw us and come in low. And
three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and start to pick us up. You know
that was the time I was most frightened? Waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on
a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water, three hundred and
sixteen men come out, the sharks took the rest, June the 29, 1945. Anyway, we
delivered the bomb.
Someone needs to tell the makers of this classic film that it was JULY the 29, 1945 NOT JUNE!
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