SOMETHING TO PONDER OVER - In less than two weeks the 36th anniversary of two of the most controversial days in the history of the world will be observed. Those were the days when president Harry Truman gave his approval for the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, and the second on Nagasaki on August 9.
Historians will forever debate the decision by “Give ‘em Hell Harry.” In that scorching holocaust the death toll, never substantiated, may have gone as high as 275,000 men, women and children.
With the Japanese armies in retreat, the debate centers around the decision as to whether or not the dropping of these two bombs was really necessary.
But, there is one fact upon which every American will agree: Had the shoe been on the other foot, and had Japan possessed such a destructive instrument, there is no doubt that Pacific Islands and perhaps West Coast cities may have been the victims.
It is freightening supposition to turn the clock back and place the atomic bomb in the hands of the Japanese. Easily accessible by Japanese submarines would have been the important Naval base at Mare Island, and the nation’s largest Air Force installation at Travis, only six miles from Vacaville.
Two bombs possessing the destructive power of the two at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, dropped on Mare Island and Travis would have killed an estimated 90,000 people residing on those installations and in the cities of Vallejo, Benicia, Fairfield, Suisun and Vacaville.
Many of us who enjoy western-type movies on TV, will recall hours watching the serial “Have Gun, Will Travel.” That’s the world situation today: “Have Atom Bomb, Will Use It.”
Because of this explosive situation throughout the world it is imperative that leaders of those nation’s possessing nuclear power, band together and attempt to solve the problem before it does get out of hand. The solution would be the immediate elimination of all atomic bomhs, the job to be accomplished by neutral inspectors being given unobstructed access to. arsenals throughout the world.
Almost five years to the day following the atomic blast at Hiroshima, the Vacaville, Fairfield, Suisun areas were rocked by a concussion in the early evening of August 5, 1950. The war was over, but an explosion of that magnitude could have been generated by an exploding ammunition depot, or the accidental detonation of an atomic bomb.
What had actually taken place was the crash landing of a B-29, which had taken off from a Travis runway. Before the plane could attain sufficient altitude two engines had failed and the landing gear would not retract.
The pilot and co-pilot banked the plane for an attempt to return to the runway, but loss of power caused a forced landing in a trailer park area near the Travis main gate.
Portions of the plane caught fire on impact, and the residents in the 48 trailers had about 20 minutes to evacuate before the 8,000 gallons of gasoline aboard the plane was to explode.
Travis firemen were the first to respond, along with base personnel who were nearby. Aboard that plane were a quantity of 500-lb. bombs, which were part of a drop mission in Arizona and New Mexico. It was only a matter of minutes before the gasoline tanks and the bombs exploded, with a roar which shook houses in Vacaville. Dead in the blast were 12 members of the plane’s crew, three members of the base fire department and two airmen who were on the scene to assist in the attempted evacuation of the trapped men inside the plane.
The co-pilot of the plane was General Robert Travis, a victim of the explosion. A few months later the base was named in his honor.
Many Vacaville residents having felt the concussion and heard the loud blast of the explosion, immediately pin-pointed the blast as an atomic explosion. Although damage was heavy in the vicinity of the plane crash, the possibility that an atomic bomb had exploded could definitely be ruled out.
In the early morning hours of September 11, 1941, many Vacaville residents were awakened by another explosion. This blast was caused when a rural garage in which a 1000 gallon gasoline tanker was stored, caught fire. The over-heated gasoline blew out the end of the steel tanker, showering several firemen and by-standers with flaming gasoline. Ironically, although several firemen were seriously burned, a by-stander who chanced to see the blaze while driving along Interstate 80, lost his life for his good deed of alerting firemen and neighbors.
As I had noted above in this article atomic power is possessed by many nations today. It is going to take diplomacy on the highest level to indoctrinate these nations about the potential of the destruction of the world. Doesn’t it make you quiver to think back to the days of the fanatic lunatic Hitler, who would have used the atomic bomb had it been a part of his military arsenal?
Yes, the world is becoming saturated with atomic bombs. Let’s hope that Armageddon will never arrive.
Link: http://articles.solanohistory.net/7068/ | Solano History Database Record
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Vacaville Heritage Council