Still a problem

Still a problem

Dear Editor,

President Franklin D. Roosevelt said “there is nothing to fear except fear itself.” Unfortunately, fear can be used as a means to get people to take action. Some individuals use it to manipulate others.

Aug. 14, 1945, at 4:04 a.m. Eastern Time, Japan surrendered. It is imprinted on my memory. I was a 13-year-old enjoying a delightful summer at Flying G Ranch Girl Scout camp in the mountains southwest of Denver.

Our camp nurse had a small radio and announced the news to everyone.

On Aug. 5, American planes had dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Aug. 9, 1945, a second bomb was dropped on the seaport of Nagasaki, Japan. President Harry Truman had been in office less than five months after FDR’s death. He gave the order to use it.

An estimated number of 70,000 people lost their lives at Hiroshima. Fatalities would have been worse at Hiroshima if the pilot had not been off target by two miles.

This was a case fo using destruction to instill fear of destruction and to force Japan to surrender.

An early report at Nagasaki stated that at least 200,000 people had been killed and injured. Hiroshima reported that 60 percent of its structures were destroyed.

Many Japanese died later from radiation.

The first week of June in 1950, I graduated from East Denver High School. Some of my classmates were in the ROTC and were reporting for duty. June 25, 1950, North Korean troops attacked South Korea. A number of our recent graduates lost their lives.

A request was made by Gen. Douglas MacArthur for 30,000 ground troops to invade Mainland China. President Truman was being urged to drop another atomic bomb on North Korea.He said that a decision like that one had to be made by the U.N. Security Council.

March 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin died. Russian support of the Chinese who were aiding the North Koreans halted. A few months later, the war ended. MacArthur was relieved of his command.

The U.S. did not want to fight a ground war in China.

In 2017, we are watching North Korea closely. The 38th parallel separates North Korea and South Korea like it did in 1953. President Donald Trump is monitoring the situation carefully. He has ordered battleships to patrol the are off the coast of Korea.

Sixty-four years have passed. North Korea is still a problem.

Helen Ruth Arnold,

Trenton, Neb.