How we cite our quotes: Chapter name.(Chapter Number).Paragraph
Quote #7
"I like to think that my reputation for keeping cool in moments such as this was deserved," Tibbets said. "But now I found myself gripping the controls with a nervous tension I hadn't experienced since that first combat mission."
This is the moment, he told himself. This is the reason they chose me. (Little Boy.(32).44-45)
Uh, yeah, we'd be afraid, too, if we were flying a plane that's already massive plus loaded with extra fuel and fifteen thousand pounds more cargo than it's designed to carry, as well as—oh yeah—an atomic bomb. There's no way we'd "keep cool" under those circumstances.
Quote #8
An image that haunted many in Hiroshima was the horrific parade of victims on the streets. "They stagger exactly like sleepwalkers," said one survivor; "like walking ghosts" said another.
"They held their arms out in front of their chest like kangaroos," said a high school girl, "with only their hands pointed downward."
Dr. Hachiya saw this as he was wobbling toward the hospital where he worked. "They moved as though in pain, like scarecrows, their arms held out from their bodies with forearms and hands dangling," he said. "These people puzzled me until I suddenly realized that they had been burned and were holding their arms out to prevent the painful friction of raw surfaces rubbing together. One thing was common to everyone I saw—complete silence." (Hiroshima.(34).28-30)
Yup—that's terrifying. Even though today we are a little desensitized to imagery like this (this a scene in like, every Walking Dead episode), you have to remember that these were real people, suffering real pain and terror. In silence. That's pretty eerie.
Quote #9
"We were sobered by the knowledge that the world would never be the same," he said. "War, the scourge of the human race since time began, now held terrors beyond belief." (Hiroshima.(34).43)
Up until then, even in war you stood a chance. The bombs could miss your house during the night raid, or the battle could go around your city and be fought in the fields. But once we created the atomic bomb, there would be no surviving a blast like that.