Enola Gay 飞向广岛

Enola Gay at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington DC
投掷第一颗原子弹的轰炸机Enola Gay 几年前在华盛顿航空博物馆拍摄

On August 6, 1945, B-29 Bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. A few days later the Emperor of Japan announced surrender. Now Enola Gay is on display at National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport, Washington DC, USA. In the 90s, the exhibition of Enola Gay at Smithsonian Institution stirred a controversy. Some people hated the bomber and threw red paint to her. As a Chinese, I am grateful to Enola Gay's heroic action. Without it, Chinese people could have endured more pains from Japanese army. August 6 is not a day for celebration, since many people were killed. However, it’s an important day that we need to remember. Many Chinese people including me would like to say Thank You, Enola Gay.

Before the invasion of Japanese, my grandfather was an employee of railroad service at Hebei Province, China. When Japanese came, like many other employees, my grandfather refused to be a traitor to cooperate with Japanese. So he quit the job and went to the south to find a new job to raise the family. Later, my grandmother fled hometown with her young children and managed to reunite with my grandfather. Soon, Japanese army followed. My grandfather told me, after an overnight battle, they found an unexploded bomb inside the grain jar at home. If that bomb had exploded, I won’t exist. Japan is not the victim of the war. Japan is the persecutor, who dragged so many people into the abyss of the war and caused so much pains.

In 1945, the army of Japan was weakened. But Potsdam Declaration fell on the deaf ears. Japan simply ignored it and refused to surrender without conditions. At that time, only the explosion of the atomic bomb was the language Japan could understand. Even such a loud voice had to play twice before the Emperor of Japan knew how to make the right choice. After two atomic attacks and Soviet Union declared war against them, the Emperor of Japan announced surrender.

I have to say that the atomic attack is the painful price paid by Japan for its irresponsible behaviors during the war. After paid those heavy tolls, it’s still hard to say wether Japan learned the lessons or not. After the war, some Japanese war criminals were convicted by International Military Tribunal and some of them were executed. Shōwa, the Emperor of Japan who is responsible for the war was never charged. Japan enlisted more than one thousand war criminals in its Imperial Shrine of Yasukuni. Fourteen of these enshrined war criminals are A Class.

After the WWII, German government’s attitude towards Nazism and the victims of the war makes me believe it’s not likely for Germany to make the same mistake again. On the other hand, time to time, Japanese leaders would visit Yasukuni Shrine, in which war criminals are enshrined, in spite of the protests from China, Korea, and its other neighbors. I did not watch too many Japanese movies. However, in the random Japanese movies I watched, at least two described Japan as the victims of the war. In the movie of Proof of the Man, a young Japanese girl was gang raped by American soldiers and gave birth to a hybrid baby. In the movie of Moscow, My Love, a young beautiful woman who was born in Hiroshima and fell in love in Moscow died because of blood cancer. I never watched any Japanese movie to show the regret toward the victims of other countries who suffered so much from Japanese invasion.

Now, Nazism is notorious in the Western society. But the Western world generally ignores what Japan did during the WWII. In an article of National Geographic, it published a photo which shows the Rising Sun Flag, the flag of Imperial Japanese Army, covers the ruins of the WWII to tribute to the dead Japanese soldiers. Do they dare to publish a photo of a swastika flag over the wreck of Nazi German U-boat?

Thanks to Iris Chang, who authored the book of The Rape of Nanking to remind the West what Japanese did in China during the war. Unfortunately, the beautiful lady committed suicide because of depression at age of 36 in 2004. I don’t know whether the writing of the book contributes to her depression. I have no plan to read the book. I am afraid I could get depressed by reading it.

In a Chinese movie of Crazy Stone a thief threatened a dog: I will microwave you. Even a thief cannot be that cruel. Instead, he stole that dog and kept it as a pet. Thinking about the explosion of the atomic bomb, it actually microwaved the people of the whole city. Yes, it's really cruel. But the unexploded bomb that landed in my grandfather’s house is also a cruel weapon. The swords used by Japanese soldiers’ contest to kill one hundred people in Nanking Massacre are also cruel. Unit 731 of Japan uses alive human beings to perform chemical and biological warfare experiments in China. They even use women and children to do vivisections. The Western world remembers Hiroshima, but ignores Nanking, Unit 731 and other facts.

Anybody who wants to blame Enola Gay, should understand Nanking Massacre, Unit 731, Pearl Harbor, Battle of Iwo Jima, Potsdam Declaration, and Japanese Holdout first. More than 6,800 American soldiers dead during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima is only a tiny island. After the Emperor of Japan announced surrender, some Japanese soldiers committed suicide, some Japanese soldiers chose to fight. Hiroo Onoda, one of the most stubborn Japanese soldiers, hold out in Philippines for 29 years and surrendered in 1974. Major General Charles Sweeney’s testimony is also a good article for these people to read. The bomb of Hiroshima is not about revenge or killing people. It's a solution to end the war and saving lives of American soldiers and people of China, Korea, and other countries invaded by Japan.

Human history was written with blood. Numerous wars fought during our long history. After industrial revolution, technologies advanced rapidly. But we still used the wars to solve the conflicts and fought two worldwide wars in the last century. Ironically, the most cruel bomb (quote of Shōwa) helped to maintain a relative peace for more than half a century.

It says if we don’t learn from history, we would repeat history. If we couldn't learn the lessons from history and avoid the mistakes, then the people would died in vain. On the day of August 6, I wish the future human being can be wiser and won’t need to use blood to write history.

Thank You, Flying Tigers
飞虎队的战斗机

1945年8月6日B-29轰炸机Enola Gay将原子弹小男孩投掷在广岛上空。几天以后日本天皇终于宣布投降。现在这架轰炸机静静地停在华盛顿特区的航空博物馆中(National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center)。九十年代Enola Gay的展示曾在美国引起过一些争议。后来有些人还向这架轰炸机泼红油漆以示抗议。但是作为中国人我很感激这架轰炸机。没有它的丰功伟绩不知道中国人民是否还要多受几年战争的磨难。八月六日并不是个值得庆祝的日子，因为原子弹毕竟杀死了很多人。然而这是一个值得我们永远纪念的日子。对于中国人来讲这也是一个需要感恩的日子。

日本人入侵之前我爷爷在河北铁路局工作。河北沦陷以后我爷爷跟其他很多人一样拒绝做汉奸辞去了工作流落到其他城市去谋生。后来我奶奶独自带着几个孩子也逃离了家乡，历经磨难他们一家人才得以团聚。但是日本军队很快便接踵而至。听我爷爷说一夜战火后的清晨，他们在家里的米缸里发现了一枚没有爆炸的炸弹。如果那颗炸弹爆炸了，我不会存在。日本并不是这场战争的受害者。他们是迫害者。

1945年日本军力削弱。但是日本对于波斯坦公告充耳不闻，用沉默拒绝无条件投降。那时候只有原子弹的爆炸才是他们听得懂的语言。而且要震耳欲聋地响两次再加上苏联的宣战，日本天皇才终于做出了正确的反应，宣布投降，而且在其终战诏书中闪烁其词。

不得不说日本被核弹袭击是这个国家为他们不负责任的战争行为所付出的惨痛代价。战争结束以后一些日本战犯被送上了绞架，却被日本人请入靖国神社。而战争的罪魁祸日本天皇裕仁在战后还是继续当天皇。

二战以后德国政府对自己过去的所作所为有深刻的反思。日本政府是怎么做的我暂且不说，只知道日本的政要时常会去参拜那座给一些甲级战犯立了牌位的靖国神社。日本电影我看的不多但是至少在我看过的两部电影里他们把自己装扮成战争的受害者。在《人证》里，一个年轻的日本女孩被美国兵轮奸并生下一个混血小孩造成了后面的悲剧。在《莫斯科之恋》中出生在广岛的年轻美丽的女主人公在莫斯科陷入情网，但是患上了血癌。从来没有看过任何一部日本电影反思自己在二战中的恶行。

德国纳粹在西方可谓臭名昭著。而西方世界对于日本人在二战中的所作所为却知之甚少。曾经在《国家地理》上看过一篇文章里的照片，作者把一面日军旭日旗放在日本的二战残骸上以纪念死去的日军士兵。这份杂志敢不敢刊登一张把纳粹旗放在德国潜艇残骸上面的照片？

感谢张纯如女士所写的《南京暴行：被遗忘的大屠杀》，把日本人在二战中的恶行介绍给西方读者。很不幸，这位美丽的女作家因为抑郁症于2004年结束了自己年轻的生命。我没有读过这本书，也不打算读，因为太沉重。

电影《疯狂的石头》里贼头吓唬一只小狗说，我要把你给微波了。当然贼都不会做这么残忍的事情。然而细想一想原子弹的爆炸就是把整个城市的人都微波了，也是个非常残忍的事情。西方世界知道原子弹的残忍，却对其他一些残暴行为却充耳不闻，比如日本的731部队在中国东北拿活人做生物武器和化学武器试验，甚至用妇女儿童作实验品做活体解剖。我希望那些试图谴责Enola Gay的人先去了解一下南京大屠杀，731部队，珍珠港，硫磺岛战役，波茨坦公告，和残留日本兵。日本天皇宣布投降后，有些日本军人自杀，有些日本人继续战斗。其中小野田宽郎在菲律宾坚持了29年，直到1974年才投降。这些人也可以读一读参加过广岛轰炸的Major General Charles Sweeney的证词。

天地不仁，以万物为刍狗。大自然爆发的时候可以毁灭万物。我们地球弱肉强食的生物法则也是残忍，必须吃掉其他生物才能生存。人类进化的过程中同样做了很多残忍的事情。一百多年来的两次世界大战及其他各种战争说明人类的进化并没有让人类的世界变得完美。然而具有讽刺意义的是原子弹这个残虐之爆弹（日本天皇的措辞）居然给世界带来了半个多世纪的和平。

如果我们不读历史我们就会重复历史。历史的教训都是血的教训。我们历史书的每一页都浸透着鲜血，而我们不过是这些天灾人祸的幸存者。在8月6日这一天希望未来的人类能够越来越理智而不需要继续用鲜血书写历史。

by @nationalpark