The Hiroshima and Nagasaki nukes.
Without them, I wouldn't be here today.

My late father was a member of "V" force in Burma for quite a while. As he spoke Japanese he was seconded to the units carrying out the small island (ones which were populated by the Japanese) clearups. He wrote to his mother describing the resistance he came up against. Men, women and children fighting with nothing more than farm implements. One community he went into had all comitted suicide, but there were bamboo spears piled up at every house with small ones for the children to use.
When the invasion of Japan was planned he was sure he'd be in the invasion force. He didn't expect to survive.
We spoke once about what might have happened.
"Son", he said "Theyd've ALL been on the beach, the only way we could have won was to kill them all. Every single one".
(Captain Placid 24/7 ball gags, brownie mix and clown porn, Fri 20 Feb 2009, 17:31, Reply)