On the bright morning of August 6, 1945 (Japan time), a solitary B-29 floated gently over the city of Hiroshima. It was not an unusual sight, nor was it unexpected. In many ways Hiroshima had been either lucky or protected during the devastating air raids that had recently set many Japanese cities on fire. There were rumors that Hiroshima had some special protection because of some secret relationship to FDR, or perhaps it was the emperor himself whose steady hand protected the city. In any case, Hiroshima had thus far been exempted from the fire bombing that had already killed hundreds of thousands around the rest of the nation.

The reason for Hiroshima’s fortune, and the reason it was would soon come to an end, was less about secret relationships than it was about silence. As the B-29 released its single bomb it banks away suddenly with its engines roaring loudly enough to be heard on the ground. The 155 degree banking turn seems an odd tactic, but it had been seen in recent weeks on a regular enough basis that it generated no special attention.

In those final seconds, the real reason that Hiroshima had thus far been spared became blindingly obvious.

And the world changed forever

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