John Rash wrote a thoughtful column published Saturday about lingering sorrow and horror from the atomic bomb, which prompted thoughts about when surprised Americans cheered the war's unexpected end after "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki and "Little Boy" on Hiroshima ("How 'Hiroshima' made the world understand Hiroshima," Opinion Exchange).

I was a 9-year-old living in Washington, D.C., and shared my parents' surprise and joy that the war had ended so abruptly. We witnessed the surrender announcement from Lafayette Square, across from the White House, in a joyous bedlam of celebration. At St. Gabriel's Church the following Sunday, our priest ended mass with a prayer of thanksgiving for this war-ending weapon.

Many years later, I attended a reunion of my father-in-law's World War II air transport unit, which had taken the 82nd Airborne Division to Normandy on D-Day and participated in six other paratrooper drops. The surviving C-47 and glider pilots and crews reminisced that, after V-E Day, they were ordered home to train for the invasion of Japan in which all had expected to die.

Another time, I visited the Truman Library, which had on display an American flag made of parachute silk from food parcels dropped into prisoner of war camps after V-J Day. Prisoners thanked President Harry Truman for saving their lives by dropping the bomb. The Japanese had told prisoners of war that, when the first Allies touched homeland soil, the Japanese would execute every one of them.

My reminiscences add nothing to Rash's observations except to be aware of a time when the atomic bomb was more than a topic of reflection and discussion. Back then, it meant that families need not post myriad new gold stars in their windows to mourn the million casualties projected in the inevitable invasion.

Henry Owen, Edina

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John Rash's column about the New Yorker Hiroshima story by John Hersey is certainly appropriate. It was the first real indication of just how devastating atomic warfare was and what the real consequences of it could mean.

As a contemporary of that event, with a real stake in the outcome, I think it is worthwhile to review the situation at that time in WWII. After four years of combat with the Japanese, we had a pretty good idea of how fanatical they could be. As a teenage infantry soldier undergoing jungle warfare training in preparation for South Pacific duty, I had been told what to expect.

Compared to the European D-Day, the invasion of the Japanese home islands was expected to be an even greater bloodbath.

Up to that point it was obvious that Japanese soldiers would fight to the end rather than surrender, especially for their home islands.

The point was made from Guadalcanal to Okinawa.

It was considered that at the rate we were progressing, the Pacific war would go on for many years. We had firebombed large parts of Japan with devastating results. We now exploded the most devastating weapon in history on Hiroshima, which had been spared the firebombing.

What did the Japanese do? Nothing. Obviously they did not know how many atomic bombs we had. Their warrior ethos said to keep fighting.

Three days later we dropped the second atomic weapon in history on Nagasaki. The two bombings devastated the cities and killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people.

Reluctantly, the Japanese decided to end the war. Even then, there was a military plot to prevent the emperor from broadcasting the surrender.

There was not a lot of sympathy then for Japan.

The Hersey article was impressive. There were films of injured Japanese people in American publications. Little by little, as memories of the war receded, a sense of guilt was generated in some quarters over what our nation had done.

Not among the soldiers, sailors and airmen who had had enough of war.

Stanley Goldstein, Golden Valley

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Yes, the devastation and deaths of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were ghastly and gruesome. The question that doesn't arise lately is what would the American casualty numbers have been if we invaded Japan instead of dropping the atomic bombs?

The Pacific island victories by the U.S. military were won at great cost. At Okinawa we suffered at least 50,000 Allied casualties and at Iwo Jima over 26,000 American casualties. One has to imagine how many U.S. and Allied casualties there would have been had we invaded Japan with amphibious attacks supported by naval guns and Air Force bombing. There would have been huge Japanese casualties as well.

Jim Waldo, Pengilly, Minn.

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"Hiroshima" by John Hersey should be required reading for high school history classes. I had this account on my shelf for years before finally reading it last year. It was interesting to read how the six people featured happened, by chance, to survive, and their subsequent existential challenges. The debate over whether Truman was morally or even strategically correct in choosing to use atomic weapons will probably continue forever. President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor was "a date which will live in infamy." The same could be said of the day Aug. 6, 1945, when the U.S. used nuclear weapons on a war adversary.

Richard Greelis, Bloomington

I am a 90-year-old, first-generation American of southern Italian heritage. Sunisa Lee is an 18-year-old first-generation American of Hmong heritage. I have had some successes during my life. Lee has just had an astonishing one. As I reflect on both of our lives, I wish that the media and our political leaders in celebrating Lee's successes would also point out the following: Immigrants, like Lee's parents and mine, are not "murderers" and "rapists" from "shithole countries." They are humans who want what is best for themselves and their children. And in fulfilling their desires, they have helped, in ways small and large, to make America great.

Americo Del Calzo, Edina

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I didn't want to come across as a hater — I admire Simone Biles, and am a proponent of mental health ("Suni and Simone," Readers Write, July 30). But every day in the real world, doctors perform surgery, pilots fly planes, soldiers fight battles, and parents tuck their kids into bed under less-than-ideal circumstances. Mental toughness helps us succeed.

An Olympic stage is the highest platform of pressure. I prefer the image of Kerri Strug reveling in victory with her coach to the agony of defeat. Our elite athletes should certainly have mental therapy to supplement their physical training. Hopefully game day arrives with inner strength.

Bruce Goldstein, Minnetonka

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"We do not live vicariously through those who represent our country in the Olympics" (Readers Write, July 31) is such a clear explanation of what is wrong with our thinking that I must comment. In fact, this is precisely what is wrong with our culture. Hero worship substitutes for honest achievement for many who idolize sports figures, Hollywood heroes, bland and vapid musicians, and so on. Better to look at our own lives and find meaningful activities than contribute to this.

Les Stern, Oakdale

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