On August 6, 1945, at 8:15am local time, the US Army Air Forces Boeing B-29Superfortress bomber Enola Gay dro pped an atomic bomb, codenamed ‘Little Boy’ on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. As a direct result of the bla st, an estimated 66,000 people were killed and approximately 69,000 more inj ured: 69% of the city’s buildings were destroyed. Three days later, a second nuclear device, ‘Fat Man’ was detonated over the city of Nagasaki, resulting in a further 60,000-80,000 fatalities. Within a week, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allied forces, bringing World War II to an end.
As part of the negotiated post-WWII peace treaties, the US military took control of Japanese Imperial Army and Navy bases across the country. Four decades on, Brian ‘Bubba’ Heafy, a sergeant in the Marine Corps who served from 1982-1989, was stationed in Iwakuni, on the island of Honshu, approximately 30 miles from Hiroshima. When the young soldier fell in love with a local girl from Hiroshima, senior officers at the base strongly advised him against pursuing the relationship.
“Whenever you’re in the military and stationed somewhere, you have to disclose
