“The Good War”: An Oral History of World War II

A Marine stationed in Japan at the time of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings, Victor summarizes the experience, saying, “They were not afraid of us. We were not afraid of them. It was as if there never had been a damn war” (543). Victor admits that he had a strong hatred of the Japanese, but his feelings softened when he met a young Japanese boy and was invited to tea by the boy’s family.

A sailor during World War II, John Smitherman recalls seeing the testing of the atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Afterward, he developed cancer in his legs, although government doctors claimed it was unrelated to the radiation he was exposed to. Nonetheless, he was “not bitter” (550).

Joseph Stasiak was stationed in Hiroshima two months after the dropping of the atomic bomb. Despite being biased against the Japanese at the start of his service, he befriended a Japanese man who ended up being killed. Later, Joseph developed an enlarged liver.