Letter-writer Christopher B. Costello (CR, Aug. 12) was 100 percent on the mark when he described Tony Magliano’s column (Aug. 5) as “misleading, pacifist propaganda.” Without the nuclear bomb, many more Japanese people would have been substantially killed in warfare before they would have considered surrendering.
As a Navy Corpsman who participated in nine invasions across the Pacific, including Saipan, I do not recall any Japanese surrendering. Moreover, I recall that just before the bomb was dropped, I was told while on duty in New York City that I was being considered for transfer to Camp Pendleton, California, where a Marine armored assault division was being trained for invasion on the China coast to drive north and then cross over to Japan proper to attack the Japanese on its west coast. At the same time, there would be a landing on its east coast by our forces.Magliano should be able to imagine how many millions of Japanese and Americans would have been killed had the atom bomb not been dropped. President Truman made the right decision.