Witness: an illustration from Arrow Axes and Scythes
Below is the Prologue to my upcoming illustrated memoir, Arrow Axes and Scythes. While the book recalls a time long passed, the influence of those years lasted a lifetime. The Prologue explains the author’s attempt to convey the emotional content of memory without distorting the essential truth of events.
We are all invisible witnesses. If not for this, how many crimes would be reported?
I think we imagine that children do not see and if they see they do not understand. We reassure ourselves, as we carry on in our imperfect ways, that even if they understand they surely will forget. But the mind is not so dependably careless with its impressions. Many remain for a lifetime.
The events recorded in this book occurred more than fifty years ago, when I was a child. Some memories are lost to me, yet many come back. Are these accurate? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Ideas are not preserved in amber. They are subject to the whims of experience and bias.
My childhood was a time of secrets. Much that is revealed here was never meant to be public. But what I could not say then, will now be told.
At the end of the book one of the personalities, my father, offers testimony for himself. A letter exists in which he describes motivation for his actions. Readers may weigh this evidence and decide for themselves whether or not the document supports my value as a witness.
An excerpt is offered in another blog on this site: A Burial
Atomic Cloud Rising Over Nagasaki, August 9, 1945 Photo credit: Hiromichi Matsuda (松田 弘道) August 9, 1945
It was June, 1942. The world was at war. In Europe, the war had begun in 1939; in the US active engagement had not begun until 1941. Fighting was fierce and the outcome uncertain. After much prodding by scientists, including Albert Einstein, US President Franklin Roosevelt agreed to approve development of an atomic bomb. Thus commenced The Manhattan Project.
A debate about the location of the project ensued. It was eventually decided that physical construction of the bomb would take place in a remote location–Los Alamos, New Mexico. This was to be a top-secret effort, joined by scientists from several nations.
Work proceeded feverishly. The race was on, participants believed, to beat the enemy in the development of a catastrophic weapon. They were convinced that whoever got the weapon first would likely win the war. When researchers thought they finally had a workable bomb, many wondered if they should test it. Would the world blow up? This was a question actually asked by one of the researchers, Edward Teller.
On July 16, 1945 the first atomic bomb was detonated in Los Alamos. Though a few scientists thought the device might not work at all, Enrico Fermi, a lead scientist, took bets on whether or not the explosion would ignite the atmosphere. He speculated that if this happened it was possible that not only New Mexico would be incinerated, but also that the world would be destroyed. While some colleagues thought Fermi was jesting, it was seriously considered that the bomb could turn the whole planet into a bomb.
Nonetheless, scientists proceeded with the detonation. As it turned out, they did have a workable bomb. The results of their labor–the first atomic bomb in history–was given to politicians. At this point, WWII in Europe was over. Germany had surrendered in May of ’42. Germany’s defeat allowed the US and its allies to focus energies on the remaining opponent, Japan.
Throughout the war there had been two fronts, one in Europe, against Germany and the other in the Pacific, against Japan. Japan was a tenacious and fierce opponent. As German forces withdrew, Japan fought on and showed no intention of bowing before an invading army.
Faced with a grueling and bloody ground assault, the US decided to choose a more efficient road to victory over Japan. On August 6, 1945 the atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Two days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Some observers estimate the number of deaths from the Hiroshima blast to have been about 135,000 and from the Nagasaki blast to have been about 75,000. Neither of these figures include long-term exposures to the blast.
The Japanese quickly surrendered. Faced with what appeared to be the obliteration of their nation, they agreed to almost every demand made of them. WWII came to an abrupt end and the world entered a new era: the Atomic Age.
Florence Nightingale tending the sick and wounded during the Crimean War. Lithograph E. Walker; Day & Son. Located in the Library of Congress. Copyright expired.
By A. G. Moore
It is ironic that throughout history, war has been an effective laboratory for creating advances in medicine. Human beings are the raw material of war. Injured humans, sick humans, cannot carry out the mission of their masters. They cannot win victories if they perish from wounds, or struggle with illness. It is in the interest of nations and the leaders of nations to protect soldiers. And thus, history shows, war has been the environment in which medical innovation and discovery has often occurred.
Of course, there have been idealists who labored, in war and peace, to improve medical care. No slight is here intended to these heroes. I am in awe of often unacknowledged and anonymous benefactors who give their lives to save the lives of others. But even in these instances, it has often been the case that the work of the idealist is sponsored and supported by a less altruistic actor.
For example, Florence Nightingale traveled to the Crimea in the midst of a terrible war because she wanted to save lives. No one has ever been able to impugn the motives of this great nurse and medical innovator. Her actions saved not only British soldiers but countless soldiers of all nationalities who fought in successive wars.
As is typical of medical innovation prompted by warfare, Florence Nightingale’s insight and reforms also extended to civilian populations. She began a revolution in sanitation and nursing that has benefited every generation, civilian and military, across the world.
Not only did Florence Nightingale improve nursing and hospital practices, she also inspired a transformation in battlefield ethics. Because of her example and advice, the concept of neutrality for professional medical personnel evolved as a modern concept in warfare. The Geneva Conventions, which cemented this concept in international law, were a legacy of Florence Nightingale’s influence.
However, without the Crimean War, and without the English Crown’s need for healthy soldiers to carry on in battle, Florence Nightingale might never have gone to the Crimea. The English Crown was in crisis because of the appalling number of deaths suffered by its soldiers in the Crimea. This crisis threatened to deny the English a victory in the Crimean War.
Florence Nightingale became an angel to suffering soldiers in the Crimea and a savior to the English war effort. She became a popular figure to families in Britain whose loved ones were saved and she became a national hero because of her contribution to the war effort. Queen Victoria personally awarded Florence a unique medal, The Nightingale Jewel, in commemoration of her extraordinary service.
Medical innovation in wartime did not not begin or end with Florence Nightingale. In the ancient world, Greek, Egyptian and Indian doctors traveled to battlefields to treat the wounded. Improved surgical techniques were the result.
In more modern times, Jonas Salk worked on an influenza vaccine at the behest of the US government during WWII. It was the successful development of a flu vaccine that helped Salk to understand the direction to take in his research on a polio vaccine.
The carnage of war throughout history has been a prompt for development of therapeutic medicine. This is an opportunistic result: the attention and energies of great powers focus on medical care at these critical junctures because of battlefield imperatives. A true advance would be for state leaders to see the urgency of focusing on medical care in peacetime, when the needs of civilian populations are front and center. This would represent not only a revolution in medical science but also a essential evolution in the human condition.
Rhythm Prism Publishing 