Joe E. Sherrill II

This picture that was taken in Manila, Philippines August 1945 by a shipmate on the day we first heard of the Atom Bomb being dropped on Hiroshima.  A young Philipino boy was selling papers, a one sheet letter sized paper, with the headline A BOMB DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA.  I thought they had used bad english, and meant many bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima.  It was not until I got back to the ship with my paper and showed it to my Communications Officer, who had heard of such a bomb while attending college back in Conneticutt, that I learned it was an Atom Bomb.  It was a happy day for us, because when we learned of the damage done, we were hoping we would not have to go to Japan for an invasion which would surely have cost many American lives.

My Father

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