To the Editor:
Re: The Catholic Messenger, Aug. 8, “Nuclear weapons: A crime against God.”
I have a lot of reason to disagree with this remark. First of all, I was a U.S. Navy man aboard our ship at Okinawa during that time when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At that same time, my ship was being attacked by suicide planes. I was a gun captain on gun command for many days and nights. The kitchen crew brought food and coffee to the gun crew at that time — if we had any lull in the attacks.
In our at-sea operation, we rescued 289 men from downed B-29 planes. These men had to ditch their planes that were damaged by Japanese gunfire as they tried to return to base from bombing Japan.
The United States still needs all weapons of defense so perhaps Pearl Harbor won’t happen again.
God bless America.
Bill Briggs
Ottumwa
