The front page of the Parkersburg News from Aug. 15, 1945. (Archive Image)

Eighty years ago last week our country did something that had never been done before or since. They exploded an “atom bomb” over a populated area — the horrific result shocked the world.

The Marietta Times on Aug. 8, 1945, reported the Aug. 6 attack — 100,000 KILLED BY ATOM BOMB EXPLOSION. Right there at the top of the front page in all caps the bare facts were laid out for what had to be a stunned community.

A smaller headline on the story said that “Four square miles of Hiroshima pulverized — Japan warned more destruction will strike her soon.” Below the headline, a drawing depicted a city, a train and ships being tossed in the air like the toys of a child.

It was not like that of course, the city and the people that lived there were simply gone. President Harry Truman said it best in another headline. The atom bomb “ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on Earth.”

The lead story got right to the point “Tokyo said today that the atomic bomb dropped by a B-29 on Hiroshima, Monday, literally seared to death practically all living things, human and animal,” and crushed big buildings and small houses alike in an unparalleled holocaust.”

The front page of The Marietta Times from Aug. 8, 1945. (Archive Image)

The bottom of the page featured an eyewitness account of the flight to drop the bomb by the pilot of the “Enola Gay,” Paul Tibbets. “We knew immediately that we had to get the hell out of there and made a sharp turn less than 30 seconds to get broadside to the target. Then it was hard to believe what we saw.

“Below us, rising rapidly, was a tremendous black cloud. Nothing was visible where only minutes before the outline of the city with its streets and buildings and waterfront piers were clearly apparent.”

While Japan mulled over what to do next, an unnamed U.S. official was quoted as saying “We plan to present them with bursting atoms as often as possible.”

On Aug. 9 they made good on the promise and dropped a second bomb, this one on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Six days later Japan surrendered, ending the war.

On Aug. 15, The Parkersburg News ran a rare four deck headline across the top of the front page.

Allies officially accept Japanese surrender,

Truman proclaims 2-day national holiday

Celebrations began all over, as the country started to prepare for a post-war reality. In Marietta the day after the surrender was declared a holiday. In Parkersburg people stood on street corners stunned, The News reported air raid sirens wailed to alert the residents as people flooded into the downtown areas. “Horns, cowbells, whistles and other noisemakers appeared out of nowhere,” according to the article. The celebration lasted well into the night.

President Truman declared both Aug. 15 and 16 to be national holidays.

It is estimated that as many as 166,000 people died from the Hiroshima bomb and another 80,000 from the one in Nagasaki.

Thankfully, nuclear weapons have never been used again in an armed conflict. Nuclear weapons are now part of the arsenals of many nations. The use of any of them by anyone would likely trigger events that the world would likely never recover from.

People who witnessed and remember the horror of nuclear weapons are now well into their nineties. There will come a time soon when we have only books, grainy newsreels and faded newspapers to remind us that we must never allow them to be used again.

Art Smith is online manager of The Marietta Times and The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. He can be reached at asmith@newsandsentinel.com.