Letter: Opinions on atom bomb misguided

My father's life together with more than 100,000 other allied prisoners of war of the Japanese were saved by the use of the atom bombs.

The huge casualty figures (armed forces and civilian) for the three-month long battle for Okinawa clearly demonstrated what a pyrrhic victory the conquest of the remainder of Japan by conventional warfare would have been. Without any doubt at all; millions of lives were saved by the shortening of the war with the use of nuclear weapons.

George's claim that we did not win the war because "We were much poorer in 1945 than in 1939" demonstrates an extraordinary lack of understanding of the causes of the Second World War. Democracies do not vote to go to war unless they are convinced they have no choice. Democracies do not go to war in order to make a profit, they go to war to protect their citizens from evil.

I suppose that if a pacifist like George had been in charge we would have meekly surrendered to the socialists in Germany, the National Socialists (Nazis). It is true that there would then be no casualties from warfare but how many would have died in concentration camps?

George once bragged in the press that he never fired at the enemy for he always fired above their heads. People should remember this when listening to his unusual opinions about the Second World War.

D Allen

Wellington