1945

Men stiffened to attention as the four-seater R5 A helicopter lowered itself awkwardly onto the ground. When the rotors stopped their insane whirling, Lt. Gen. Robert Eichelberger saluted General of the Army Omar Bradley as Bradley emerged gingerly from the ungainly machine.

"Welcome to paradise," Eichelberger said as Bradley returned the salute. The two men then shook hands warmly. "Did you enjoy your helicopter ride?"

"Incredible machine. I knew we had them, but this is the first time I've ridden in one. And it was a fine idea having me ferried out from the Wasatch in it. How many others are there and what are we using them for besides limos for generals?"

Eichelberger laughed. "We have nearly a hundred in total, although many are smaller than the one you rode in. We use them for courier service because the roads here are nonexistent, and you'll be pleased to know that we are using choppers for medical rescues and evacuations. Of course, the wounded have to be heavily sedated or they'll go into shock from the realization of what they're flying in."

"Wonderful," Bradley said sincerely. The care of his wounded was always a primary concern.

"We first used them in the jungles of Burma a year or so ago, and under the circumstances, it was a logical thing to do here. We've also outfitted some choppers with rockets and machine guns and have had a little success with them as gun platforms. Unfortunately, they're so damned vulnerable to almost any kind of gunfire that we've put that idea on the back burner. Pretty soon I'm confident that someone will come up with a helicopter that's larger and will be armored enough to stand small-arms fire."

"Good idea," Bradley said as they walked toward the miscellany of huts and tents that were the headquarters buildings of the American army in Kyushu.

Bradley halted. "Is the air force here?"

"Yes, sir. Per your instructions, you'll talk with LeMay alone, and then with Krueger, Hodges, and myself tomorrow."

"Good." What he had to say to Maj. Gen. Curtis LeMay would best be said in private. The air corps was a young service, and Curtis LeMay, at thirty-nine, was a very young general who was brilliant, hard-driving, and innovative. His idea to strip the B-29s of machine guns so they'd be lighter and then fly low-level bombing runs on the Japanese had worked brilliantly. Many Japanese cities had been reduced to flaming rubble with few losses to the B-29 fleet. As recently appointed commander of the Twentieth Air Force, LeMay was the senior air corps officer in the Pacific.

Sometimes, however, LeMay's aggressiveness caused others to question his judgment.

Bradley entered the hut Eichelberger indicated. LeMay, a burly man, stood and snapped to attention. Bradley gestured for him to sit down.

When both were comfortable, Bradley began, "General LeMay, you have a reputation for directness. I want some straight answers to some simple questions. First, who ordered the atom bombing of the straits between Honshu and Kyushu?"

"I did," LeMay answered without hesitation.

"On who else's orders?"

"President Truman's."

Bradley hid his surprise. Marshall had radioed him that the bombing had come as a complete surprise to Truman. This meant that LeMay had liberally interpreted his orders. Or disobeyed them. "Clarify that for me, General."

LeMay's eyes registered mild surprise. "General, following Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we then bombed Kokura. Washington was informed that there were no other targets remaining in Japan that were worthy of an atomic bombing, even though one city, Niigata, did remain from the original list of four. I did not quite agree with the decision, but complied. However, we were able to continue firebombing cities and other targets with conventional bombs, and it was clearly understood that atomic bombs could be utilized in the future against targets that were purely military in nature."

"And the straits bombing fit this description?"

"It did absolutely. Two divisions of infantry were out in the open and packed together like little yellow sardines. We bombed them and we killed all of them."

"What about civilian casualties? I was led to believe that Jap refugees crossed the other way from Kyushu to Honshu."

"Could've been some, but I doubt that. Our eavesdroppers said that the Jap army had grabbed everything that floated for this effort. There would have been damn few civilians, if any, out on the water that night. Besides, who cares? There isn't a target in the world that's one hundred percent military. Civilians have been getting in the way since man invented the club, and that's just too bad for them."

"What about our POWs?" Bradley asked. "Were any of them in the area as hostages?"