It was not until August 14 that Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender.
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Even a second atomic attack three days later on the city of Nagasaki failed to bring an immediate end to the hostilities. My voice is giving out, so I will end here. Overall, 7000 boys died on Iwo Jima in the worst battle in the history of the Marine Corps. Yet, this was not enough to persuade the Japanese leadership to surrender. Three died on Iwo Jima, and three came back as national heroes. After the war, Supreme Allied Headquarters estimated that 129,558 were killed, wounded or missing as a result of the blast. Iwo Jima was originally meant to serve as a forward air base for fighter planes, providing cover for long-distance bombing raids on Japan. Tibbets and his crew looked back to behold an ominous mushroom-shaped cloud boiling into the upper atmosphere. A blast of blinding light engulfed the crew as the plane made a radical turn to escape the explosion. At 8:16 the bomb was released and detonated a few thousand feet above ground. The Enola Gay arrived over the city at 7:25 a.m. The seventh and final aircraft in order of takeoff would be Top Secret, piloted by Chuck McKnight. The remainder of the trip to their target was unmarred by any Japanese opposition as the bomb was armed and prepared for release. never captured, although such early warning was of little use in identifying the likely targets of inbound raids, but then neither was early warning from Iwo Jima. Their objective was a city of approximately 350,000 located on the southwestern portion of Japan's largest island and as yet untouched by the massive bombing raids carried on by US forces. Even after the loss of Iwo Jima, the Japanese could still gain early warning of B-29 raids from Rota Island in the Marianas, which the U.S. Tibbets announced to his specially trained crew that they carried the world's first atomic bomb and that their target was Hiroshima. Approximately four hours into the flight, Col.
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In the early morning darkness of Augthe B-29 "Enola Gay" piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets lifted off the runway at Tinian Island and flew into history.