iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Marc Reeve @cmraman.geek.org · 06/08/2026

Of course, the big one - 81 years ago today, the first use of a nuclear weapon in war. The Japanese city of Hiroshima was largely destroyed by the blast of the "Little Boy" enriched-uranium bomb, dropped from B-29 "Enola Gay".

The Hiroshima Prefecture Industrial Promotion Hall, a four-story masonry building with a domed cupola on the bank of the Ōta River. To its left is a smaller two-story building with a tile roof - this was the Shima Medical Clinic which was the epicenter of the atomic explosion.

The ruins of the Industrial Promotion Hall, photographed in October 1945.

A panoramic view of the Hiroshima Peace Park, with the preserved ruins of the Industrial Promotion Hall in the center. The bridge to the left was the aiming point for the bomb drop.

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Marc Reeve @cmraman.geek.org · 06/08/2026

Elsewhere in the world, Major Richard Ira Bong, the top US ace of WWII (and, indeed, ever) with 40 kills, died in Burbank, CA in the crash of a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star on which he was performing its final acceptance flight. He was 24 years old.

The front page of the Los Angeles Times for August 7, 1945. The banner headline reads "ATOMIC BOMB HITS JAPAN" while the subhead reads "Jet Explosion Kills Major Bong". The left column head reads "Ace's 'Shooting Star' Blows Up in Test Flight Over North Hollywood" and features a photograph of Dick Bong. The right column head reads "Man's Most Destructive Force, One Equal to 2000 B-29 Loads, Blasts Nips" (sic). The center column will be addressed in the next skeet.

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Marc Reeve @cmraman.geek.org · 06/08/2026

Elsewhere in the United States, California Senator Hiram W. Johnson died of a stroke in Washington, DC. A fervent isolationist, his last official act was casting the sole dissenting vote against the United States joining the United Nations. He had previously been Governor of California.

A clip from the center column of the previously posted LA Times front page, with the headline "Death Ends Career of Sen. Johnson" and the subhead "Californian Fought to Last Against All Foreign Alliances". Column text is as follows:
WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, (AP)–Sen. Hiram Warren Johnson died today, fighting to the end the battle against tie-ups with foreign nations which he began a quarter-century ago in the bitter battle against the League of Nations." A photograph of Senator Johnson, a white man with glasses wearing a jacket and tie, appears to the right.

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