We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Plowman (News)"
saying something like:

The US dropped atomic weapons on effectively unarmed Japanese cities at
near zero risk to themselves. Was that an act of courage?

Yes and no.
Yes, the individual aircrew knew that flying into a hostile zone was
fraught with danger. Yes, they knew there was a chance of a total
stuff-up and being obliterated by their own weapon.
No, they knew they had the skies over Japan to themselves by that time
and for months previously.

As for the bombing itself - it had to be done.

Or the UK
bombing German cities in much the same way as attacking unarmed ships?

****'em, they started it.