Remembering Hiroshima, 80 Years Past

 

At 8:15 local time, a U.S. B-29 bomber nicknamed the Enola Gay released the first atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The blast killed 140,000 people, and left many with radiation sickness that later led to their early deaths. The decision to use a nuclear weapon reportedly centered on estimates of American (and Japanese) lives that would be lost if the U.S. executed an expanded land invasion (the U.S. already conducted a bloody invasion of the home island of Okinawa). Nonetheless, the bombing shocked Japan and following the dropping of a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki days later, Japan surrendered and ended World War II. The dangerous new atomic age had begun.

Today, thousands of people from all over the world gathered in Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park to participate in a memorial to the lives lost and to call for an end to nuclear weapons. From the Associated Press:

"Hiroshima on Wednesday marked the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the western Japanese city, with many aging survivors expressing frustration about the growing support of global leaders for nuclear weapons as a deterrence.

With the number of survivors rapidly declining and their average age now exceeding 86, the anniversary is considered the last milestone event for many of them.

'There will be nobody left to pass on this sad and painful experience in 10 years or 20 years,' Minoru Suzuto, a 94-year-old survivor, said after he kneeled down to pray at the cenotaph. 'That’s why I want to share (my story) as much as I can.'  [snip]

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui warned against a growing acceptance of military buildups and of using nuclear weapons for national security during Russia’s war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Mideast, with the United States and Russia possessing most of the world’s nuclear warheads."

As the number of survivors of the blast declines rapidly, the story of their trauma and their plea to end the use of nuclear weapons risks being lost to time, but should never be.

(photo: Genbaku Dome building amid total destruction. Atomic Heritage Foundation)