:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::

:: 8.06.2005 ::

:: "Hiroshima Mourns Victims of Atomic Bomb" ::

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) - Capping a day of solemn remembrance, thousands of paper lanterns representing the souls of the dead were floated on a Hiroshima river Saturday near ground zero for the world's first atomic bomb attack 60 years ago.

The annual lantern observance brought to a close a full day of memorials, ranging from official gatherings to a "die-in" and dozens of small-scale peace rallies.

At 8:15 a.m., the moment of the 1945 blast, the city's trolleys stopped. More than 55,000 people, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, observed a moment of silence at Peace Memorial Park that was broken only by the ringing of a bronze bell.

A flock of doves was released into the sky. Then wreaths and ladles of water - symbolizing the suffering of those who died in the atomic inferno - were offered at a simple, arch-shaped stone monument at the center of the park.

"I offer deep prayers from my heart to those who were killed," Koizumi said, vowing that Japan would be a leader in the international movement against nuclear proliferation.

Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, an outspoken critic of Koizumi's hawkish foreign policy, was more emotional in his "Peace Declaration." He gave an empassioned plea for the abolition of all nuclear weapons and said the United States, Russia and other members of the nuclear club were "jeopardizing human survival."

"Within the United Nations, nuclear club members use their veto power to override the global majority and pursue their selfish objectives," he said. "We seek to comfort the souls of all the victims by declaring that we humbly reaffirm our responsibility never to repeat the evil."

Outside the nearby A-Bomb Dome, one of the few buildings left standing after the blast, peace activists held a "die-in" - falling to the ground to dramatize the toll from the bombing.

Though Hiroshima is now a thriving city of 3 million, most of whom were born after the war, the anniversary underscores the depth of its tragedy.

Officials estimate that about 140,000 people were killed instantly or died within a few months after the Enola Gay dropped its deadly payload over the city, which then had a population of about 350,000.

In central London, more than 200 anti-nuclear activists and others gathered at Tavistock Square, where a cherry tree was planted in 1967 in memory of the victims of the Hiroshima bombing.

In the United States, survivors of the blasts joined hundreds of people in Nevada, New Mexico and Tennessee calling for a global ban on nuclear weapons. The commemorations were held at sites significant in the development of the atomic bombs.

Read more here.

ALSO
Hiroshima, in the words of Enola Gay's bombardier
No regrets for Col. Tom Ferebee, hometown hero
Houston Chronicle
By JAMES L. MARTIN

Sixty years ago today, Hiroshima, Japan, became the first target of an atomic bomb, with Nagasaki the second target three days later. Thus, a war that lasted four years was ended in four days.

To those who decry the devastation caused by President Truman's decision to develop and detonate this awesome weapon, I remind them of the lives saved, not lost.

I'm very proud of the fact that my uncle was not only a member of the Enola Gay that dropped "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, the first atomic bomb in history, but he was actually the bombardier. The bottom line, as my uncle said many times, was that he slept well at night knowing that he helped save more lives than he killed by bringing the war to a sudden halt.

The late Tom Ferebee, a native of Mocksville, N.C., was an Army Air Force lieutenant, hand-picked for a highly secret mission by pilot Paul Tibbets Jr., to be part of the Enola Gay's 12-man crew.

Debate still swirls around the exhibit of the rebuilt Enola Gay at a Smithsonian museum near Washington's Dulles International Airport, mostly by liberals awash in shame that the United States of America would wreak such damage upon the population of Hiroshima.

Hiroshima survivor recalls flight from death
CTV, Canada

Sixty years have passed since the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan, but Setsuko Thurlow remembers the day clearly -- and it still brings tears to her eyes.

Thurlow, a 13-year-old student, was huddled in a military installation in Hiroshima when the Enola Gay, a bomber named after the pilot's mother, released its payload at 8:15 a.m., with ground zero less than two kilometres away from her.

"In that instant, I saw a bluish-white flash and had this sensation that my body was floating in the air," Thurlow told CTV. "I guess I was falling along with the building." Thurlow lost consciousness. She later woke up in total darkness and silence.

"I tried to move my body but I couldn't," she recalls, her voice choking with emotion. "Soon, I could hear my classmates crying out, 'God help me!' Mother help me!'

"Suddenly, someone shook me from behind and told me not to give up, to keep moving." Lifting pieces of wood, the person created an opening in the debris. Thurlow crawled through it, toward the light, and escaped the burning building.

Many of her classmates weren't as lucky. They were consumed by the flames.

Thurlow and a few others ran to the countryside. It was a surreal flight. Though it was just before 9 a.m., the girls fled in complete darkness.

"Perhaps it was because of the dust, smoke and particles in the air that blocked the sun," says Thurlow, who now lives in Toronto. "It was the strangest feeling."

AND
For some the nightmare of Hiroshima will never end
Guardian Unlimited, UK

Hiroshima documentary makes for chilling viewing
Ireland Online

Edinburgh play Enola explores the Hiroshima bombing 60 years after ...
BBC News, UK

Anti-Nuclear Activists Mark Anniversary
Washington Post

Hiroshima, the Top News Story That Wasn't
Antiwar.com, CA

60 Years Since Hiroshima
Slashdot

Hiroshima still stokes controversy
CNN International

At the 60th Anniversary: The Embedded 'New York Times' Reporter Who Brought Us the 'Atomic Age'
Editor & Publisher
By Greg Mitchell

The myths of Hiroshima
Los Angeles Times

posted by me

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