Hiroshima
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“Mourning the lives lost in the atomic bombing, we pledge to convey the truth of this tragedy throughout Japan and the world, pass it on to the future, learn the lessons of history, and build a peaceful world free from nuclear weapons”. Hiroshima National Memorial Hall
The morning of the 6th of August 1945. It is 8.15 am and the world’s first atomic bomb to be used in war, explodes 600 metres above Hiroshima.
Hiroshima, not really that far from our home in Gifu, a train ride away, so close and yet so distant. These are memories that should never fade.
Instantly the atomic fireball became a burning sun, more than a million degrees Celsius at its core. With it came radiation, and a super blast dispersing the intense heat.
Soon after the blast a black cloud formed, composed of soot, radioactive materials and small particles of debris blown upwards from the ground. The cloud also contained water and so the black rain fell on the survivors below.
It is estimated, records were destroyed, that there were about 350,000 people in Hiroshima that morning. Estimates suggests that around 140,000 people had died by the time 1945 came to its end, many from the initial explosion and others from the effects of radiation, burns and other injuries as the days after the bombing passed.
A second and larger atomic bomb also exploded over Nagasaki at 11:02 am on August 9, 1945, just three days later.
We visit the Hiroshima National Peace Museum and Memorial Hall just a few weeks after the visit of President Obama.
“Seventy-one years ago, on a bright, cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed. A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city, and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself. Why do we come to this place, to Hiroshima? We come to ponder the terrible force unleashed in a not-so-distant past. We come to mourn the dead, including over 100,000 Japanese men, women, and children. Thousands of Koreans, a dozen Americans held in prison. But among those nations like my own who hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear, and pursue a world without them. We may not realize this goal in my lifetime, but persistent effort can roll back the possibility of catastrophe".
We all understand the sequence of events that led to the bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There is however time to pause to say it would have been a better world if none of these events had occurred and to remember it is the innocent who also die in war, many of them children who had not formed their view of the world and knew little of hate.
Peace and prosperity in this world are always a better path.
Hiroshima, not really that far from our home in Gifu, a train ride away, so close and yet so distant. These are memories that should never fade.
Instantly the atomic fireball became a burning sun, more than a million degrees Celsius at its core. With it came radiation, and a super blast dispersing the intense heat.
Soon after the blast a black cloud formed, composed of soot, radioactive materials and small particles of debris blown upwards from the ground. The cloud also contained water and so the black rain fell on the survivors below.
It is estimated, records were destroyed, that there were about 350,000 people in Hiroshima that morning. Estimates suggests that around 140,000 people had died by the time 1945 came to its end, many from the initial explosion and others from the effects of radiation, burns and other injuries as the days after the bombing passed.
A second and larger atomic bomb also exploded over Nagasaki at 11:02 am on August 9, 1945, just three days later.
We visit the Hiroshima National Peace Museum and Memorial Hall just a few weeks after the visit of President Obama.
“Seventy-one years ago, on a bright, cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed. A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city, and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself. Why do we come to this place, to Hiroshima? We come to ponder the terrible force unleashed in a not-so-distant past. We come to mourn the dead, including over 100,000 Japanese men, women, and children. Thousands of Koreans, a dozen Americans held in prison. But among those nations like my own who hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear, and pursue a world without them. We may not realize this goal in my lifetime, but persistent effort can roll back the possibility of catastrophe".
We all understand the sequence of events that led to the bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There is however time to pause to say it would have been a better world if none of these events had occurred and to remember it is the innocent who also die in war, many of them children who had not formed their view of the world and knew little of hate.
Peace and prosperity in this world are always a better path.
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