Delegation of survivors commemorates 56th anniversary of first atomic bomb
By Hayden Alfano, Associated Press, 08/05/01
WASHINGTON -- Sunday was just another Sunday for almost everybody in the world. But for Fumiko Amano, the 56th anniversary of the day an atomic bomb destroyed her home in Hiroshima rekindled memories of "a kind of hell."
Amano was joined by fellow survivor Keiko Hara in a ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial to remember those killed by the bomb, dropped by the United States on Aug. 5, 1945.
"The primary reason for doing this is to keep alive the memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," said John Steinbach, co-convener in Washington of the Gray Panthers, a multi-issue advocacy group. "The Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) are very concerned that the world is going to forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
Approximately 140,000 people died at Hiroshima and an estimated 70,000 more perished in the second bombing in Nagasaki three days later. The two bombings marked the effective end of World War II. Japan surrendered within two weeks, on Aug. 15, 1945.
According to Amano and Hara -- who were 14 and 5 years old, respectively, when the bomb was dropped -- the ceremony was not just about remembering those who died. Hara said she wants to spread the message that "we should abolish nuclear weapons, because there is no way they can coexist with humankind. I hope there is no more Hiroshima, no more Nagasaki, no more Hibakusha!"
Dennis Nelson, a retired Navy commander who participated in the commemoration, spoke of victims of another type of U.S. nuclear action. Nelson said he believes his brother and sister died of cancer at young ages because they were exposed to radioactive fallout in his hometown of St. George, Utah, which lies 100 miles downwind from an old nuclear test site.
"I had to speak out," he said. "Too much is too much."
Nelson, who now serves as co-director of Support and Education for Radiation Victims in Kensington, Md., hopes that ceremonies like these will get the attention of the government. "The only thing that can possibly change their mind is a grass-roots movement."
Perhaps surprisingly, Nelson, Amano and Hara said they harbor no ill will toward the U.S. government. "I wouldn't be spreading the message of nuclear abolition if I didn't love America," Amano said.
