Awaiting Hiroshima Peace Day

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Aside from my support for Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Aotearoa — against Japan’s release of Fukushima radioactive-water discharge plus the retention of our nuclear-free Pacific policy — I write this for Hiroshima Peace Day.

On August 6, 1945 the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, annihilating a large swathe of the city and killing an estimated 130,000 people.

A few days later Nagasaki was also hit with an atomic bomb killing about 40,000 people instantly with 30,000 more dead by the end of the year.

Along with the US firebombings of Tokyo earlier that year (80,000-130,000 killed), these are the three deadliest bombing attacks in history.

A Peace Memorial Ceremony is held in Hiroshima each year on August 6 in memory of the victims. Thousands of Japanese citizens gather to reflect on those who lost their lives and float paper lanterns on the Motoyasu River.

Nato members have been discussing the future of their alliance at a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania this week, as Russia continues waging war on Ukraine.

Meanwhile Human Rights Watch has called on the US to withdraw its agreement to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions which would kill civilians now and continue to do so for decades to come. Another violation of international humanitarian law, this would be yet another war crime.

Martin Luther King Jr said: “Those who love peace must learn to organise as effectively as those who love war.”

Apart from damage and devastation and the 60 million-plus who died during WW2, the effects of war are widespread and long-lasting.

I was around to witness some of the trauma amongst the homecoming survivors, their friends and families.

War is abhorrent. I join many others in the quest for peace.

Bob Hughes