Photo of lanterns from previous Commemoration

Hiroshima Day Commemoration 2023

Sunday the 6 August will see the annual Hiroshima Day Commemoration in Hastings. The event has been held each year by Hastings Against War (HAW) since 2007. The issue of nuclear weapons has become a hot topic since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, prompting fears that the conflict could spiral into a nuclear conflagration between east and west. Recently Russia’s President Putin announced that ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons had been sent to Belarus, a country bordering Ukraine, and militarily allied with Russia(1). Meanwhile the US has its own ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons sited at bases in 5 NATO member countries – Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey(2). John Enefer writes. 

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 remain the only occasions when nuclear weapons have been used in war. An estimated 185,00 people died as a consequence of the bombs dropped by the US air force (USAF) on the Japanese cities, the victims included Koreans who had been forced to come to Japan as labourers and American prisoners of war(3).

The official justification for the bombings has always been that they were essential to defeat Japan and bring about the end of World War 2. As early as September 1945 Major-General Curtiss E Lemay of the USAF said ‘the atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war at all(4).’ Britain’s wartime leader Winston Churchill, though he didn’t oppose the use of the bombs, wrote: ‘It would be a mistake to suppose that the fate of Japan was settled by the atomic bomb. Her defeat was certain before the first bomb fell(5).’

Photo from previous Commemoration

Each year those killed in 1945 are remembered in ceremonies around the world as people affirm such nuclear attacks should never be repeated.

In past years the ceremony in Hastings has involved launching traditional Japanese floating lanterns on the main lake in Alexandra Park but increased restrictions since the pandemic have meant that over the last 3 years the lanterns have been placed round the edge of the water, becoming more conspicuous after sunset.

This year once again HAW is encouraging people to bring their own lanterns. Instructions on how to make them are available on the HAW website (hastingsagainstwar.org). For those who don’t bring lanterns, there will be spare ones available on the night.

The event will begin at 8.30pm on Sunday August 6 August  (with people gathering from 8.15pm) at the lake nearest the war memorial at the south end of Alexandra Park. All are welcome.

Pictures are from previous Hastings Hiroshima Day Commemorations

http://www.hastingsagainstwar.org/Lantern.html

(1) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65932700

(2)https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/nuclear-weapons-europe-mapping-us-and-russian-deployments#:~:text=The%20weapons%20were%20first%20transferred,%2C%20the%20Netherlands%2C%20and%20Turkey.

(3) https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a6652262.shtml

(4)https://www.thenation.com/article/world/why-the-us-really-bombed-hiroshima/

(5) ‘Triumph and Tragedy’ p559 Published by Cassell (1954 edition)

The War Was Won Before Hiroshima—And the Generals Who Dropped the Bomb Knew It Seventy years after the bombing, will Americans face the brutal truth? www.thenation.com

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