I was saddened to hear of the death of Tsutomu Yamaguchi the only man to have survived not one but two atom bombs.In 1945, on a business trip to Hiroshima, he was temporarily blinded and deafened, as well as being horrifically burnt.
Three days later, back home at work in Nagasaki, 300kms away, the same white light filled the room.
"I thought the mushroom cloud had followed me from Hiroshima", he later explained.
The atom bombs were the greatest single attacks on civilian life ever, causing nearly quarter-of-a-million people in a matter of moments in those two Japanese cities.
I have campaigned for the abolition of atom bombs ever since I found about them as a teenager. I believe them to be immoral and unjustifiable in any situation.
The passing of Yamaguchi-San brings to an end a shameful and horrendous chapter in human history.
Showing posts with label nagasaki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nagasaki. Show all posts
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Thursday, 6 August 2009
"NO MORE HIROSHIMAS" 2
I forgot to say, probably the best piece of work on Hiroshima is a magazine article written by John Hersey that appeared in The New Yorker magazine in August 1946.
The article was soon made into a book, and I read it as teenager. It described how the bombing affected the lives of six individuals, a doctor, a Methodist minister, a widow, etc. and it's as powerful piece of reportage as you'll ever read.
The article was soon made into a book, and I read it as teenager. It described how the bombing affected the lives of six individuals, a doctor, a Methodist minister, a widow, etc. and it's as powerful piece of reportage as you'll ever read.
"NO MORE HIROSHIMAS"
Today, 64 years back, the city of Hiroshima was devastated by an atomic explosions killing more than 140,000 people. The horror continued with tens of thousands more injured and thousands more birth defects for years to come.
Whilst mayor of Hebden Royd I signed the Cities Appeal in Support of Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol. This is a practical plan by which governments can achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world by the year 2020 given that the economic and technical means of ridding the world of nuclear weapons before 2020 already exist.
Tonight at 7:30, I'll be giving a talk on Lib Dem Defence Policy at the White Lion in Hebden Bridge, and publicising our total opposition to Trident.
On this fateful anniversary, we should all be determined that the scourge of nuclear weapons is never visited on our planet again.
Whilst mayor of Hebden Royd I signed the Cities Appeal in Support of Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol. This is a practical plan by which governments can achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world by the year 2020 given that the economic and technical means of ridding the world of nuclear weapons before 2020 already exist.
Tonight at 7:30, I'll be giving a talk on Lib Dem Defence Policy at the White Lion in Hebden Bridge, and publicising our total opposition to Trident.
On this fateful anniversary, we should all be determined that the scourge of nuclear weapons is never visited on our planet again.
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