July 16 - August 9:
60th Anniversary of the Start of the Nuclear Age 1945-2005
July 16, 1945 - the first atomic test blast,
code-named "Trinity";
August 6 and 9, 1945, the atomic bombings of
60 YEARS SINCE THE TERROR BEGAN
REMEMBERING
RESISTING WAR & LOCKHEED MARTIN
Saturday, July
16,
Saturday, August 6, Noon - Area Hiroshima
Day Rally Lockheed Martin, Mall
& Goddard Blvds., Valley Forge, PA (behind the
King of Prussia Mall - map & directions.)
Speakers, Music, "Die-in", Ceremony of Remembrance & Resistance
Joining hands in a human chain of peacemaking in front of Lockheed Martin &
Nonviolent Civil Disobedience.
Bob’s Report From
Hiroshima Day at Lockheed Martin, Valley Forge, PA:
A large Japanese puppet, dove puppets, and sunflowers, the international symbol of a world free of nuclear weapons and war, gave greater visibility to yesterday's time of Remembrance and Resistance at Lockheed Martin marking the 60th Anniversary of the
Atomic Bombing of
in front of a main entrance and a large lawn area. Those willing to face arrest in nonviolent civil disobedience walked onto Lockheed Martin one by one sprinkling thousands of sunflower seeds - 10 pounds of sunflower seeds. Sean Dougherty, Tom Mullian, Ann Geers, Beth Friedlan, Vint Deming, Mary Jo McArthur, Theresa Camerota, Rev. Patrick Sieber, Brother Tom Ennis, Bernadette Cronin-Geller, Bob Smith, and Michael Berg were arrested and cited for "disorderly conduct".
"The sunflower has become a worldwide symbol for peace,
carrying the hope of a world free of nuclear weapons and war. Today, we bring
sunflowers and sunflower seeds to Lockheed Martin. We seek to reclaim the land
on which Lockheed Martin sits from the business of war. We seek to reclaim our
country for peace and the promise of justice and democracy. We seek to reclaim
a determined hope for a world free of nuclear weapons and war. Today, we join
hands in a human chain of peacemaking in front of Lockheed Martin. Today, in
memory of the atomic bombing of
peace and for justice with
sunflower seeds here at Lockheed Martin." - from
Litany of Remembrance & Peace,
Litany of Remembrance & Peace
Reader: On
the 1st atomic test, Oppenheimer
remembered the line from the Hindu Scripture, the Bhagavad
Gita: "Now I am become death, the destroyer of
worlds."
made today: Lockheed Martin.
All:
Reader: On
Despite every horrifying statistic of violence and war we've ever heard, the account, statistics, and memory of that day 56 years ago are still devastating. 60 percent of the city is destroyed; hospitals, hotels, rail stations, temples, factories, houses, and scores of other buildings reduced to flaming rubble. The next morning the sun rose and revealed the
dawning of the nuclear age. Where the city once stood, was a wasteland of
ashes and ruin.
All:
Reader: Yasu Tsuchida
is a woman and Hibakusha, survivor of the
was standing. The big eye holes on the small face eloquently told me of the intense heat. I felt in the depth of my heart the last prayer and the last curse of the mother who had instinctively covered the baby's body by crouching over it."
Nuclear weapons and their threatened use have emboldened and
outlined every imperial move of the
civil liberties has been contaminated by our society's reliance on war and the militarization of culture, economy. and law.
All:
Reader: The atomic bombings of
contractor now would invade the
heavens to wage war on earth. Theater missile defense.
Global Missile Defense. Have no illusion about it, the
Bush Administration, the Pentagon, and Lockheed Martin, one of the 4 primary
Star Wars contractors, are hell-bent on "Star Wars" missile defense
and with it, plans for the full militarization of space. Aegis warships,
produced by Lockheed Martin in
Navy's "Theater Missile defense" plans. Long-range
Interceptor missiles just began being deployed at the first ballistic missile
defense site in
All:
Reader: The chief beneficiary of Bush's policy of war is Lockheed Martin. It makes the weapons. Lockheed Martin has received the largest military contract in history: $200 billion for the Joint Strike Stealth Fighter. New earth-penetrating nuclear bombs are being developed for actual use. Bush's Nuclear Posture Review assumes continued maintenance and further production of nuclear weapons, and even their use, as a matter of
military doctrine. The weapons control systems for Tomahawk cruise missiles repeatedly launched from Aegis warships throughout the Gulf Wars are produced by Lockheed Martin right here. Increased military expenditures are the profits of Lockheed Martin at the expense of human needs and the promise of justice.
All:
Reader: In every war lies the threat of another
On this, the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing of
The sunflower has become a worldwide symbol for peace,
carrying the hope of a world free of nuclear weapons and war. Today, we bring
sunflowers and sunflower seeds to Lockheed Martin. We seek to
reclaim the land on which Lockheed Martin sits from the business of war.
We seek to reclaim our country for peace and the promise of justice and
democracy. We seek to reclaim a determined hope for a world free of
nuclear weapons and war. Today, we join hands in a human chain of peacemaking
in front of Lockheed Martin. Today, in memory of the atomic bombing of
All:
Sunflowers carry the
hope of a world free of nuclear weapons and war. Bright and beautiful, a
nutritious miracle from which Native Americans once made bread, sunflowers were
even used near the catastrophic
Sunflowers now carry a new meaning and have become the symbol of a
world free of nuclear weapons and war. On
Remembering
REBECCA CAVANAUGH, Special to the Local News
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With unparalleled devastation,
the first nuclear bomb was dropped on a city in
As the anniversary approached
of the bombing of
Reactions from World War II veterans to those who were young
children at the time listening to the radio news run the gamut from memories of
relief the war was over to horror at the devastation caused by the bombs.
When President Harry Truman made the final decision to drop atomic bombs on
Japanese cities, the war in
One of the primary reasons for using atomic bombs was as an effort to force
Barry Pennell, of
"When the bombings happened, everyone kind knew that would be it,"
said Pennell. "I remember running down the
street, jumping and yelling ‘It’s over! It’s over!’ It was the middle of the
day so everyone was probably at work or asleep or something, but I was leaping
like a gazelle."
Pennell said it took time -- up to a decade for many
-- to fully realize the devastation the bomb caused, overcome as they were with
relief at the end of World War II.
"We probably thought they got what they deserved at the time. But later we
started to think, why did we do that? There was a huge wipe-out and a lot of
innocent people who had nothing to do with the war were incinerated."
Rose Loscalgo, of Lionville,
also remembers the jubilation that followed the news, describing people running
around, honking car horns and yelling that the war was over. A new bride at the
end of World War II, Loscalgo credited Truman with
making the right decision to drop the bomb. "It was a shock to all of us,
but (Truman) thought it would end the war and save American boys," she
said.
Those serving in the war at the time were less certain the bombs really spelled
an immediate end to war.
George Mullen, of Parkesburg, the recently retired state adjutant of the
Department of Pennsylvania Veterans of Foreign Wars, was serving in the Navy,
preparing for an invasion of
Only 19 years old at the time, Mullen’s unit was ordered to go into
"We were very happy it was over, but also frustrated and scared. You
didn’t really know what was happening. The bombing saved an awful lot of
Americans. We saw the gun placements there," said Mullen. "In times
of war, everybody is in danger. To win the war, you gotta
do what you gotta do."
"We all experienced horror over the whole thing, but it was something that
had to be to bring the other side to a halt," said Richard McIlvaine, a Korean War veteran who had two brothers
serving in the Pacific during World War II.
Not everyone feels the bombings were justified, however. With civilian
casualties from the bombings starting at over 100,000 at the time they were
dropped, and rapidly escalating as a result of radiation poisoning and
conditions in the aftermath of the bombs, many consider the bombings
inexcusable.
"It seems to me that it had no merit except to scare people," said
Saunders Dixon, a longtime peace activist, and director of Thorncroft
Therapeutic Horseback Riding stables in
Some groups are joining to raise opposition to the continued manufacture of
weapons, including the Brandywine Peace Community, which has organized
nonviolent protests such as a ceremony of remembrance today outside Lockheed
Martin’s
It’s important that we remember this anniversary and the start of the nuclear
age, which has meant 60 years of war and nuclear terror, especially as the Bush
administration has a whole new generation of nuclear weapons being developed,
including those that can be used in combat situations," said Robert Smith,
of the Brandywine Peace Community.
According to Smith, young people today may not understand the full impact of
the use of nuclear weapons, because they didn’t experience World War II or the
Cold War.
"I would ask the younger kids to look at pictures of the aftermath of the
bombings of
©Daily Local News 2005
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Activists rally memory
of attack |
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By: CARL ROTENBERG ,
Times Herald Staff |
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UPPER MERION - They came with yellow sunflowers
symbolizing a world free of nuclear weapons, giant paper mache
"birds of peace" and bullhorns to amplify their voices of protest. More than 50 members and supporters of the Brandywine
Peace Community peacefully demonstrated for 90 minutes Saturday afternoon
outside Lockheed Martin's
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Research challenges
Sixty years ago, on Aug. 6 and 9, atomic bombs
destroyed the cities of But new research findings suggest that both judgments
are wrong. A just-published Harvard University Press volume by
professor Tsuyoshi Hasegawa of the University of California-Santa Barbara is
the most comprehensive study yet undertaken of Japanese documentary sources.
The highly praised study argues that the atomic bomb played only a secondary
role in Japanese military leaders had long been willing to
sacrifice civilians and cities to American conventional bombing. What they
really feared, Hasegawa points out, was the Red Army, a force that would
directly challenge what was left of Japan's dwindling military capacity both
on the home islands and in Manchuria. The traditional myth that the atomic
bomb ended the war, he writes, "cannot be supported by historical
facts." A similar conclusion has been reached in a recent
publication by another eminent Japanese scholar, professor Herbert Bix, author of a biography of Emperor Hirohito,
which won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction in 2001. Long before the bombings, top American and British
policy-makers were aware that a declaration of war by the As early as April 29, 1945, for instance, U.S. intelligence
advised that entry of the Soviet Union into the war would "convince most
Japanese at once of the inevitability of complete defeat" and, further,
that if they were convinced that unconditional surrender "did not imply
annihilation, surrender might follow fairly quickly." Many scholars have wondered about the timing of the
bombings. The invasion of In fact, making sure the Soviet option was available in
case the atomic test failed was a major Once the test succeeded in July, however, the atomic
bomb was preferred because, Hasegawa and others argue, Strikingly, many American military leaders also
believed that the atomic bombing was unnecessary. On numerous occasions,
then-Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower stated that he had urged that the bomb not be
used against an already defeated The diary of President Harry Truman's chief of staff,
Adm. William D. Leahy, shows that in June 1945 he believed that the war could
be ended on acceptable terms. After the war, Leahy, who also presided over
the combined British and The well-known hawk, Gen. Curtis LeMay,
publicly declared shortly after the bombings that the war would have been
over in two weeks and that the atomic bomb had nothing to do with bringing
about Sixty years later, the moral challenge of Gar Alperovitz
is a professor of political economy at the |
Tuesday, August 9, 60th Anniversary of the
Bombing of
Bob’s Report:
More than 170 people gathered in candlelight vigil in front
of the SS Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Cathedral in
personal remembrance by Anne Schmieg and her son, Jack. Anne and Jack recently
returned from a tour of
Following the vigil, people walked in candlelight
procession, lead by a large dove puppet and intoned by a peace of peace, to the
Phila. City Hall for a
Litany:
(Response: God Help Us, 'We Shall Not Repeat The
Sin'*, from the
Reader: We mourn the loss of hundreds of thousands of
lives with the atomic bombings of
Response: God help us, 'we shall not repeat the sin'*
Reader: We lament our country's destruction of the Urakami Cathedral in
Response: God help us, 'we shall not repeat the sin'*
Reader: We cry out for the poor of our country. Our country spends more than $400 billion a year benefitting the Military-Industrial complex and the Corporate greed of Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing, while our schools, health system, urban housing, jobs and infrastructure are collapsing.
Response: God help us, 'we shall not repeat the sin'*
Reader: As a people committed to ending war, the systemic violence of poverty and to protecting our Earth from the ravages of war and the indifference of the powerful, we are painfully aware of the pull of an Affluent Society which ignores the Two Thirds of World whose resources and means of survival are plundered for the technologized One Third;
Response: God help us, 'we shall not repeat the sin'*
Reader: It is fitting that this day, commemorating the bombing of the Catholic Cathedral in Nagasaki, along with the city's inhabitants, should coincide with the Jewish feast of Tisha B'Av )which commemorates the Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the captivity of the people by a pagan nation. It is a day of fasting and lamentation. The 1st Book of Kings records God’s words to Solomon that the house of God would be
destroyed if the people forsake their God and worship false gods.
We grieve the destruction of
space. We know that many suffer, so
few may profit. In the 60 year shadow of nuclear
weapons cast in the atomic bombings of
Response: God help us, 'we shall not repeat the sin'*
History:
The presidential approval for the use of atomic bombs on Japan was given on July 4, Independence Day, 1945, twelve days before the first atomic bomb test - code-named "Trinity" At 5:29AM, on July 16, the Trinity test took place in Alamogordo, New Mexico in a place known as "Jornada Del Muerto" - Journey of Death or Dead Man's Trail. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientific director of the Manhattan Project remembered: "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed. A few people cried.
Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu Scripture, the Bhagavad -Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him he takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now I am become death, the destroyer of world'. I suppose we all though that, one way or another."
Three weeks later,
Christians were persecuted, with Hideyoshi
crucifying 26 Christians in
US Commodore Perry landed in 1853 and
dominance with its main industry of ship-building, the very industry that would make it a target in World War II.
On
that they seize the chance of using
it before
Nicknamed "Fat Man" (after British prime minister Winston Churchill), it was even more promising than the Hiroshima "Little Boy" bomb, because it was the same type as the plutonium bomb used in the "Trinity" test on July 16, three weeks before. By 2200 on August 8, "Fat Man" had been loaded into the forward bomb bay of a B-29 named "Bock's Car" after its usual commander, Frederick Bock, but for the second bombing mission piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney.
Bock's Car flew off
one pass over the target.
Approaching
twenty-second visual run. "Fat
Man" dropped from the B-29, fell through the hole and exploded 1,650 feet
above the city at
70,000 people were killed within minutes and another 100,00 died from radioactive poisoning over the next five
years. The legacy of radioactive poison continues to claim lives in