Hiroshima Mon Amor by wysiwig
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Description
In 1946 my father, a combat veteran, was a soldier in the U.S. Sixth Army occupying Japan. On a visit to Hiroshima he took the two pictures at the top of this page. Almost the entire city had been destroyed August 6, 1945 when a uranium bomb nicknamed ‘Little Boy’ had been dropped from a B-29 bomber named the Enola Gay. It killed an estimated 100,000 people, mostly civilians. In the years that followed thousands more would die from radiation sickness. My father never got over the destruction from this one bomb. When my father went to war he was, like most Americans, a patriotic soldier convinced we had to do whatever was necessary to win the war against an existential evil. By the time he came home he was a pacifist.
In 1976 it was my turn. The figure at bottom left is the Children’s Peace Monument. Each year thousands of folded paper cranes are placed on it by visitors from all over the world. They are a tribute to Sadako Sasaki, who died in 1955 at age 12 of leukemia caused by radiation poisoning. She is immortalized at the top of the statue, where she holds a wire crane above her head. Shortly before she passed, she had a vision to create a thousand cranes. Japanese tradition says that if one creates a thousand cranes, they are granted one wish. Sadako's wish was to have a world without nuclear weapons. Sadly she died before completing her task and as we can see today her wish was not granted.
The image at bottom right is the Cenotaph. The monument is inscribed with the words, "Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil." The stone chamber at the center houses the registry of the names of the victims of all nations including American POWs that died in the blast. Currently there are 269,446 names in the registry. The Atomic Dome can be seen in the distance.
On Friday, May 27, President Obama will visit Hiroshima. He will be the first U.S. president to do so. What I like to call ‘the usual suspects’ have begun their criticism calling the visit ‘an apology’, ‘a disgrace’ and ‘an insult to our veterans’. It shows weakness they will tell you. We have no reason to apologize, we were the good guys.
President Obama is not going to Hiroshima to apologize. He is going to acknowledge the cost of war to innocent civilians and to nations. Showing compassion for an enemy is not weakness, it is strength. And expressing regrets does not equal an apology.
Maybe if these critics, who never served and, in many cases, refused to serve when they had the chance, came to Hiroshima they might be less eager for war and understand what my father told me many years ago.
“Sometimes wars are necessary but there is no such thing as a good war.”
Comments (10)
Cyve
La folie des hommes est sans limite!!! Fantastic creation/composition my friend !!!
giulband
A great documentation, I think that is not possible to leave a comment, images speaks by itself. If you have more of your's fathers picture of this event it should be interesting to see its one by one
blinkings
Great images and well said.
Faemike55
While a picture is worth 1000 words, these 4 photos are complimented greatly by your words and thoughts. Thank you, Mark!
sandra46
wonderful work
SunriseGirl
Well-spoken...this touched me very much.
durleybeachbum
Beautifully written.
netot
Beautiful words, Mark.
anahata.c
lord, I never got an ebot for this, though I'd have looked for it anyway...but still. A beautifully written, touching tribute; and your photos---yours and your fathers---are not only touching for their content, but because they sit as a bond between father and son. Both connected through the same place and sentiments.
The top shots...there are several iconic shots of this devastated landscape; but it's very touching to see them from your father's hands, because they're so personal. Not just for you, but because they were from a soldier who, after the carnage, stopped to see what his own people had done, on the heels of fighting what was, a short time earlier, his 'enemy'. And seeing them in zoom brings home something big...help me with words here: It's the graininess, the lack of polish, the sense that they were taken in real time by a real soldier with just the breathrobbing sight to guide him. The picture quality parallels the scene. It makes them stunning. And to know they were taken by your own father, combined with what you (eloquently) wrote about him...
Then your shots are in color, and more polished, and they're both quite moving, esp with your (always) beautiful narrative. I knew that cranes had a significance in Japanese culture, but I didn't know specifics. The story you conveyed is amazing. And the monument is deeply moving. The Cenotaph photo is equally moving, esp with your narrative, and with that dome in the background---part of your fine composition, getting the pov that let it come through perfectly. (And you have fine light and shadow contrast here. Striking and dramatic.) Isn't the Atomic Dome from the blast? If I recall, it's one of the iconic images left after that horror, and its a ghostly presence through the arch. As is the stone chamber, made poignant with your explanation...
A very moving gathering of you and your dad, the two generations; and of two sides of the world, both parties being guilty, wounded, and wounding; and yes very well timed with Obama's visit. Your words on his visit are spot on. Very moving oving upload, Mark. I'm sorry I didn't see it until this morning. And I hope others zoomed full---it takes up 2 huge screens, but it's well worth the experience.
kgb224
Superb captures my friend. God bless.