Hiroshima

Somber.

That word fills me as I visit the city that was devastated (there is no other term that will describe it) by an atomic bomb – the first ever to be detonated over a populated area. The second was detonated over Nagasaki a few days later at the end of WW II.

We took the attached photo of the domed building at ground zero, through the arc of a memorial to peace that was later erected.

Hiroshima was bombed when I was five years old. It was a day when people were going about their ordinary activities – taking a bus to work, raising their children, and planning for their future.

On August 6, 1945, the population of Hiroshima was approximately 350,000. In an instant, the dreams and lives of more than 100,000 of those souls abruptly ended.

Today’s population is well over 1,000,000, and the city supports a major baseball team.

Japan and America are now close allies.

Irony is part of life.

Alan