School victims of Nagasaki A-bombing remembered

Aug. 4, Kyodo - About 5,500 pupils and teachers who died in the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945 were remembered at a memorial service in the southwestern Japanese city Wednesday.

About 300 people, including relatives and Nagasaki elementary and junior high school students, attended the ceremony in the town of Hirano in Nagasaki Prefecture.

Silence was observed at 11:02 a.m., the time the U.S. atom bomb devastated the city on Aug. 9, 1945, at the 18th annual ceremony of this kind.

''Peace is the wish of not only Nagasaki but also of the entire world,'' said Ryoko Yamaguchi, 11, a sixth-grader at Inasa Elementary School. ''Our school alone lost more than 100 children and teachers in the bombing. We want to honor the memories of our elder brothers and sisters.''

Minoru Masuyama, 81, representative of former teachers who survived the bombing, said, ''The atrocities of the atomic bomb cannot be forgotten. I hope you (children) will establish a peaceful Japan in which you can say you were glad to be born.''

The U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki came three days after the atom bomb attack on Hiroshima. Many survivors still suffer physical and mental anguish as a result of the bombings.

---

---