Bangor ceremony remembers bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki 66 years ago

People lay down on the ground during a commemoration ceremony in Bangor remembering the victimes of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 66 years ago. The Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine organized the event that remembered victims of the only nuclear weapons that were used against people. The ceremony on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011, included a description of the explosions and was followed by a description of nonviolent action taken by people in Washington state at a nuclear warhead depot.

Posted Aug. 06, 2011, at 2:49 p.m.

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T MAZZ

did they happen to remember pearl harbor?
Anonymous

these people should stay where they are until they read the history of our involvement in the attack on Japan! Had we attacked Japan , all people in Japan were told to defend their country at all costs..during the bombings several hundred thousand Japanese, men , women children and old people were killed! Had they decided to defend Japan, several millions of Japanese would have been killed along with more than a million of American and Allied soldiers in the invasion force. One of which would have been my father and I am sure many or your grand parents. Wake up, study the history and then apologise. Punks. More should have been killed on the first bombing, then maybe we wouldn’t have had to use fatboy!
Anonymous

just a bunch of igonorant liberals
Anonymous

There’s nothing wrong with remembering history. ALL of it. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Pearl Harbor, the Latte Gulf, Marianis Turkey Shoot, Saigon…9/11, Kabul and Beirut…
Anonymous

Well put, MIMH!!! The truly ignorant are people like billybee, and he sounds as though he may well be a racist, too!!! By the way, my Dad was also in WWII, he fought in the Sotuh Pacific on Okinowa where the worst of the fighting in that region was!!! It was sad what happened at Pearl Harbor, but I also sad that the US is the ONLY country to ever use “THE BOMB”!!!!
Anonymous

Hmmmm … you wrote, “several hundred thousand Japanese, men , women children and old people were killed” - Wouldn’t ‘old people’ BE men & women???? DUH!!! LOL
Anonymous

I do think that the end result of the dropping of the atomic bomb (Fat Man and Little Boy) on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved American lives, in the long run. A massive invasion would have cost a lot more American lives. So, from that perspective, it was probably the right thing to do.

However, that’s only one point of view. I’m sure that the Japanese of the time would consider that a “weapon of mass destruction”, and I think we know how America would react these days to a weapon of mass destruction being deployed on a large American city today, say, a large city, a center of commerce and finance, with a civilian population. Don’t we?

Amen, WM…
Anonymous

Your the ignorant one! Millions would have died if we didn’t use the BOMB!!! Is that what you want? Just like after the World Trade Center attack in 1993 Clinton did nothing and we got the 9/11 attacks.
Anonymous

*chuckles* Closed-minded thinking, closed-minded beliefs and attitudes, are the hallmarks of extremism. Inability to see the entire picture makes attitudes like this no different than the extremists who attacked Pearl Harbor, our soldiers on the Ho Chi Min trail, and the WTC. It’s what makes the stole just as bad as the Akif Bhai. Extremism takes many forms, even here in the good ole’ US of A.
Anonymous

welli cant imagine you being a mam, but if you had gone past th third grade you would know that teh sentence is all relevent, as to whom it pertains to.
Anonymous

i am a racist..does it show that much..good..i have no tolerance period! you right wing socialists make me want to puke. my dad fought in Europe and was on his way to Japan when the US magnanimously dropped the bombs..they should have done a couple more just Tobe sure. Oh yeah when the muslims start to stone you B’s dont cry out for help..it willbe too late. smile when they are raping your ggrandchildren and forcing yu sons adn grand sons to do teh will of allah…
Anonymous

you are truly teh duh but all capitalized…
Anonymous

*yawn*
http://www.facebook.com/eric.j.foster Eric J Foster

Typical, they either don’t understand, or don’t care how many hundreds of thousands of AMERICANS would have died if we had gone in on foot. Japan was warned, sternly, if they did not surrender they would see a an attack of the sort never before seen on earth.
http://www.facebook.com/eric.j.foster Eric J Foster

And there is the racist flag. Gotta throw that in to make a point. Doh!
Anonymous

Plus after the first bomb we warned them again and they still didn’t take it to heart.
Anonymous

Time to lay off the Coco-Pufs Bubba.
Anonymous

The flag is valid; Bubba admits it. Quiet now.
Anonymous

Thank you Kreskin.
Anonymous

DUH – did you mean to say “the” if not, what does “teh” mean? LOL I put in all in caps for emphasis – get it???? LOL
Anonymous

DUH – did you mean to say “the” if not, what does “teh” mean? LOL I put in all in caps for emphasis – get it???? LOL
Anonymous

W/O these 2 bombs Truman predicted up to 1 million more casualties The japanese were going to fight for their very existance
Anonymous

Get a grip, billy, and learn to spell!!!! LOL I am NOT a right-wing socialist – I am so far left, you can’t even see me!!! LOL LOL
Anonymous

WHAT, HUH????? Hey, trailerparkboy are you a mam?? LOL LOL You are really something else billy boy!!!! I’m betting you didn’t even get to 3rd grade!!! LOL LOL
Anonymous

LOL tpk!!! You’re funny!!!
Anonymous

LOL tpk!!! You’re funny!!!
Anonymous

LOL tpk!!! You’re funny!!!
Anonymous

“ I’m sure that the Japanese of the time would consider that a “weapon of mass destruction”. It WAS a WMD!!!
Anonymous

Exactly my point. :-)
T MAZZ

to all you un-Americans here that cant get the fact that we we attacked and dragged into a war we tried to avoid, get out of my country. they started it and we ended it. they joined the axis of evil bent on dominating the world. Half of you boneheads wouldnt exist if they won and there probably wouldnt be forums like this to voice your opinion WITHOUT FEAR OF LOSING YOUR LIFE AND LIBERTIES… LIBERTIES WOULDNT EVEN EXIST!
Anonymous

I’m not a Mam but I still look mighty fine in my little pink tutu.
Anonymous

I fully agree–Truman did need to justify the complete destruction of two major cities and the frying of entire populations. How else to assuage one’s guilt. Of course, the fact that the mobility of their entire military had been smashed and they were an isolated island nation shouldn’t have stopped the atomic experiment—kill ‘em all, those yellow peril.
Anonymous

They should also remember the millions of lives that were saved by the bomb, negating the need to invade Japan. Also a little thing like ….PEARL HARBOR.
Anonymous

In college, I looked up the days before the first bomb(UMO microfilm) and sure enough we warned those animals and they ignored us and clearly it is THE JAPANESE who are totally responsible for the Nagasaki bombing.
Anonymous

That’s basic high-school history.
Buzlno

Yes, the 3-4 generals who kept the emperor clueless were infighting big time, a real power struggle that caused the second dropping. They had also convinced the populace that we were cannibalistic rapists, too. Consequently, whole villages jumped off cliffs into the ocean.
Definitely a cultural thing. And considering everything else they had done, including the”Rape of Nanking”, there was nothing else we could have done. People seem to only read the Cliff Notes version of history though.
Anonymous

Well, we built it, we had to use it. No sense in designing a building weapons if they’re not going to be used.
Buzlno

WOW! People like you that forget/don’t know the WHOLE story actually believe what you just said. Japan was not fighting only us, but China (Rape of Nanking), Korea (comfort girls), Russia etc etc. We got involved well after they had already been in those countries. Pearl Harbor was, to them, a preemptive strike. Plus we had stopped our shipments of all raw materials to them and that really upset them! FDR was staying out of all foreign wars up till then. And hell, Truman didn’t even know we had that bomb until FDR died,for gawd’s sake!
And remember that Germany tried to, and almost succeeded in, shipping primitive nuclear material and info to Japan on a U boat towards the end. Lack of the whole story brings about some very off kilter opinions like yours!
Buzlno

Looks like the guy in the center needed a script to do this! :-)
Anonymous

Dropping the bombs ended the war which we did not start, but we sure ended it. If the war had continued, America would have suffered more casualties. Perhaps they should have commemorated the supreme sacrifice made by our servicemen and thanked them for having the will to fight an enemy which struck without warning at Pearl Harbor and used Kamikaze fighters who would fly into the ships at sea. My father fought in the Pacific along with many other men. He was lucky to get back home but not until a stay in a hospital. I wonder why these types that are so sorry misplace their sorrow. They and the Jane Fondas should go back to the countries they think was wronged and do something like live there and express their sorrow personally.

God bless America and every service man and woman who works to keep our freedoms.
Anonymous

Stupid relativists.
http://twitter.com/joncob Jon Coburn

unlike most youth in america i understand the debate on both sides. my grandfather fought in world war ii – and I can agree that retrospectively it may not have been the best thing to do; but when you got an enemy that we’re going to lose many, many more people in trying to stop them from taking over the world I would have to use any means necessary.

thats why today we have bath salts in bangor.

only in maine
Anonymous

Weak Peaceniks such as these demonstrators all would have been beheaded with samurai swords, raped by Japanese soldiers, or starved in Japanese concentration camps if Tojo and the Imperial Japanese military could have gotten their bloody hands on them. It happened to countless other victims at the hands of the Japanese regime.
Anonymous

Wow! Oh, my. No comment on Japan’s military being smashed already. No comment on Japan’s loss in China and Korea and Russia? No reading comprehension just talking points? Tilt.
Anonymous

Maybe we should tell some of these countrys we are fighting now for no good reason and wining nothing to knock of the sh*t or we are going to use a big one like we did to end WW2 and mean it. Our boys are getting killed for nothing just a money making wars for the rich !!!!
Anonymous

Apologist numbskulls.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1452684179 Jason Simonds

What is stunning here is that after 66 years people still hold on to the prejudices.

I hadn’t read or heard the word “jap” used in a racist way in along time before I read the comments to this article. ( I do remember making fun of “japs” in grammar school, and of playing “war” out in the woods with friends…. but I grew up and out of the prejudice instilled by my elders.)

There is no doubt that stunning cruel acts were committed in and out of war efforts by all peoples . . including us…. yes the AXIS was a seriuous challenge that needed to be met at all costs, but the droppping of the bomb should be seen as a horrible action that should never be taken again.

And before you holier than thou ignorants fly at me, look to your own past for events that equal the horror of acts committed by the AXIS… look to the wholesale slaughter of a whole nation of American Indians… look at the mass murder of untold people of color… look at how we started the Vietnam war on a Lie that was the Tonken Bay event…

Humility people…

That such deep seeded hatred and prejudice still exists is scary…. as in I feel that people of color may not be safe in some parts of our state.
Anonymous

Do you feel the same way about other countries who have built the “BOMB”? What if they decided to use it against the US, huh?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1452684179 Jason Simonds

..and some may want to read this piece, in which new evidence is saying the two bombs dropped were not *the* cause of the end of the war.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/08/07/why_did_japan_surrender/?p1=News_links

Others solidly grounded ( cemented in ?) in their beliefs will dismiss it outright, as it conflicts with their set minds.
Anonymous

Oh, I know. Yes, yes, we had to do it I understand. Hitler was trying to do it also. I guess it’s just that the Weapons Industry is always 20 years out planning new weapons and of course humans who design, manufacture and sell their products want to see them used. I remember a wake-up call I had a few years ago when I saw a Popular Science cover all about what warfare will look like 20 years away. So many new gadgets that do so much harm and boy howdy weren’t they all excited about it. The US is the biggest weapons exporter in the world. We export death every day. I’m sick of it. Sick to death of it.

But I understand your point and I knew that when I was writing it I would possibly get that response. But it’s just all so sad, isn’t it?
Anonymous

Was it the day Pearl Harbor was bombed no………… Did Japanese civilians drop bombs on Pearl Harbor no!!!!! How many civilians died at Pearl Harbor…….Not UnAmerican to remember people who lost their lives for very little reason other than they were born in the wrong country… America didn’t drop 1 they dropped 2……….
Sandy Nesin

I really cannot believe that Bangor Daily News allows these racist rants to go on….BDN-you are responsible for other people being subjected to this offensive, racist, ignorant rant. Please, I beg of you, monitor these distasteful comments more vigilantly.
Anonymous

billybee – you have the same tone as the baffoon that resides in the Blaine House – how sad!!!
Anonymous

billybee – you have the same tone as the baffoon that resides in the Blaine House – how sad!!!
Anonymous

billybee – you have the same tone as the baffoon that resides in the Blaine House – how sad!!!
Anonymous

Time to lob some at some selected Afghanistan,Pakistan moutains.
MARINE73

The bombing of Nagasaki stopped the war. It was the right thing to do. I sincerely hope none of my tax dollars are funding the “Peace and Justice Center” because I would rather burn the money. These people should be down on their knees thanking the United States military for their freedoms instead of this foolishness.
Anonymous

The race is on and lots of itchy fingers willing to be the next. Resoures are far to tight for another war run on gasoline.
Anonymous

It certainly did end the War.
Anonymous

if it wasn’t for the BOMB we’d all be speaking JAPANESE right now. Dumb A$$E$! Run them all over.
Anonymous

It certainly did.
Anonymous

Sorry, all I can do is laugh at those fools. Imagine how cold they’ll be this December when they hit the pavement in commemoration of Pearl Harbor Day. Surely they will, won’t they?
Anonymous

Yes, we dropped not one A-bomb but 2 and do you know why? Because Japan refused to unconditionally surrender after the first one.

And here is something else to ponder, even after the second A-bomb was dropped Tojo wanted to continue the war. When he learned that the Emperor was planning on surrendering because he didn’t want his (the Emperor was considered divine) people to suffer any longer, Tojo attempted a coup d’état.

When that failed and the Emperor went on the radio to announce the surrender, it was the very first time his people heard his voice.

“How many civilians died at Pearl Harbor?” 68
Anonymous

trailerparkboy every single word posted by Buzlno is historically accurate. Calling them “talking points” does not take away from the accuracy of his posts.The Japanese military was not smashed. They planned to arm men, woman and children with bamboo pike poles and defend there homeland to the last person standing. Causality estimates on the home island invasion topped 1,000,000 total with 500,000-650,000 Allied KIA.
Anonymous

But keep in mind that your service preserves your right, my right and their right to Freedom of Speech.
Anonymous

Since when did a war solve anything?
Anonymous

Nazi plans for an A-bomb are shrouded in controversy but some of the latest thinking I’ve is that they weren’t and were concentrating on rocketry, jet aircaraft, and other developments to help keep them in the war. However, we thought that they had access to the same infomation we did (maybe yes, maybe no) and were trying to make one.
Anonymous

Due to fighting Germany for years after that invasion, the USSR was in no position to fight the Japanese. However, they began invasions of Manchuria and former Soviet/Russian territory at the end of July, two weeks before the bombs were dropped. This was a factor in the decision to drop the bombs when we did, althought the primary reason was to end the war and avoid an invasion that would have been disastrous for both countries.
Anonymous

Maybe “smashed” is an exageration, but they were definitely crippled. Arming of the populace in a “holy war” was one of the few moves they had left. Causalty estimates were based on the Okinawa stats and were probably conservative.
Anonymous

The controversy continues decades into the future and will continue. I haven’t read this piece but I have read the book “Retribution” which recounts Japanese tacticts and atrocities (as well as allied similar actions) and has an excellent analysis of the last days of the war. The bombs may not have been THE cause of the end of the war but they were definitley a primary reason (among many).
Anonymous

You were doing OK until the last two items. I fail to see the connection or analogy.
Anonymous

I agree that the effect on civilians was horrible, but there were military targets in the cities. Also, the damage done to civilians and infrastructure in Tokyo and the other cities previously fire bombed was even worse. One of the reasons for selecting these cities was the had run out of other targets of military significance.
Whether the war could have been ended by any other means and whether or not the bombs were a primary cause of the end of the war have been topics of debate for decades and will continue to be. I believe that an invasion would have disatrous for both countries. I had several older cousins fighting in the South Pacific who came out OK but maybe would not have survived an invasion. One cousin was a Mustang pilot who about to ship out for the invasion when the war ended. He’s still with us.
War is horrible. I will neither condemn the peace protesters nor those who fought the war and made the decisions they did.
T MAZZ

we couldve droped a hundred. get out of the country if you dont like Freedom
Anonymous

AMEN – Well put!!!
Anonymous

The women, the children, the sick & infirmed of Japan were NOT animals!!!!!
Anonymous

The women, the children, the sick & infirmed of Japan were NOT animals!!!!!
Anonymous

The women, the children, the sick & infirmed of Japan were NOT animals!!!!!
Anonymous

Sandy, I don’t like or agree with any of the racist remarks, but it is called “freedom of speech”, and unfortunately, it is the right of idiots & racist, too!
Anonymous

Yes, narthwoods, it is so very sad, senseless, and an black mark on US history!!!
Anonymous

Very well said, Jason. And, I agree with you about people of color not being safe in some parts of our state; or for that matter in some parts of the United States!! So very sad!!!
Anonymous

Very well said, Jason. And, I agree with you about people of color not being safe in some parts of our state; or for that matter in some parts of the United States!! So very sad!!!
Buzlno

Thanks, Gopher. Trailerparkboy obviously needs a history lesson, and not the revisionist version. Part way through my response to his now removed comment, I realized that I was beating a dead horse.
Thanks for expanding on my condensed version
Anonymous

there was no need to drop 2 atomic bombs on japan…the war was essentially over at that point….tens of thousands of innocent civilians died as a result…and i would argue that it is un-american to kill innocent civilians, especially on such a large scale……
Anonymous

americans didn’t need to go on foot…..japan was an island nation that was surrounded….the war was essentially over before the bombs were dropped…
Anonymous

there was no need for a massive invasion of japan…..and island nation with no natural resources surrounded by americans and russians was not in it for the long run…the 2 bombs were senseless….
Anonymous

there was no need for a massive invasion of japan…..and island nation with no natural resources surrounded by americans and russians was not in it for the long run…the 2 bombs were senseless….
Anonymous

there was no need for a massive invasion of japan…..and island nation with no natural resources surrounded by americans and russians was not in it for the long run…the 2 bombs were senseless….
Anonymous

Obviously, history, and those that lived it in real-time, disagreed. Life is always easier in hindsight, but, we can’t live life that way.

I hold no grudge for the actions they took. Only for today’s leaders not learning the lessons from then.
Anonymous

jap…animals….in these comments…..stupidity lives on in the us…..don’t forget to add the firebombing of dresden to the list of american noble causes….and how many millions of innocent civilians died in vietnam as a result of american action?
Anonymous

japanese wanted the russians to help negotiate favorable peace with the us….when the russians attacked japan and threatened their territories, japan decided america was the more reasonable of the 2 countries to deal with on surrender…
Anonymous

check out this article….http://articles.boston.com/2011-08-07/bostonglobe/29861790_1_hiroshima-tsuyoshi-hasegawa-japan-surrender

Bangor

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