Nagasaki mourns death of 5,500 school A-bomb victims
NAGASAKI, Aug. 3 Kyodo - Nagasaki citizens mourned the death of about 5,500 pupils and teachers in the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of the city Thursday, ahead of the 55th anniversary of the attack next Wednesday.
Some 400 people, including bereaved families and Nagasaki elementary, junior high and senior high school students, attended a memorial ceremony at the Peace Hall in the city.
Mourners offered a silent prayer at 11:02 a.m., the time the bomb exploded over the city Aug. 9, 1945, at the 19th annual ceremony of its kind.
''I will continue to cry for peace, cherishing emotions held by those who perished and those who lost their families,'' said Rika Suzuta, 11, a sixth grader at Yamazato Elementary School.
The annual memorial ceremony began in 1982 after teachers in Nagasaki Prefecture built a monument near the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum dedicated to pupils and teachers who died in the bombing.
The attack on Nagasaki came three days after
the A-bombing of Hiroshima. Many survivors
still suffer physical and mental anguish
as a result of the bombings.
==Kyodo
 |
next | back |