Aug. 3 (UPI) — Groups around the United States will gather this week to commemorate the August 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear attacks that killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese people nearly 80 years ago.
Events, prayer gatherings and services memorializing the bombings of Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and, three days later, Nagasaki, will range from an event at a small library in Kansas and a gathering at a church in Spokane, Wash., to a series of reflection ceremonies in the Northeast and a ceremony in a North Carolina park.
Japan exited World War II less than a month after the bombing of Hiroshima, an event that changed the rules of war and elicited shock and disbelief on the global stage. The Hiroshima bombing marked the first use of a nuclear weapon in war, and raised questions about human rights and what constituted fair rules of engagement.
The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki initiated a nuclear arms race that accelerated over the decades and remains a constant threat today.
Recent data from the Pew Research Center show a third of Americans feel that dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified while nearly the same number said it was not. Another third said they are unsure whether the drastic measures were warranted.
Many of the deaths were instantaneous. Other people died years later as a result of exposure to nuclear radiation, researchers have said.
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