80 Years from the US Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Sean Arent, WPSR Nuclear Weapons Abolition Program Manager

80 years ago this week after a successful test in the New Mexico desert, the United States chose to detonate two atomic weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The detonation of the “Fat Man” and “Little Boy” nuclear bombs resulted in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians, tens of thousands of indentured Koreans, and twelve American prisoners of war from the direct blast and ensuing radiation. This disaster is beyond human comprehension. To paraphrase one atomic bomb victim, Hiromu Morishita, “when I woke from the blast, everything was burning, and I heard the sound of a swarm of mosquitos in my ear. This was the sound of thousands of other victims crying out in pain.” 

The atomic bomb survivors, the Hibakusha, carry with them the memory of this calamity, and the lifelong suffering brought on by exposure to high levels of radiation. Exposure to high level radiation, which tears apart human DNA, multiplies a person’s risk of cancer, thyroid disease and other maladies, a risk that is passed down to survivors' children and grandchildren. 

As an organization dedicated to protecting human health, nuclear weapons are blasphemous to our mission not just when used, but when mined, produced, tested, and flaunted. The nuclear weapons production chain is a roadmap of poor health and human suffering. 

As advocates in Washington state, we remember that the “Fat Man” nuclear bomb was loaded with Hanford plutonium. And we are working to wake up our community to the fact that bombs a hundred times larger than this slip beneath the waves of Hood Canal, loaded on to submarines at the Kitsap-Bangor base. 

We see the United States continuing to develop new nuclear weapons, choose violence over peace, and run out the clock on treaties like NewStart, set to expire in February. 

80 years after the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world stands to forget the unforgettable and repeat mistakes that should not be repeated. WPSR is committed to remembering. We are committed to action. We are committed to waking up our elected leaders. 

But we can’t do it alone. Help us make never again a reality and abolish nuclear weapons for health, peace, and sanity.