On the 80th Year Commemoration of Deaths in Hiroshima and Nagasaki From U.S. Atomic Weapons
In early August, I was in Hiroshima, Japan speaking at a conference on the 80th Anniversary of the horrific and unnecessary U.S. atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I also travelled to Nagasaki to participate in an international conference there and the commemoration of the August 9 atomic bombing of that city.
Archived documents reveal that the Japanese government was going to surrender. The decision of the Truman administration to go ahead and incinerate with atomic bombs 210,000 citizens of two Japanese cities as a warning to the Soviet Union was a war crime of the highest degree.
During the conferences in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki we heard the testimony of the hibakusha, remaining survivors of the atomic blasts, survivors but victims of extreme physical and psychological traumas which should be heard and absorbed by U.S. government officials who continue to plow billions of dollars in the thousands of nuclear weapons the U.S. possesses.
The graphic descriptions by the hibakusha of their seeing fellow citizens with skin hanging from bones, of eyeballs blown out, of patterns of clothing tattooed into bodies, of life-long pain from burn scars and of fear of being seen in public due to the horrific scars, are all warnings to the world of the future we face should even one country decide to fire a nuclear weapon at another.
Hibakusha Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Educating the World on the Dangers of Nuclear Weapons
At long last, in December 2024, almost 80 years after the criminal atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the hibakusha organization Nihon Hidankyo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the work of the hibakusha in travelling the world to educate others of the dangers of nuclear weapons.
Despite World Opinion Saying NO Nukes, Governments Continue to Develop and Make More Lethal Nuclear Weapons
And yet, 80 years later, we are battling our governments as governments continue to spend trillions of dollars to “improve, upgrade, modernize” the weapons that have now been banned by the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
The TPNW was opened for signature at the United Nations on September 20, 2017 and entered into force on January 22, 2021.
We know the statistics. By the end of 2024, a total of 94 nations have signed the TPNW, but only 73 have signed and ratified the Treaty. There are currently 21 signatory countries that have signed but NOT ratified the TPNW, countries in which their citizens must put pressure on their governments.
Citizen pressure must be put on the 44 nations that, incredibly, OPPOSE the treaty including the nine nuclear weapons countries: the U.S., Russian Federation, France, UK, China, India, Israel, North Korea, and Pakistan. 15 other nations are undecided on whether to accept or reject the Treaty.
Intense Pressure Needed on Japan to Sign the TPNW
Japan, the country that has suffered from the explosion of two atomic weapons on its citizens killing outright 210, 000 Japanese citizens, 140,000 in Hiroshima and 70,000 in Nagasaki, and tens of thousands who died over the years from radiation and injuries, remarkably has not signed the treaty. Why not?
It’s pressure from the nuclear powers on the Japanese government, and perhaps an illogical desire to possess nuclear weapons themselves, as the Japanese government marches down a tragically familiar path of militarization.
In his address to the 50,000 people who attended the August 6, 2025 ceremonies at the Hiroshima Peace Park, Hiroshima Mayor Matsuki Kazumi said the TPNW is “on the brink of dysfunctionality” as those countries with nuclear weapons refuse to bow to the wishes of the majority of countries of the world for there to be NO nuclear weapons.
Taking the Japanese federal government to task, Mayor Matsuki demanded that Japan “at least participate as an observer in the first TPNW Review Conference in 2026.”
Additionally, in light of the intensified global challenges of coping with radiation damage due to nuclear testing, Matsuki also called on the Japanese government to “strengthen measures of support for all hibakusha, including those living abroad, whose average age is 86, and still face many hardships caused by radiation damage to their minds and bodies.”
As a response to the lack of recognition to the sufferings of the survivors of the atomic blasts, the International People’s Tribunal on the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings continues to bring international attention, and hopefully justice, to the Japanese and Korean victims and survivors of the effects of the horrific U.S. atomic bombs. The Tribunal will meet in November 2026 in New York City.
Those Who Push the Nuclear Button Will Die First, As They Should…or Should They Have to Face the Consequences?
Should any country fire a nuclear weapon toward another country, there is little doubt that other nuclear countries will immediately fire their weapons in response as they may not be certain where the missile carrying the nuclear bomb is headed.
Since each nuclear weapon country has listed the capitals of all nuclear countries as a target in the computers on the land and sea-based missiles that carry the nuclear weapons, the leadership of all the nuclear countries will most certainly be injured or killed, or as the U.S. calls it when referring to North Korea, “decapitated” when even one nuclear weapon is used.
So, the bottom line is for us citizens to remind government officials and politicians that if they dare fire nuclear weapons toward another country for whatever reason, their location will be on the target list of all the other nuclear nations and they and their families will be incinerated, as were the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
They will die first, as they should, for having fired a nuclear weapon that they know will result in the deaths of hundreds of millions.
But immediate death is too good for them. Those who fire the nuclear weapons should have to suffer the resulting fires, destruction, maiming and deaths they have caused. No one will be immune from the horrors of the nuclear bombs, even those mega-billionaires who have well stocked bunkers.
They may survive the initial nuclear blasts and have food for months, but ultimately, they too will have to face an unimaginable world where no one will be safe, where the wrath of those who have warned for decades of what will happen if nuclear weapons are used. The laws of the jungle will apply to the survivors, particularly toward those who caused the destruction of the planet earth and its inhabitants.
The earth will end up as Albert Einstein famously said on the effects of a nuclear war, “I don’t know what weapons might be used in World War III. But there isn’t any doubt what weapons will be used in World War IV-sticks and stones.”
Stop All Wars–From Atomic, Nuclear, Conventional Weapons from Japan, Ukraine, Russia, Gaza
As we commemorate the 80th year since the horrific atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed 120,000 in Hiroshima and 70,000 in Nagasaki, let us not forget the current criminal massive Israeli destruction of Gaza with over 60,000 Palestinians killed during the 22 months of using U.S. conventional weapons to pulverize and incinerate Gaza.
May those in Israel and the United States who have orchestrated these war crimes in Gaza rot in hell!
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About the Author
Ann Wright is a retired United States Army colonel and retired U.S. State Department official.
She was one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.
Since that time Colonel Wright has been a dedicated peace activist.
Ann can be reached at annw1946@gmail.com.
