Watertown Citizens announced it will hold its annual Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemoration on Sunday, August 6 beginning with a silent vigil in Watertown Square at 7:30 PM, followed by music and testimonials at 8:00 PM at the Watertown Dock and ending with the floating of candle boats at 8:30 PM. Watertown Citizens sent out the following announcement:
Please join us as we reflect on the nuclear attack on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States in 1945 – the first use of nuclear weapons by any country – that caused over 210,000 deaths and years of misery and suffering for thousand of survivors. We must remember that these tragic events, often hailed as the reason WWII ended, were unnecessary. The U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey group, assigned by President Truman to study the air attacks on Japan, produced a report in July of 1946 that concluded, “Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey’s opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945 and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated.”*
It is also important to remember that today, military spending accounts for more than half of the federal government’s entire discretionary budget, that nuclear weapons spending alone accounts for over $40 billion annually, and, most importantly, that there is a connection between the bloated Pentagon budget and the critical budget shortfalls facing communities across the country. Sponsored by Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment, New England American Friends Service Committee, and Mass Peace Action.
