| Preparing the cranes to offer them at Shiroyama Elementary School,
which had been Sakue Shimohiro's school. Almost all the children and
teachers were killed instantly. The school was rebuilt and children
perform music at the Aug 9 service before the official commemoration
with their wishes for the future and their tears. Our group wanted our
peace cranes hung there |
Our cranes being helped to their offering place, just
as we went outside a soft rain started. |
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We were looking at photos of the killed
students when a woman came up and started to sob, we had been looking
at her brother's handsome photo. I gave her my grandmother's
handkerchief and hugged her, it was so sad. |
She cried so hard her whole
body shook. |
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| These four pictures are the Nagasaki Commemoration |
There was a maze like Ashland's vigil
that you had to walk by to get to your seat, and peace cranes being
hung all around by school children. |
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Sakue Shimohira
giving her tesimony and life story, only she and her sister survived
but later her little sister could not physically heal from her wounds
and she took her own life by standing on the train tracks. |
Sakue said her sister found the courage to die, and she found the courage to
live. |
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The Nagasaki hypocenter with the
remnants of the Christian church that was destroyed |
Melted rosaries and crucifixes |
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| Photo below is in the Hiroshima Peace park, the Korean Memorial. Many
Koreans were forced laborers in Japan and many thousands died and were
exposed in the Hiroshima and the Nagasaki bombing. After the end of
the war, many were forced to leave Japan but only those who remained
in Japan received any medical care or compensation. |
Our youngest student only 16 with a sunflower
at the official Hiroshima service, folding a gold peace crane that
each person who attended was asked to fold. |
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Linda with four Hibakusha
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Linda at the Cenotaph |
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| Koko Tanimoto holding
up her baby dress she was wearing the day the bomb fell. Her mother
kept the clothes of that day |
One of our student coordinators for the
trip, Mau, is holding up the dress closer for me. |
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| A tree that survived in Hiroshima |
The meeting with the Mayor before I
presented our gifts |
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| Sadako Sasaki's school |
The school's shrine to Sadako |
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| In Hiroshima, Koko stands on the spot where thousand died and suffered their last moments. Her father tried to save many at this spot but they all just died within a few hours. It became a park later that he built to honor them. She is standing in front of the River that flowed red from the bodies and the blood on Aug 6, and we are standing on the bones of so many unnamed victims. |
A shrine on the spot shows how they
asked for water in their last moments. |
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This is Ellie, I taught a few of the Americans how to fold peace
cranes... she is very proud of her first one |
Hibakusha share their memories in a story that children
can understand |
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| An ancient temple in Kyoto, i prayed here a long time and saw all the
rocks, which means you have vision! |
We are in Kyoto the photo is of Li
and me and Mai |
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| Four Jizos |
A few more folks |
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| Linda and Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba |
Linda and Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba |
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This photo is the
entrance to the Kyoto Peace Museum. |
In Kyoto, at one of the world's only Peace museums. The man with the snoopy flag was our leader and the Director of the Peace Museum. He is a member with me of Global Network and he has the complete picture of our struggles to disarm, from uranium mining to space weapons. Many times I was only not lost because of that flag in the crowds! With him is my friend Sidney who is an undergraduate and just an amazing young man and Hiroko, third generation Hibakusha whose father and grandparents were exposed at the bombing. I gave her the treat from the family farm and apologized and she was happy to hear we care so much that we have had vigils in our towns! |
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Packing gifts |
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Making a window display 4th & Madison Corvallis |
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Paper Crane Folding in Ashland July 11 2010 |
We folded more than 1,000 paper cranes to take to the commemorations! |
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| Corvallis UCC Church June 30, 2010 |
We folded 921 Peace Cranes to take to the Commemorations |
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