Pacific island eyes 'big' ceremony on 80th atomic bombing anniversary
Mayor Edwin Aldan said Tuesday that the island, part of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, has invited senior officials from the U.S. Department of Defense and relatives of war veterans to a ceremony on the morning of Aug. 6 at the airfield where a B-29 bomber took off to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, to "recognize the significance" of the bombing.
He added that a peace memorial is scheduled for the afternoon at another location on the island, primarily involving Japanese participants, including relatives of those who died in the atomic bombing.
Tinian will continue to advocate for peace so that "that type of war" never happens again, the mayor said.
In Guam on Wednesday, Rear Adm. Gregory Huffman, commander of Joint Task Force Micronesia, said the ceremonies could be "really moving," as they would highlight 80 years of peace and the "strengthening partnership" with U.S. allies.
Three days after an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, a second bomber flew from Tinian and detonated another atomic bomb over Nagasaki.
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed an estimated 140,000 and 74,000 people, respectively, by the end of 1945. Japan surrendered six days after the Nagasaki attack, bringing an end to World War II.
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