Message of peace and hope at tree ceremony
A-bomb anniversary
Peace and nuclear disarmament was the message at a recent ceremony in Rutherglen.
Members of Rutherglen and Cambuslang CND and other antinuclear campaigners gathered at the peace tree in Rutherglen Main Street last week to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II.
The annual event is arranged by Susan Martin, Scottish CND representative for the Rutherglen and Cambuslang area.
Once again the ceremony was attended by Kimiko Young, who lived in the neighbouring city of Okayama when the bomb was dropped in August 1945, killing hundreds of thousands of people.
Susan Martin told the Reformer: “Sometimes we think there has been little progress in eliminating nuclear weapons from the world and yet last year United Nations declared the use of such indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction illegal, so we have to press the nations who possess them, especially our own, to start the process of nuclear disarmament.
“Kimiko Young made wonderful paper cranes to pin on our peace tree in Rutherglen.
“They are Japanese symbols of hope, peace and health, all of which we continue to strive for. Members of CND attended our ceremony as well as the leader of the Salvation Army in Rutherglen and Father Reilly from St Columbkille’s.”
On August 6, 1945, the nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima killing around 100,000 people. Many more died from radiation exposure over the years.
Three days later, a similar device was dropped on Nagasaki, killing a further 40,000 people.
The plaque at the peace tree, across from Rutherglen Town Hall, was erected in 1994.