THERE will be a memorial service held today in Dublin to mark the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the Hiroshima bomb.
Lord Mayor Hazel Chu, a representative from the Japanese embassy, will speak at the service to mark the occasion.
On this day in 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima which killed over 140,000 people.
Half of the victims were either killed in the blast or died on the first day. The rest succumbed to their injuries, burns and radiation poisoning over the coming weeks, months and even years.
The nuclear blast, coupled with a bomb of similar proportion dropped on the city of Nagasaki three days later, forced the Japanese to surrender, effectively ending the Second World War.
The battle in Europe had been won some months earlier and the allies prepared for a costly land invasion of Japan, with the war in the east still rumbling on.
After Japan refused an unconditional surrender, the decision was made to drop what has so far proved to be the only two nuclear bombs ever used in military combat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vimSZVh5SJ4
Today in Japan, witnesses to the world’s first atomic bomb were among those marking the 75th anniversary.
Hiroshima mayor Kazumi Matsui urged world leaders to more seriously commit to nuclear disarmament, pointing out Japan's failures.
"I ask the Japanese government to heed the appeal of the (bombing survivors) to sign, ratify and become a party to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
"As the only nation to suffer a nuclear attack, Japan must persuade the global public to unite with the spirit of Hiroshima."
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