HIROSHIMA: President Barack Obama paid moving tribute to victims of the first atomic bomb on Friday, offering a comforting embrace to a tearful man who survived the devastating attack on Hiroshima.
In a ceremony loaded with symbolism, the first sitting US president to visit the city clasped hands with one survivor and hugged another after speaking about the day that marked one of the most terrifying chapters of World War II.
“Seventy-one years ago, death fell from the sky and the world was changed,” Mr Obama said of a bomb that “demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself”.
Japanese premier says the US president’s visit offers hope for a nuclear-free world
“Why did we come to this place, to Hiroshima? We come to ponder a terrible force unleashed in the not-so-distant past. We come to mourn the dead,” he said.
As crows called through the hush of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Mr Obama offered a floral wreath at the cenotaph, pausing in momentary contemplation with his eyes closed and his head lowered.
The site lies in the shadow of a domed building, whose skeleton stands in silent testament to those who perished.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe followed by offering his own wreath and a brief, silent bow.
After both men had spoken, President Obama, whose distant predecessor Harry Truman gave the go-ahead for the world’s first nuclear strike, greeted ageing survivors, embracing 79-year-old Shigeaki Mori, who appeared overcome with emotion.
“The president gestured as if he was going to give me a hug, so we hugged,” Mr Mori told reporters afterwards.
Mr Obama also chatted with a smiling Sunao Tsuboi, 91, who had earlier said he wanted to tell the US president how grateful he was for his visit.
Mr Obama’s trip came more than seven decades after the Enola Gay bomber dropped its deadly atomic payload, dubbed “Little Boy”, over the western Japanese city.
The bombing claimed the lives of 140,000 people, some of whom died immediately in a ball of searing heat; others succumbed to injuries or radiation-related illnesses in the weeks, months and years afterwards.
The visit also marked seven years since Mr Obama’s memorable speech in Prague in which he called for the elimination of atomic weapons, a call that helped him win the Nobel Peace Prize.
“I hope this historic visit to Hiroshima will push for the movement of abolishing nuclear weapons in the world,” Mr Obama said on Friday.
As expected, he offered no apology for the bombing, having insisted that he would not revisit decisions made by Mr Truman at the close of a brutal war.
Shinzo Abe praised the “courage” of the visit, which he said offered hope for a nuclear-free future.
“An American president comes into contact with the reality of an atomic bombing and renews his resolve towards realising a world without nuclear weapons,” he said.
“I sincerely welcome this historic visit, which has long been awaited by not only people of Hiroshima, but by all Japanese people.”
Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2016