Thaindian News

By Gina Gomez
Hiroshima, Aug 6, (PRINTWORDS NEWS) The Japanese city of Hiroshima marked the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing during the Second World War on Friday. The memorial service that was held at the Hiroshima Peace Park on Friday was historic in itself as this was the very first time that an U.S. representative attended the event. U.S. Ambassador John Roos was the first American representative to have participated in the memorial service that is held every year to remember the victims of the catastrophe that the Japanese city had to encounter way back in the year 1945.

However, the US ambassador was not the only diplomats to have graced the memorial service for the first time as representatives from other countries such as Britain and France also made an appearance in the event earlier today. During the ceremony, the temple bell at the venue rang out at 8:15 am in the morning to mark the exact time when a US aircraft dropped an atom bomb on the city, killing millions of innocent people and injuring uncountable others while scourging generations.

Tadatoshi Akiba, the Mayor of Hiroshima welcomed the United States government’s decision to send a representative during this year’s ceremony as there have been numerous instances of the US turning down invitations to attend the memorial event. Apart from the delegates from a number of countries who attended the memorial ceremony, around 55,000 people also turned up at the Hiroshima Memorial Park and made a symbolic gesture of offering water to the victims of the disaster while peace messages were read out by school children.