By Alexander Dworkowitz
When the United States dropped two nuclear weapons on Japan on Aug. 6, 1945, bringing an end to World War II, Bill Hagel, like many U.S. soldiers, celebrated.
But Hagel, an 80-year-old Flushing resident, has since come to change his mind.
“I feel it’s so important that we don’t repeat the horrors that we inflicted on two civilian cities at the end of World War II,” he said at a Saturday rally in downtown Flushing.
Hagel joined dozens of other activists in front of the Caldor property on Roosevelt Avenue Saturday at a demonstration calling for the abolishment of nuclear weapons throughout the world.
Organized by the Queens Network for Peace and Justice, the rally has become an annual event held in early August. The demonstration commemorates the Aug. 6, 1945 bombing of Hiroshima and the Aug. 9, 1945 of Nagasaki, the two attacks which led to the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II.
The event was decidedly low-key, with the activists passing out fliers to passing pedestrians, collecting signatures for an anti-nuclear weapon petition and playing music.
Anne Bjornson of the Queens chapter of Pax Christi, a Catholic peace organization, said the rally was primarily educational, designed to teach the public about the bombings of Japan and the effects of radiation. Several posters picturing victims of the bombings were displayed.
“Nuclear weapons, they are a great danger, a great evil, and they should be stopped,” Bjornson said.
Jackson Heights resident John Azzali, chairman of the Queens Network for Peace and Justice, said about 200 people had signed their petition last year, which was sent to the Queens congressional delegation and U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.). He hoped to obtain a similar number of signatures this year.
Azzali criticized the federal government for “running around being the world’s policeman.
“We are spending way too much on military projects and not enough on peace and justice,” he said. “We have an educational crisis in this country, a homeless crisis in this country, health care problems.”
Several members of the Queens Network for Peace and Justice carried signs criticizing U.S. policies, including the decision to attack Iraq.
One sign read: “More Invasions? Who’s Next? Syria? Iran? N. Korea? Libya? No More Wars!!”
Most of the demonstrators were middle-aged or older. One youth group, Young Koreans United of New York, did join the event.
Young Sook Na, president of the organization who passed out fliers at the rally, said her group aims for peace in the Korean peninsula.
She admitted it was sometimes difficult to convince Korean Americans to condemn the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, since Japan invaded Korea in World War II.
“Some people think [the bombings] were the right decision,” she said.
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300 Ext. 141.
