Robert Horsting will give a talk on Shadows for Peace: The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Experience on Tuesday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m. at the Terasaki Nibei Foundation, 11570 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles.
In addition to a collection of edited hibakusha testimonials and historical footage, Horsting will be sharing related information and stories.
On Aug. 6, 1945, over 70,000 died within a week and close to 200,000 were injured in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Among the injured, 70,000 died by the end of the year.
On Aug. 9, an estimated 40,000 were killed in Nagasaki with another 40,000 injured. By the end of 1945, the combined estimated number of victims who died from the effects of the atomic bombs was over 220,000.
Among those killed in Hiroshima were an estimated 1,000 Japanese Americans. In the 1970s, it was confirmed that U.S. airmen, who were prisoners of war, were also victims of the Hiroshima bomb.
The intent of Shadows for Peace, a nonprofit group, is not to debate the whys and wherefores of the dropping of the atomic bombs, but to educate and engage attendees about the horrific destructive power of nuclear weapons, which today are hundreds of times more powerful and deadly.
Lectures are free; optional dinner at 6 p.m. is $10 and must be reserved by Dec. 14. For more information, contact Naoko Okada at (310) 479-6101, ext. 134, or nokada@terasaki.org, or visit www.nibei.org.