August 6 - 9, 2007- Brandywine Peace Community's Hiroshima Day of
Remembrance & Resistance at Lockheed Martin, Valley Forge, PA and
Nagasaki Day Peace Dedication at SS Peter & Paul Roman Catholic
Cathedral in Philadelphia, PA
.
On August 6, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on
the city of Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated 150,000 people
in the immediate blast and fire. Three day later, on August 9, 1945,
more than 75,000 people died in the blast and fire resulting from the
U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan. More than 100,000
people died in the days and years ahead, and continue to die,
from the radioactive poisoning of the first atomic bombings.

In Valley Forge, Lockheed Martin, among other Pentagon
contracts, produces fire control systems for Tomahawk cruise
missiles as well as battlefield computers used in the U.S. war of
occupation in Iraq

Hiroshima Day 2007, Remembrance and Resistance

At 8:15AM, a siren blast signalled the 62nd Anniversary of the
atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the start of a vigil of
remembrance in front of the Valley Forge weapons complex of
Lockheed Martin. The siren blast was followed by the tolling of a
bell sixty-two times, once for each of the past sixty-two years of war,
war economy, and the terror posed by the existence and threatened
use of nuclear weapons. The vigil continued in front of Lockheed
Martin which, as the world's largest weapons corporation, the U.S.'s
chief nuclear bomb contractor, and the Iraq war's chief profiteer,
incorporates the continuation and legacy of sixty-two years of war
and nuclear weapons.

The vigil of remembrance continued until noon, with hourly siren
blasts and bell-tolling sixty-two times.

The vigil moved to the driveway entrance of Lockheed Martin, with
large blue Lockheed Martin logo signs on both sides of the drive.
Again, a siren blast, followed by a reading of the account of the
Hiroshima bombing from the "Journey of Death" narrative published
by the Brandywine Peace Community for the 50th Anniversary of the
bombing of Hiroshima. Following the reading of the Hiroshima
bombing account, Ms Yuko Nakamura, a survivor of the Hiroshima
bombing, an "Hibakusha", spoke. A thirteen year old school girl at
the time of the time of bombing, her words convey what most of us
can only best imagine in nightmares. Nakamura-san now travels
the world, as Secretary-General of Kanagawa Atomic Bomb
Sufferers Association speaking for peace and the abolition of
nuclear weapons.

Fittingly, a "Die-in", dramatizing the unimaginable, followed on black
coffin cloths in front of the Lockheed Martin logo sign. Nearby stood
a full-size black coffin with white masks, pictures of the aftermath of
the first atomic bombing, and draped with colorful strands of paper
peace cranes. People then arose to the sound of music and walked
a few feet to another part of the Lockheed Martin site forming a
chain of remembrance and resistance to Lockheed Martin.

Following the Hiroshima Day '07 litany and a statement "Declaring
Peace at Lockheed Martin" (see below), one by one, those prepared
to face arrest for civil disobedience exited the line, walking onto
Lockheed Martin, strewing handfuls of sunflower seeds: "The
sunflower has become a world-wide symbol for peace, carrying the
hope of a world free of nuclear weapons and war... Today, we recall
the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and, with
sunflower seeds, we plant our hopes here at Lockheed Martin for
peace and justice."

Eleven people were arrested - Tom Mullian, Media, PA; Mary Jo
McArthur, Beth Friedlan, Vinton Deming, and Bernadette Cronin-
Geller, all of Philadelphia; Rev. Patrick Sieber, Camden, NJ, and
Jackie Baumann, Elmwood Park, NJ; Rich Conti, Rutledge, PA;
Theresa Camerota, Wyncote, PA; and Robert M. Smith,
Swarhmore, PA. - cited and releases on "Disorderly Conduct"
citations.

Color photos of the Hiroshima Day Demonstration appeared in the
Phila. Daily News. There was also coverage on WCAU-TV and it
was the lead report for a while on KYW-All News Radio.  -Robert M. Smith