79 years after atomic bomb drop, Richland national park peace ceremony will remember

The 79th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Japan will be remembered with a Lights for Peace program at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, in Richland.

“Lights for Peace aims to provide an opportunity to remember and reflect on these world-changing events that happened 79 years ago,” said Becky Burghart, the Hanford site manager of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

On Aug. 9, 1945, the U.S. Army Air Force dropped the Fat Man atomic bomb fueled with plutonium made at the Hanford nuclear site in Eastern Washington over Nagasaki, Japan.

It was the second, and so far, the last atomic bomb of a population.

The program is planned as quiet and contemplative.

It will include music from the Mid-Columbia Mastersingers and an opportunity to ring the “Bell of Peace” given to the people of Richland by the mayor of Nagasaki at the fingernail stage at Howard Amon Park in Richland by the Columbia River.

The public may walk a path lit with luminarias with messages of peace written by community members.

World Citizens for Peace, which had traditionally held a peace ceremony on that date in Richland, has folded and will not have a program this year.

This story was originally published August 7, 2024 at 10:42 AM.