All are welcome to a gathering at Herndon Friends Meetinghouse to remember the lives lost in and lasting effects of the August 1945 bombings.
The local community will gather on Saturday with Herndon Friends Meeting members to commemorate those killed in August 1945 when an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, then three days later, a second B-29 dropped another on Nagasaki. The Hiroshima explosion immediately killed an estimated 80,000 people and the Nagasaki explosion an estimated 40,000 people. Tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure.
You are invited to participate in a silent vigil between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday August 12 at the Herndon Friends Meetinghouse at 660 Spring Street in Herndon. Concurrent with the vigil, between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., opportunities are offered for those of all ages to learn about the bombings and their consequences, and to participate in reflections through acts of art, including a mural painting activity and a paper peace-crane-making activity. Light refreshments will be served.
Parking is available at the meetinghouse via Locust Street, and a nearby public parking lot is located across the street from the Herndon Depot and behind the HCTV Corporation located at 730 Elden Street.
"We invite all those of goodwill to come together with us," said Herndon Friends Meeting Clerk Meg Wallace. "Let us hold each other up as we commemorate these historic and tragic events."
Herndon Friends Meeting is a worshiping community of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) that is opposed to injustice, war, militarism and other forms of violence. For more information, visit https://www.herndonfriendsmeeting.org/ or email herndonfriendsmtg@gmail.com.
