The grandchildren of men who have experienced bombs in Japan work for peace 80 years later

Hiroshima, Japan – When the United States abandoned atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, the grandfather of Ari Beser was aboard the two American bomber B-29 who carried arms. On the ground, the grandfather of Kosuzu Harada survived the two attacks.

None of the men – the American radar specialist Jacob Beser and the Japanese engineer Tsutomu Yamaguchi – met during their lives. But both have become big defenders of nuclear abolition.

Decades later, this shared goal gathered its grandchildren. Ari Beser and Harada tell the stories of their grandfathers and work to seek reconciliation and understanding of an attack that continues to divide people in Japan and the United States.

During the commemoration of this week of the 80th birthdays of the attacks of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the grandchildren visited a station in Hiroshima where Yamaguchi, poorly injured, rose aboard a train in his hometown of Nagasaki one day after the bombing on August 6, 1945.

The two grandchildren then went to the Hiroshima Peace Park where they spoke with the Associated Press of what their grandfathers lived during two of the most important events of the 20th century and their consequences.

Yamaguchi was 29 years old when he was seriously burned in the bombing of Hiroshima. He was in the city for a temporary assignment as an engineer in shipbuilding. After the arrival of Yamaguchi in Nagasaki and spoke of colleagues from the attack of which he had witnessed Hiroshima, the second bomb exploded.

Harada first learned of the experience of her grandfather from the two bombs when she interviewed him for a mission in primary school.

Yamaguchi did not talk about his public experience until the age of 90 due to concerns about discrimination. He then became a vocal peace activist until his death in 2010.

In 2013, Harada learned that the grandson of an American who was one of the planes that bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki wanted to hear about the history of Yamaguchi.

“I had mixed feelings as a member of the survivor family,” said Harada, remembering Ari Beser’s first visit.

Ari Besser quietly listened to Harada’s mother spoke of Yamaguchi.

Harada and his mother were surprised when they learned that the senior Beler was exposed to radiation during his missions.

“We only saw ourselves from the point of view of the victims,” she said. “We have learned that war affects and ruins everyone’s life.”

“I think it’s my role to continue talking about horror … so that the same error is never repeated,” said Harada.

She visits places through Japan to talk about the history of her grandfather and put pressure for a nuclearless world.

Yamaguchi said he could never forgive the United States government to have abandoned the bombs, but he had no hatred for the Americans. Even if his health has deteriorated, Yamaguchi was still talking about his past, holding an interview with his hospital bed.

Besser, journalist and visual producer, has since regularly visited Nagasaki, and he and Harada have become friends.

Harada thinks that the US government should officially apologize for the attacks.

“Reconciliation takes time. It is a long process that takes generations,” said Harada.

When he was asked about the attacks during his first visit to Hiroshima 40 years ago, Jacob Beser did not apologize, but said: “I would not say that it was our prosst moment.” He said the world had to make sure it will not happen again.

At 8:15 am on August 6, 1945, Jacob Beser was on the gay bombardier approaching Hiroshima after a seven o’clock flight from the Mariana Islands. The B-29 quickly dropped from 32,000 feet (almost 10,000 meters) to 1,820 feet (about 550 meters), then dropped the bomb.

“A door was open to a new era of the inhumanity of man to his neighbor,” he said in a conference at Johns Hopkins University in 1985. Beser, who was at the back of the plane working as a radar specialist, said everything he had seen through the window was a “muddy muddy mess continuing to leave the periphery”.

Three days later, he was in another bomber, Bockscar, above the hometown of Yamaguchi. The city left when it arrived at the window.

Growing up, Ari Beser was informed that his grandfather’s bone cancer probably came from his exposure to radiation during bombing missions.

In 2011, Ari Beser went to Japan for the first time to find out more about the attacks. He has since met many survivors and is eager to hear their stories.

“Before, I think we all believe in the same justifications. I can no longer justify it,” said Ari Beser about the attacks. “For me, everything I focus on is to try to transmit it to people so that it does not happen again.”

Because his grandfather was on the two B-29, Ari Beser has always been interested in meeting a double survivor. This led him to the Harada family 12 years ago.

“He passes the stick and he leaves the disc … We are the guardians of the memory,” said Ari Beser.

He was young when his grandfather died and could never talk to him about the attacks.

“I also want to interview him or simply ask him so many questions” and know if there were other options in addition to dropping the bomb.

Despite the linguistic difficulties, the two grandchildren continue to communicate and work together on projects, including a book on their grandfathers.

While the world is becoming more and more a place of division, with fights in the Middle East and Ukraine, Ari Beser believes that his work with Harada is more important than ever.

“It makes you nervous, you are worrying because if this story repeats itself with today’s nuclear weapons, it is almost unimaginable how destroyed,” said Ari Beser.

Visit Japan and meet Harada, he said: “It makes me a little more optimistic. … Everyone needs hope and that’s how I hope.”

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This story was corrected to show that the spelling of the second bomber is Bockscar, not Bochscar.

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The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage of the New York Corporation Carnegie and the Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Additional APP coverage of the nuclear landscape: https://apnews.com/projects/the-new-nuclear-landscape/