Welcome to the Home Page for the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Commemoration Committee for the National Capital Area, a.k.a. the DC Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Committee.

The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Commemorations began with the first remaining surviovrs of the terrible atomic bombings on August 6 and 9, 1945.  Realizing there was more to life than mere survival, they committed to bearing witness to a message of world peace and nuclear disarmament.  Founding the Japanese organization "Hidankyo," they gradually spread this message around the world, and today the date and time of the bombings is remembered in many places.

Speakers and visitations now flourish around the world to honor the prophetic stand of the Hibakusha (the Japanese name given to people who survived the nuclear radiation) and the incredible grace they offer us all through their inspired message of peace, forgiveness and vigilance against any more wars or nuclear weapons.

The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Commemoration Committee of the National Capital Area was a part of the Gray Panthers of the Metropolitan Washington Area for 26 years, hosting many speakers, artists, and musicians in annual Commemoration Ceremonies on August 5 and 8 (at the exact times in the US of the atomic explosions in Japan) and sending adult and youth delegates each year to attend the World Conference on the A- and H-Bombs, held in Japan in the first week of August.

Each year on Trinity Day (July 16 - the day of the first US atomic weapons test), we also give the Josephine Butler Nuclear-Free Future Award to persons whom we feel do great things for awareness of Nuclear Disarmament.  Past recipients have included Hilda Mason, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Arum Makhijani and Dennis and Denise Nelson, who work on behalf of the American Hibakusha: Downwinders of the US nuclear test ranges in Utah in the 1950's.

In the future, in an ideal world, the peace commemoration ceremonies we do will not be necessary.  Meanwhile, we are part of an ongoing struggle for peace as a reality in a world where war is too often idealized as a just solution.  Remembering "No Justice, No Peace!" and "Know Justice, Know Peace," we honor the prophecy of the Hibakusha and believe that when it is internalized throughout the world that there will be a foundation of justice and peace upon which our war-torn planet may rebuild.

 
Josephine Butler Nuclear-Free Future Award - August 4, 2008
DC Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemorative Events - August 3-10, 2008
Delegates to Japan 2008
Dream Bridge Concert - November 15, 2008