80 years after the atomic bombs dropped, dozens joined Rogue Valley’s annual vigil in Lithia Park; more related events to come 

By Sydney Seymour, Ashland.news

At 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, the lasting tone of a gong echoed through downtown Ashland, marking the exact time of the first of the two atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years ago. A minute of silence was observed by about 60 people gathered at the entrance to Lithia Park for the annual Rogue Valley Hiroshima-Nagasaki remembrance vigil. 

For 41 years, Peace House, a local nonprofit dedicated to peace and justice, has helped host the annual Aug. 6 vigil to honor the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and renew its commitment to urge leaders everywhere to end the use of nuclear weapons.

Peace House Executive Director Elizabeth Hallett opened the ceremony by acknowledging Dr. Hideko Tamura-Snider, a Hiroshima survivor who has made “indelible efforts casting a wide net awareness well beyond our Rogue Valley,” she said. 

Tamura-Snider, a Medford resident and the founder of anti-nuclear war nonprofit One Sunny Day Initiatives, usually speaks at the vigil, sharing her experience about what happened on Monday, Aug. 6, 1945, in Hiroshima when she was only 10 years old. 

But this year, for the 80th anniversary of that day, Tamura-Snider, at 91 years old, traveled to her hometown of Hiroshima with her daughter and granddaughter for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony. She hopes “to pass that legacy of her life to her granddaughter, who has never been to Hiroshima, but wanted to make the journey,” Hallett said.

Before her trip to Japan, Tamura-Snider spoke with Ashland.news. 

“I don’t know how much longer my body is going to be good, so while I can still walk, I wanted to make (my) last pilgrimage to my ancestral grave, especially my father,” she said. “He was the reason I stayed alive.”

Reflecting on the 80-year milestone, Estelle Voeller, a close friend and colleague of Tamura-Snider and Peace House member, said, “Knowing Hideko and her granddaughter are there is extra special. We see our Hiroshima survivors leaving us, so there is this heartfelt sense that this is our responsibility now.” 

In regards to peacemaking and anti-nuclear war efforts, she continued, “We need to carry this forward and speak on their behalf. We need to finish the work that they have started and pick up that mantle.” 

The vigil began with the lighting of the memorial flame, signifying the eternal flame of peace in Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park. Next, the Rev. Janna Meyers led an invocation, which was followed by words from Brother Daniel Currie Green. 

Calling for the demolition of nuclear weapons, or “diabolical machines,” Currie Green asked listeners to “remember not only the struggles and sorrows of the past, but also remember that we could have a future.” 

Mayor Tonya Graham read a city of Ashland proclamation, declaring Aug. 6, 2025, as “Hiroshima Day” and Aug. 9, 2025, as “Nagasaki Day.” She also reminded the crowd of Ashland’s capability for peacemaking. 

In 1982, Ashland’s citizens passed a ballot declaring the city a Nuclear Free Zone. Peace House emerged from that effort and held the first Hiroshima-Nagasaki vigil in 1985. 

In 1998, Ashland became a Mayors for Peace city in response to a global invitation from the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to work for the abolition of nuclear weapons. As of July 1, 2025, there are 8,497 mayors for peace cities in 166 nations, including 240 in the U.S. and eight in Oregon. 

Following the proclamation, Peace House board member Dr. Michael Niemann urged individuals to support Back From The Brink, a coalition of anti-nuclear organizations that have issued a five-step plan to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

The plan includes global negotiation, U.S. renunciation of first use, ending sole presidential authority over nuclear launches, and removing nuclear weapons from hair-trigger alert. 

Most importantly, Niemann said, as the U.S. plans to spend nearly $1 trillion over the next decade to operate its nuclear arsenal, Back From The Brink also calls for cancelling U.S. plans to modernize nuclear weapons. 

“We’ve been lucky for 80 years. Luck is not a strategy. What we need, rather than luck, is a strategy,” he said, and suggested listeners encourage elected officials to support Back From The Brink resolutions. 

To conclude the vigil’s remarks, Peace House fellow Meg Wade read Nagasaki survivor Terumi Tanaka’s Nobel Peace Prize lecture from December 2024. 

During his lecture, Tanaka recalled the horrors of Aug. 9, 1945, when he was 13 years old, walking the “blacks and ruins” of Nagasaki with his mother, searching for their relatives. 

Eventually, they found their loved ones’ charred bodies.

“We then cremated who remained with our own hands,” Wade read. “Many people who were badly injured or burned but still alive were left unattended with no hope whatsoever.” 

To ensure this won’t happen again and considering renewed nuclear threats — citing Russia threatening Ukraine and Israel threatening Gaza and Palestine — rather than nuclear deterrence, Tanaka calls for no possession of a singular nuclear weapon. 

“Please try to imagine — there are 4,000 nuclear warheads, ready to be launched immediately. This means that damage hundreds or thousands of times greater than that which happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki could happen right away. Any one of you could become either a victim or a perpetrator, at any time. I therefore plead for everyone around the world to discuss together what we must do to eliminate nuclear weapons, and demand action from governments to achieve this goal,” Wade read. 

The commemoration concluded with a water ceremony, where attendees were invited to ladle water over stones, an act that remembers that many of the victims of the bombings called out for water in their final moments. To show respect for elders, anyone over the age of 90 was invited to offer their condolences first. 

One of the first people to participate in the water ceremony was Dot Fisher-Smith. Now 97 years old, Fisher-Smith helped start the tradition back in the ’80s. She said the annual remembrance is something to take pride in, and that every Aug. 6 and Aug. 9 are days to mourn and honor the victims. 

Voeller added, “Life is so precious on this Earth that we need to preserve life. The seriousness of nuclear weapons and the threat is beginning to wake people up, but we really need to shift things and come together to create a safer, more humane world.” 

Email Ashland.news Snowden intern Sydney Seymour at [email protected]. Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth contributed to this report.

Aug. 7: Corrected year Ashland citizens passed a ballot proclaiming the city a Nuclear Free Zone.

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