EASTHAMPTON — Repeated nightmares of mushroom clouds rising on the horizon often haunted Merri Ansara as a child.
The fear of the threat of nuclear weapons was ever present following the atomic bombings of two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, near the end of World War II. The death tolls recorded are estimates, but are thought to be about 140,000 people in Hiroshima and at least 74,000 people in Nagasaki, with tens of thousands dying later from radiation exposure.
“Today’s generation doesn’t know,” Ansara said. “We spent our childhoods hiding under desks like it would save us.”
Now 78 years old, Ansara said the existential threat of nuclear weapons continues to hang over the world as the U.S. as well as China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United Kingdom still possess nuclear warheads. Estimates from the U.S.-based nonpartisan nonprofit organization Arms Control Commission indicated that the combined inventory of the nine countries is more than 13,000 nuclear warheads.
Saturday, Aug. 6 and Tuesday, Aug. 9 mark the 77th anniversaries of the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. Ansara has co-coordinated a remembrance event at Nashawannuck Pond on Sunday, Aug. 7, with Miranda Groux and Chelsea Faria, to show solidarity with the remaining survivors of the blasts and call for a rapid phasing out of nuclear weapons.
“Now more than ever we are realizing the importance, even the necessity of warning of the dangers of nuclear weapons and advocating for their abolition,” Ansara said.
The commemorative event was first hosted by the American Friends Service Committee of Western Massachusetts in Northampton in 1980. After the entity closed its Northampton office in 2017, it transferred its equipment and staff to The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice in Northampton.
The event then moved to Easthampton, but was not as active during the COVID-19 pandemic. This past spring, the Resistance Center closed.
Massachusetts Peace Action is continuing to help preserve some of the traditions and work of both entities, including the commemoration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August and Martin Luther King Day in January, as well as the biweekly calendar broadcast of the many peace and justice activities that go on throughout the Valley, Ansara said.
This year’s event will again be held in Easthampton at Nashawannuck Pond from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. and is sponsored by the city of Easthampton, with co-sponsors Massachusetts Peace Action, Demilitarize Western Mass., Western Mass. CODEPINK, Emily Williston Memorial Library, Mt. Tom Ice Cream, Prosperity Candles, Treehouse Foundation and Valley Paddlers.
The evening’s program features a raising of the peace flag, short speeches and accounts related to the abolition of nuclear weapons and the experiences of the victims of the bombings, prayers from the Nipponzan Myohoji Japanese Buddhist nuns and monks of the New England Peace Pagoda, and a proclamation and presentation by Mayor Nicole LaChapelle.
Nancy Janoson will perform flute music and Dr. Nao Sakurai will show those in attendance how to make origami peace cranes. And as always, there will be Peace Cream ice cream, Ansara said.
Ted Stock, who moved to Easthampton in 2019, will also join the ceremony this year and ring a bell for peace.
Stock, who was stationed in Vietnam while serving in the Air Force, stumbled across the sound of the bell while in Saigon in 1967. He followed the sound and as he got closer, discovered an older Vietnamese man ringing it and he asked to buy it.
“I just liked the way it sounded,” he said. “At the time, I wasn’t thinking of it as a peace bell, but it certainly seems an appropriate thing now.” He’s now had the bell for more than 50 years.
What makes this bell different is that it is made of old artillery shells that were littered around as a result of the war, Stock said.
“I’m aware of nuclear weapons and their destructive power — it’s a terrible thing to see. War is hell,” he said. “We don’t need them. We should be trying to get rid of them.”
Before the main program, the Western Massachusetts Raging Grannies will lead a peace walk to Nashawannuck Pond. Those interested in joining the walk should meet at the Emily Williston Library at 7 p.m., with walkers heading to the pond at 7:10 p.m.
Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com.
