U.S. Ambassador Attends 2012 Hiroshima Ceremony

U.S. Ambassador Attends 2012 Hiroshima Ceremony

by James

In 2010, John Roos became the first U.S. Ambassador to attend the Hiroshima atomic bombing memorial ceremony. Then, in 2011, he skipped the ceremony. This year, he was back again. As in 2010, NHK’s live coverage of the ceremony included several shots of Roos:

NHK also had some shots of British Ambassador David Warren and French Ambassador Christian Masset, both of whom were representing their countries for the first time in an official capacity at an Hiroshima ceremony.
The grandsons of two people involved in the bombing were also present. One was Ari Beser, grandson of Enola Gay radar specialist Jacob Beser. The other was Clifton Daniel, grandson of President Harry Truman. Like Ambassador Roos, Daniel was not there to issue any apologies.

After the ceremony, Truman’s grandson, Clifton Daniel, told a press conference when asked about his view on his late grandfather’s decision to drop the bomb that he “cannot make that judgment now.”
He also said, “I’m two generations down the line, it’s now my responsibility to do all I can to make sure we never use nuclear weapons again.“