Harry Truman's Grandson Meets Atomic Bomb Survivors
Clifton Truman Daniel called the meeting "a good first step toward healing old wounds."
| Posted Friday, Aug. 3, 2012, at 2:29 PM
Photo by Shingo Ito/AFP/Getty Images.
One of Harry Truman's grandsons is in Japan this week to attend ceremonies marking the 67th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On Friday, Clifton Truman Daniel—the first descendant of the man who authorized the bombings to do so—met with a group that included survivors of the World War II attacks.
Daniel, a 55-year-old former journalist, told the AFP that the event was "a good first step toward healing old wounds ... and to better understand each other." Many of the survivors likewise spoke positively of the meeting, but others made it clear they're not willing to forgive and forget. "I would like him to know that some of those who lost their family members in the bombings will never forgive (the United States) no matter what," said Reiko Yamada, a 77-year-old female survivor.
Daniel, who was invited to the event by an anti-nuclear group, stopped short of condemning the actions of his grandfather. "I can't second-guess my grandfather," he said, "(but) there is no right decision in war."
Most of the survivors of the bombings are now in their 70s and 80s. More than 200,000 people were killed either instantly in the bombings or in the following years from the effects of radiation.
