Hiroshima

Today, sixty-five years after dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and killing more than 140,000 people, the United States sent its first ever delegation to a ceremony commemorating the attack.

Today, U.S. Ambassador John Roos joined representatives from 75 countries at the Hiroshima event, but he wasn't asked to speak. World War II allies France and Britain also sent delegations to the ceremony for the first time.

The memorial event today featured a minute of silence and the release of 1,000 white doves. The thousands of Japanese who survived the attack, but spent the rest of their lives suffering the affect-effects of injuries, illness and grief, were honored.

On a previous visit to the city, Ambassador Roos wnet to the Hiroshima Peace Museum and left a note in the guestbook that read: "A visit to Hiroshima is a powerful reminder of the destructiveness of nuclear weapons, and underscores the importance of working together to seek the peace and security of a world without them."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon visited the Atomic Bomb Museum in Nagasaki yesterday, a first by a U.N. chief. More than 70,000 people died when the U.S. bombed the southern Japanese city on Aug. 9, 1945. Six days later, Japan surrendered and the war ended.