University of Chicago professor to present Hiroshima commemoration in Rockford Aug. 6

Ganbaku Dome is a destroyed building close to the hypocenter in downtown Hiroshima, Japan, where the United States military dropped the first atomic bomb ever used in a real war. This building is treated as a symbol of peace and listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. At 8:15, Aug. 6, 1945, Little Boy — the first atomic bomb to be used in war — detonated almost directly above the dome. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org)

Online Staff Report

University of Chicago professor Norma Field will present a Hiroshima commemoration at 7 p.m., Monday, Aug. 6, at JustGoods meeting room, 201 Seventh St., Rockford. The program is free and open to the public.

Field teaches a class at the University of Chicago titled “From Hiroshima to Fukushima.” She is the Robert S. Ingersoll Distinguished Service Professor in Japanese Studies, and will be retiring from the University of Chicago this year after a long and distinguished career as a scholar, teacher and activist.

Field will introduce Mr. Yamada, who is a retired metals engineering consultant. He and 700 other retired Japanese men and women with experience in nuclear and related industries together form the SVCF, the Skilled Veterans Corps for Fukushima. They have volunteered to do clean-up and other work necessary to end this radioactive disaster so that younger people won’t have to face lives shortened by the radiation.

For more information, call Stanley Campbell, director of Rockford Urban Ministries, at (815) 964-7111.

Posted July 24, 2012