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Oregon home to more Hiroshima peace trees than any other state, nation outside Japan


"The seedlings should be planted next spring to mark the 75th anniversary of the bombing and the end of World War II," state forestry said on Facebook in 2019. "Hiroshima residents have been sharing seeds from those survivor trees around the world, seeing them as messengers of peace." (ODF)
"The seedlings should be planted next spring to mark the 75th anniversary of the bombing and the end of World War II," state forestry said on Facebook in 2019. "Hiroshima residents have been sharing seeds from those survivor trees around the world, seeing them as messengers of peace." (ODF)
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SALEM, Ore. - There are more Hiroshima peace trees in Oregon - grown from seeds of ginkgo and Asian persimmons that survived the atomic bombing of the city on August 6, 1945 - than in any other state or nation outside Japan, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry.

In conflict, Oregon and Japan had been enemies.

Three of the Doolittle Raiders who bombed Tokyo in retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor were from Oregon, and the bombers trained for their mission in Tokyo.

Japan answered in September 1942 by launching a bomber from a submarine and attacking the southwest Oregon Coast not once, but twice - the only attacks on the contiguous lower 48 states during the war.

Those bombs failed to spark a raging wildfire, thanks to late summer rain.

But one of the balloon bombs sent aloft in another attempt to set the Pacific Northwest on fire did kill a pastor's pregnant wife and 5 church youth group members in 1945.

And that same campaign to start forest fires led to the creation of a top-secret team of Black paratroopers - the Triple Nickles - who only in recent years have received a public thanks for help to protectg the state's forests.

In peace, the seeds of friendship took root - and blossomed.

That Japanese bomber pilot who flew missions over Oregon - Nobua Fujita - returned to Brookings as the city's guest. He gifted the centuries-old family sword he carried on his missions over Oregon to the town. Before his death in 1997, they proclaimed him an honorary citizen.

And Hiroshima survivor Hideko Tamura-Snider - now an Oregonian - enlisted the help of other tree lovers to bring seeds from the trees that survived the bombing to her adopted home.

Eugene, Cottage Grove, Roseburg and Creswell are among the 30 towns and cities across the state now home to 45 peace trees.

The Oregon Department of Forestry has made a map to help you locate the trees.

One of those is the Green Legacy Peace Tree in Alton Baker Park in Eugene.

That's where participants in the annual Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration will gather at 7 p.m. Thursday, near the duck pond and park entrance.

"As in past years, the event will honor those who died when the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and we will pledge to take action to ensure that nuclear weapons will never be used again," organizers said. "The drumming by Eugene Taiko, the traditional Japanese Obon dancing, music by the Yujin Gakuen Children's Peace Choir, and speakers will return next year."

Jim Gersbach from Oregon Community Trees said the peace tree project is a reminder that "trees also can bring a community together to reflect on life’s more meaningful aspects and values."

“We are again in a time of widespread loss of life and uncertainty due to the novel corona virus,” he said. “These seedlings’ parents leafed out from scorched trunks in the months following the atom bomb, giving hope to the bereaved survivors in Hiroshima. Their progeny serve as hopeful symbols in our current pandemic of the resilience of life.”

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