HIROSHIMA—President Barack Obama was on the verge of making history Friday as he readied to visit Hiroshima and become the only sitting US leader to set foot on ground that was seared by the world’s first nuclear attack.
The trip comes more than seven decades after the Enola Gay bomber dropped its deadly atomic payload, dubbed “Little Boy”, over the western Japanese city.
The bombing claimed the lives of 140,000 people, some of whom died immediately in a ball of searing heat, while many succumbed to injuries or radiation-related illnesses in the weeks, months and years afterwards.
A second nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later.
Coming in Obama’s final year in office, the visit also marks seven years since he used his trademark soaring rhetoric to call for the elimination of atomic arms in a landmark speech in Prague that helped him win the Nobel Peace Prize.
And while the world today appears no closer to that lofty vision, Obama is expected to use the symbolism of his presence in Hiroshima to highlight a push for peace.
Anticipation was high in Hiroshima, where crowds of Japanese and visiting foreigners gathered near the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park where Obama was to appear.
“We welcome President Obama,” said 80-year-old Toshiyuki Kawamoto.
“I hope this historic visit to Hiroshima will push for the movement of abolishing nuclear weapons in the world.”
Japanese and American flags flew on the street in front of the site, with a city official saying it was the first time the Stars and Stripes had been raised there.
Obama, who arrived at a US military base west of Hiroshima to address troops after attending a Group of Seven summit elsewhere in Japan, is expected to lay flowers at the cenotaph in the memorial park in Hiroshima and will be accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The cenotaph lies in the shadow of a domed building, whose skeleton has been left standing in silent testament to the victims of the first ever nuclear attack.
He told American troops at a base in Iwakuni in the west of the country that visiting Hiroshima was a chance to “honor” the memory of all who died in the war.
“It’s a testament to how even the most painful divides can be bridged,” he said. “How two nations can become not just partners but the best of friends.”