Obama Embraces Hiroshima Survivor During Historic Visit

BySTEPHANIE EBBS ABCNews logo
Friday, May 27, 2016
President Barack Obama hugs Shigeaki Mori, an atomic bomb survivor; creator of the memorial for American WWII POWs killed at Hiroshima, during a ceremony at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, May 27, 2016.

President Barack Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, Japan, met several survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing during his trip to the nation.

The president laid a wreath at the cenotaph in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and said he visited the historic site to mourn those killed in the bombing. After his remarks he visited with survivors in the audience. He embraced a man named Shigeaki Mori, who created a memorial for American WWII POWs killed at Hiroshima.

Obama said the world must change its mindset about war and focus on diplomacy, signing the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum's guest book with the comment: "We have known the agony of war. Let us now find the courage, together, to spread peace, and pursue a world without nuclear weapons."

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