A coalition of peace and antinuclear groups plans to protest at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on August 6, 2023, while the ship hosts a “Happy Birthday, Intrepid” party for children. (The actual commissioning anniversary is August 16.) The groups will hold a vigil and hand out information to remind visitors of the 78th anniversary of the dawn of the nuclear age and the ongoing danger of nuclear weapons.
The letter below, signed by 26 organizations, was sent to museum staff on July 3, 2023, asking that the event be canceled out of respect for the thousands who died in Hiroshima in 1945 when the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on that city. No reply has been received, and the event is still on the Intrepid’s public calendar.
Letter to Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
(sent July 3, 2023)
Dear Staff,
It has come to our attention that the Intrepid is celebrating a “Happy Birthday Intrepid” event on Sunday, August 6, 2023, in advance of a commissioning anniversary celebration on August 16, 2023.
As you may be aware, August 6th is a very significant date: the day in 1945 when the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. That bomb and the one dropped three days later on Nagasaki resulted in the loss of up to 226,000 lives plus the radioactive poisoning of thousands more who survived the initial blasts.
The bombings began the nuclear age, and the resulting nuclear arms race has threatened life on our planet. Sadly, that threat has intensified with the recent dangers of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine and the development and spread of far more deadly nuclear weapons by nuclear armed states, including the United States.
To hold a birthday celebration for a warship on this solemn 78th anniversary of the horrific bombing of Hiroshima is totally disrespectful to all those who lost their lives there.
We, the undersigned organizations, call on the Intrepid to cancel the Happy Birthday Intrepid event on August 6 and publicly acknowledge that August 6 is the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 and therefore a day that should be dedicated to calling for a world free of nuclear weapons.
We believe that the Intrepid should use this day to issue a statement that would honor the loss of life in World War II including the victims of the 1945 atom bombs. We ask you to recognize the efforts by both veterans and atom bomb survivors who have dedicated their lives to educate all of us about the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons. We ask you to join our efforts to have the United States sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and bring us back from the brink of nuclear war.
Signed,
NYC War Resisters League
Church Women United in New York State
Pax Christi New York State
Pax Christi Metro New York, Inc.
Granny Peace Brigade, NYC
Youth Arts New York/Hibakusha Stories
Veterans for Peace Chapter 90 Binghamton NY
Broome County Peace Action
International Peace Research Association
Resistance in Brooklyn
World Can’t Wait
Nodutdol for Korean Community Development
Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World
Peace Action New York State
NYC Metro Raging Grannies
Rising Together
Veterans For Peace – NYC Chapter 34
Phil Berrigan Memorial Veterans For Peace Chapter #105
A.J. Muste Memorial Institute
New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (NYCAN)
Rise and Resist
Peace Action Bay Ridge
Stand with Okinawa NY
Brooklyn For Peace
Reverse The Trend: Save Our People, Save Our Planet
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation