A paper crane is a sign of peace. Today I learned why.
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. According to Checkiday.com around 80,000 to 90,000 people were killed when the bomb exploded. Many more died afterwards from the effects of the bomb.
One of those people was a girl named Sadako Sasaki. She was two years old when the bomb hit Hiroshima. She survived the blast but when she was eleven she learned she had a type of cancer called leukemia that was caused by the atomic bomb. When she was in the hospital, her dad told her about a Japanese tradition that if you fold a thousand paper cranes your wish would come true. She folded more than 1,300 cranes but died on October 25, 1955 when she was twelve years old.
Her friends and classmates raised money to build a memorial for her and other atomic bomb victims. In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was completed at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. At the bottom of the statue, there is a plaque that says, "This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace in the world."
Today, people from all over the world make paper cranes and send them to Hiroshima where they are hung near the statue.
Cranes that Sadako made have been given to places as a wish for peace. Places like the Arizona Memorial and the World Trade Center have a crane made by Sadako.
Here are a couple of videos I watched.
I also just borrowed Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr to read.
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