Hiroshima memorial also is call for peace.

Byline: Andrea Damewood The Register-Guard

They came not only to remember the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, but to remind that the weapons that unleashed such horror 62 years ago are more plentiful today.

They came, about 150 strong, to light candles and float them in the duck pond at Alton Baker Park on Sunday night.

And they came to hear Bob Watada, the father of Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, who, by refusing to fight in a conflict he feels is illegal, has become a figurehead against the war in Iraq.

Standing under a white tent adorned with peace flags and brightly colored folded paper cranes, the elder Watada likened today's war with other events in history where soldiers "plundered, tortured and murdered" in the name of liberty and justice.

"We're the descendants of the barbarians," said Watada, who recently moved from Hawaii to a farm near Pleasant Hill. "Years from now the history books will talk of the barbarians lasting well into the 21st century."

The Japanese, he said, entered into sincere talks with Russia five months before the first atomic bomb fell on Aug. 5, 1945. The dropping of the bombs "was totally unnecessary," Watada said.

Much like the Iraqi people of today, "the Japanese civilians were the tragic victims" of governments that perpetrate war, he said. "Justice is justified by what the elite want to justify."

That is why his son, Ehren - who faces a second hearing in October after his court-martial at Fort Lewis, Wash., in Feburary was declared a mistrial - has declined to fight, the elder Watada said.

As the sun dipped low, a local choir sang two songs dedicated to Ehren Watada and to the memory of the Japanese victims.

With dusk approaching, peace activists moved to the duck pond where they lit tea candles and placed them in paper bags. The bags glowed orange as they caught the wind and set out as small beacons of hope, before slowly extinguish- ing. Koto zither music tinkled softly, and traditional Butoh dancers, painted entirely white, were silhouetted against the darkening sky.

Eugene resident Russell Morton ignited the tip of an incense stick he attached to his bag, and said he wished the remembrance could garner the reflection it deserves.

"It's an unfortunate act in history," he said. "We know we'll have made it when as many people show up for this honorable event as for a football game. So we're short about 53,000."