Victims Recall Atomic Blasts

The horror of the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki should spur citizens worldwide to call for an end to the nuclear arms race, atomic bomb survivors said yesterday before an audience of 25 people at the Divinity School's Andover Hall.

"I think the mission to be fulfilled by us is to make it known to the people of the world that nobody should ever again be forced to have such disastrous experiences," said Sakue Shimohira, who was 10 when her neighborhood was destroyed in the bombing of Nagasaki, in a written statement.

Members of the Japanese Association of Atomic Bomb and Hydrogen Bomb Sufferers, in one of the first stops of a tour of New England, described their experiences in the tragic blasts. They were accompanied by interpreters from the Never Again Campaign, a youth organization devoted to the abolition of war as a means for resolving international conflict.

The survivors related their thoughts and fearsat the time of the blast to the shocked listeners,describing the carnage that precipitated the closeof World War II.

But the speakers stressed that the devastatingbombings should not obstruct current efforts toachieve peace. "I believe that we survivors mustput these bitter memories behind," said Hiroshimasurvivor Masao Kayo, "and work together with therest of the world to realize peace.