Apology for Hiroshima--A New Poem

This poem is in response to Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to Hiroshima yesterday.

Apology for Hiroshima

Secretary John Kerry,

Deeply moved by his visit to Hiroshima today,

Still issued no apology from the United States.

So if he won’t do it, I will:

By the power vested in me

(as a human being,

a citizen of the United States,

a citizen of the World—

as a Catholic Christian,

as the son of a US Navy Veteran,

who served on the high seas near Japan in August 1945 . . .)

I apologize for the use of the atomic bomb on civilians and soldiers,

For the killing of some 150,000 people in Hiroshima

(no one will ever know the number),

For the use of the greatest tool of death on a city, &

For the subsequent annihilation of Nagasaki.

And knowing that I myself might never have been born

If the war in the Pacific continued                 still

I apologize in the name of the Untied States.

I ask other people, other countries,

To apologize for the atrocities, sins, and mistakes of the past—

History that we can’t change,

History that must never be repeated.

Robert M. Coughlin / April 11, 2016

How Did Vietnam Protesters Treat Soldiers Who Fought in Vietnam?

This is my last response to my niece Rachel Sanders, who is doing a college project on the Vietnam War. I'm not sure I ever want to write on this topic again (though I am grateful that Rachel asked me about all this).

A point I want to make very clear and unambiguous: The soldiers who fought in Vietnam were our friends, our brothers, our cousins, our classmates. We did not hate them. We loved them, admired their courage, were even grateful, in a way, for their service. 

There were very few differences between them and us. We never spit on the returning soldiers, we never jeered them. Despite what has been said over and over--I never saw saw any of this. Perhaps it happened somewhere, but I never saw it. I loved my cousin Tommy Fitzpatrick, killed in the war. I loved and admired my Notre Dame classmate Steve Shields, killed in the war. I loved my brother Denny, who was in the Navy in the Vietnam theatre. I enjoyed hearing Euclid firefighter Mike Walsh's Vietnam stories. Same for Charlie Celizic. These were our family members and friends. We did not hate them.

Some of the soldiers who came back from Vietnam joined our protest. There was an organization called "Vietnam Vets Against the War." One of the great men in the United States, Secretary of State John Kerry, was both a Vietnam hero and a protester against the war.

John Kerry

[Thanks for this opportunity, Rachel, to remember. I do feel a little beat up now by the process of recalling so many painful things. And like I said, I think I am done, maybe forever, writing on this topic.]