BIDDEFORD — A tradition launched in the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing by a little girl who survived the atomic blast, but later died from its radiation, so touched the hearts and minds of Biddeford Middle School students it inspired them to create their own “art for peace.”

According to BMS Director of Bands Amy Delorge, Biddeford student-created art was mailed to the Japan Peace Museum in June as part of a social justice project that examined Japanese Interment Camps during the school year.  

“Students folded 1,000 origami paper cranes which were mailed to the Japan Peace Museum,” Delorge said. “Band members studied and performed music to learn about Japanese culture and the Battle of Pearl Harbor, and the entire BMS student body viewed films about the Japanese Internment, as well as hearing from an internment camp survivor, Yosh Golden, in March.”

The tradition of creating 1,000 origami paper cranes as a symbol for peace and testament to the innocent victims of nuclear warfare is attributed to Sadako Sasaki, who was just 2 when an American atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.

Sadako was at home with her mother and grandmother when the explosion occurred a little more than 1.2 miles away from their family’s residence. As they fled the atomic blast, the little girt and her mother were caught in black rain from the explosion and it slowly affected Sadako’s health.

She experienced severe swelling in her neck and behind her ears and by the time she was 12 in 1955, Sadako had been diagnosed with terminal acute malignant lymph gland leukemia caused by exposure to atomic radiation.

While hospitalized in August 1955, Sadako first heard about a Japanese legend which promises that anyone who folds 1,000 origami cranes will be granted a wish. By the end of that month, Sadako had reached her goal and her wish was for a lasting world peace. 

Upon her death in October 1955, Sadako’s friends and family helped create a memorial for her and all children who had died from the effects of the atomic bomb. A statue of Sadako holding a golden origami crane was placed in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park along with a plaque that says, “This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace in the world.”

Students from around the world now send thousands of origami cranes to the Japan Peace Museum every year in a solemn remembrance that the victims of war extend far beyond the front lines and it is the obligation of our civilization to do everything possible to avoid nuclear conflict around the world.

Delorge said she was moved to see Biddeford students make the commitment to fold 1,000 origami paper cranes last spring and then send them to the museum, where they were accepted with humble gratitude.

“I was very pleased to receive the paper cranes you folded in your sincere desire for peace,” Yasuyoshi Komizo, chairman of the board of directors of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, wrote in a letter to Delorge. “We dedicated your cranes to the Children’s Peace Monument, the statue that was built in memory of Sadako Sasaki, a junior high school girl who died in 1955 of the ‘A-bomb’ disease.

Komizo wrote that he believes that the spirit of Sadako was pleased by the student’s kind gesture.

“Your prayers for world peace will be passed on to the many people who visit that monument,” he wrote. “Let’s work together for a world of peace free from nuclear weapons so Sadako’s tragedy will never be repeated.”

— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 326, or by email at editor@journaltribune.com.