Maine

Atomic Bomb Survivor Delivers Message of Peace to COA Grads

An atomic bomb survivor is delivering the commencement address at the College of the Atlantic in Maine.

Koko Tanimoto Kondo is a peace activist who was 8 months old the first atomic bomb detonated near her home in Hiroshima. She and her mother were buried under rubble.

At age 10, she was with her father in the United States when they met the co-pilot of the B-29 that dropped the bomb on a TV show. She said she wanted revenge but that meeting Air Force Capt. Robert Lewis changed her mindset, and helped her to learn how to forgive.

The commencement is being held Saturday in Bar Harbor.

Kondo and retired Acadia National Park wildlife biologist Bruce Connery were both receiving an honorary master's of philosophy degree in human ecology.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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