Soldier's children mark VJ Day

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 600, 22 August 1995, Page 1

Soldier's children mark VJ Day

The 50th anniversary of VJ Day in Waiouru was a quiet" affair, with a lot of soldiers called away to march for the parade in Wellington. Commemorations still went ahead with the Waiouru Returned Services Association and the Waiouru Primary School joining together for a combined service that included a tree planting and plaque unveiling ceremony. The magnolia tree and plaque were donated to the school by the Waiouru RSA and during the service RSA members spoke of their memories of the war, the end of the war and 'those dreadful bombs'. Madre Sherri Weinberg led the service explaining to the school children in simple terms why they were there and what they were remembering. Paper peace symbols The children had folded paper cranes that were symbolically placed on the tree after the youngest boy and girl had placed the last shovelful of earth around the tree and unveiled the plaque. Over the years the crane has come to

be a symbol of peace and the school children had made the paper cranes after hearing the story of Sadako Sasaki. The story goes something like this. Sadako' s family thought they were lucky because they had only lost a few members of their family in the Hiroshima bombing. The years passed and Sadako, who was the fastest runner in her school one day became dizzy and fell over during a race. She had leukemia. She set about folding 1000 paper cranes as according to Japanese custom this would make a sick person well again. Sadako had folded 664 cranes before she died and this so moved her school friends they finished folding the 1000 cranes for Sadako and also erected a memorial to their friend that stands in Peace Park, Hiroshima. The memorial shows Sadako standing on a mountain of paradise with a golden crane in her outstretched hand, underneath the children' s wish is engraved. "This Is Our Cry, This Our Prayer - Peace In The World."