How does the third Prime Minister fit in?
Editor: Fascinating staff on page 13 of your (Searchlight) edition of May 14, 2010, of three former Prime Ministers: one from Singapore, Japan and guess where? From St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Guess again where that picture was taken? At the Peace Memorial, not in Kingstown – in Hiroshima Japan.{{more}}
Now, for the benefit of the uninitiated, on August 6, 1945, history was made when the United States of America exploded the First Atomic Bomb (A-Bomb) on Hiroshima. About 247,000 people in Japan were killed. About three days later on August 9, 1945, the same A-Bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and some 73,000 were killed, whilst thousands had incurable health problems.
In the capital city of Singapore, there is the Victoria Memorial Hall and Theatre and the other buildings akin to the memories of their people. There is not only a Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, but also in Nagasaki and also Monuments (i.e. the Iron man in Kingstown) all to the everlasting memory of the price that its people paid.
In the St. Vincent and the Grenadines capital Kingstown, the Andrew Carnegie Library was closed down, so, too, was the Peace Memorial Hall, and the Cenotaph (Iron Man) was removed and placed in a back alley.
In short, whilst two of the three Prime Ministers were dedicated to the preservation of the memories of their people – Question, How does the third one in the Photograph fit therein?
Stanley Quammie
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