War...war never changes

The atomic bomb blast in Hiroshima, Japan, on 6 August 1945. Photograph: Peace Memorial Museum/EPA


Today is the 64th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and the funeral of Harry Patch, the last man to have fought in the trenches in WWI.

The significance of these two events is that they represent the passing into the mists of history profound moments of the last century. There is now no one alive who was physically present in the trenches of WWI. Soon enough there will be no one left who can remember Hiroshima or Nagasaki first hand.

Now we enter a new battle, the battle for how we choose to remember these events. In reality this battle started as soon as the events themselves happened. However, once we no longer have eye witnesses it becomes all the more important.

In the case of Hiroshima especially, footage of the actual carnage was suppressed for decades, lest the Americans find out what it was they actually did. That battle has largely succeeded. In a poll released earlier this week 2 thirds of Americans think that bombing Hirsohima and Nagasaki was the right thing to do. This obfuscation of history has only one intended affect, to allow us to do it again.

Interestingly, for all the attention paid to "our heroes" in the trenches. Harry Patch didn't want to be remembered as a soldier, but as the man of peace he was for the last 90 years of his life. In his own words "War isn't worth a single man's life".