For Midori Morrow, 26, Wednesday was deeply personal and emotional. Morrow’s grandmother was a survivor of the atomic bombing on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945.
Just 7 years old when the US bomb was dropped on that city, Morrow’s grandmother Ruuko survived the atomic blast but died decades later from cancer possibly linked to radiation exposure.
“We must remember so that we do not repeat,” Morrow, an artist in Portland, Maine, said at a Boston gathering to commemorate the attack on Nagasaki and that on Hiroshima, which took place 80 years ago Wednesday. “And please, I ask you, ‘Do not forget Ruuko.’”
Dozens of people — including peace activists, members of faith groups, and musicians — gathered on Dewey Square to raise alarm about the continuing nuclear threat worldwide.
“This is a sad event to commemorate, but in a way it’s also a celebration,” said Brian Garvey, executive director of Massachusetts Peace Action. “Unlike those doomed to repeat history, we are here to remember it — so we do not repeat the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
The atomic bombings 80 years ago have left lasting health and environmental effects, speakers said, that continue to shape global debates over nuclear weapons. The Russia-Ukraine war has raised concern that the weapons could be used today.
Among those warning of those risks was Dr. Ira Helfand, who has held key roles with two organizations that were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work to abolish nuclear weapons and prevent nuclear war.
“This event today is designed to bring people’s attention to the dangers of nuclear war,” Helfand said. “We go about our business as if we weren’t under this incredibly grave threat. That has to change.”
The square itself became a space for reflection Wednesday amid the bustle of downtown Boston.
Encircling the lawn were poster boards displaying artwork and poetry inspired by the bombings on Japan and commemorating the lives lost. An origami station invited attendees to fold paper cranes, a Japanese symbol of peace and remembrance.
Some visitors paused to take in the displays quietly; others joined conversations with organizers at tables for advocacy groups and peace coalitions. Stone of Hope drummers from the Friends Meeting at Cambridge took to the stage to perform.
After speaking to the crowd, Morrow described using art — in photography and through installations — and working as a nuclear peace activist to honor her family’s story.
“My grandmother did not see the abolition of nuclear weapons in her lifetime,” Morrow said. “But I hope she can see it through mine.”
At 14 years old, Morrow remembers sitting in world history class participating in a debate: whether or not the atomic bomb should have been dropped. Morrow was the only student who said “no” to dropping the bomb.
“I feel like more people should have said no,” Morrow recalled. “But that was the moment that it clicked. I understood my connection to [the bombings] is vastly different than the way that it’s taught to anybody in this country.”
Morrow was only 11 years old when her grandmother passed away from glioblastoma, a fast-moving brain cancer.
Today, Morrow wears a gold pin in the shape of a dove picked up during a visit to the Nagasaki peace museum, to be reminded of Ruuko.
Sadaf Tokhi can be reached at sadaf.tokhi@globe.com.