Eternal Flame Still Seeks a Place to Burn Forever

An “eternal flame for peace” that was to have been the center of a ceremony on Sunday honoring the Japanese killed by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 45 years ago remains homeless six years after it was donated to the city of Los Angeles.

Sponsors of the 1990 Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemorative Peace Program had expected Mayor Tom Bradley to announce a permanent site for the flame, which was donated to Los Angeles by the mayor of Hiroshima during the 1984 Summer Olympics.

But Bradley said there had been a misunderstanding and negotiations were still under way to find a home for the tiny Hiroshima Eternal Flame for Peace that has been kept alive in a brass lantern at the Koyasan Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo.

“The Board of Cultural Affairs has approved it ,” Bradley said at a news conference during the program at the Los Angeles Bahai Center auditorium. “We’re well on our way toward establishing a site . . . it’s now a matter of locating and placing it.”

Organizers of the event, however, insisted that they were told by a spokesman for Bradley to expect an announcement of a permanent home for the flame on Sunday.

“On Friday, the mayor’s office called us with a statement we could expect to hear. What Bradley said today was not that statement,” according to an organizer who asked that her name not be used. “We aren’t sure what happened.”

“It is sad,” said Kent Wong of Asian Pacific Americans for Nuclear Awareness, which made arrangements for the flame to be hand-carried to Los Angeles by a Japanese emissary with a pledge that it be kept burning at a permanent site. “We really want a home for this flame.”

The flame was only formally accepted by Bradley at last year’s 44th commemorative ceremony of the bombings.

Also among the disappointed was Kaz Suyeishi, who was a teen-ager when she was knocked unconscious by the atomic blast in Hiroshima.

“Push him about this, please push him,” said Suyeishi, of Pasadena, who has devoted her life to the cause of fighting for peace. “This is not our responsibility, it is the city’s responsibility.”

Earlier, Suyeishi, who is a hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor), broke down in tears when she recalled the events of Aug. 6, 1945.

“Against a beautiful blue sky, I saw a B-29 that to me looked like an angel, and a tiny white spot falling slowly beneath it,” said Suyeishi, who wore a black dress for the Sunday ceremony, part of which was broadcast live to Japan by satellite. “Then there was a powerful flash of light.

“A moment later, heaven turned to hell and the blue sky turned gray. I heard, ‘Help me, help me.’ I saw the city in flames and people everywhere covered with blood.

“We must not make the same mistake again,” said Suyeishi.