(World Friendship Center, Hiroshima, Japan)

Mr. Larry and JoAnn Sims are currently Volunteer Directors of World Friendship Center (WFC). They are personal friends of the people from Seattle who are coming to the Opening Ceremony for the Schmoe Memorial Museum. The Sims have coordinated the visitors from the USA and Canada for the Schmoe House Opening. They have also worked closely with Yoko Imada and her interest in creating the Schmoe Memorial Museum.

Rev. Brooks Andrews presenting his father's records of the initial trip to Hiroshima

Rev. Brooks Andrews, interim senior pastor at Japanese Baptist Church, presented records of the 1949 trip Andrews' father, Rev. Emery "Andy" Andrews made to Hiroshima with Floyd Schmoe, Daisy Tibbs-Dawson, and Ruth Jenkins.
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Rev. Brooks Andrews, interim senior pastor at Japanese Baptist Church, presented records of the 1949 trip Andrews' father, Rev. Emery "Andy" Andrews made to Hiroshima with Floyd Schmoe, Daisy Tibbs-Dawson, and Ruth Jenkins.

Rev. Brooks Andrews, Wilfred P. Schmoe, Yosh Nakagawa

Rev. Brooks Andrews is the son of Rev. Emery Andrews. Wilfred Schmoe is the son of Floyd Schmoe. Their father came to Hiroshima in 1949 to start the Houses for Hiroshima project.

Yosh and Sue are members of Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle, Washington. Yosh has made all the US contacts for this event. Yosh is a personal friend of JoAnn and Larry Sims, current Directors of the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima. As a boy, Yosh was interned under Executive Order No. 9066. During his internment, Yosh's pastor was Rev. Emery Andrews. Yosh is very active in the American Baptist Churches of the USA.
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Rev. Brooks Andrews is the son of Rev. Emery Andrews. Wilfred Schmoe is the son of Floyd Schmoe. Their father came to Hiroshima in 1949 to start the Houses for Hiroshima project.

Yosh and Sue are members of Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle, Washington. Yosh has made all the US contacts for this event. Yosh is a personal friend of JoAnn and Larry Sims, current Directors of the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima. As a boy, Yosh was interned under Executive Order No. 9066. During his internment, Yosh's pastor was Rev. Emery Andrews. Yosh is very active in the American Baptist Churches of the USA.

World Friendship Center staff and volunteers

Wilfred Schmoe donating a portrait of his father Flyod Schmoe

Houses for Hiroshima Project, 1949

Photo sent to Rev. Masahiko Wada at Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle, WA in 1949.   Famed photo donated to Schmoe House Museum on 31 October 2012 in Hiroshima Japan.

Schmoe family members at the evening celebration

Lynne Marie Higerd, Lee Schmoe, Wilfred P. Schmoe at the evening celebration at the Hiroshima Peace Park.
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Lynne Marie Higerd, Lee Schmoe, Wilfred P. Schmoe at the evening celebration at the Hiroshima Peace Park.

Distinguished special invitees

Tomio Moriguchi, Joycie Yee, Haruo Kazama, Herb Tsuchiya
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Tomio Moriguchi, Joycie Yee, Haruo Kazama, Herb Tsuchiya

Dr. Fred Isamu Hasegawa, a hibakusha from Seattle, Washington USA

Fred is a hibakusha.  Before the outbreak of World War II, he moved to Hiroshima with his family from Hawaii. After the war, he returned to the United States to pursue his education. Fred has family living in the Hiroshima area.
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Fred is a hibakusha.  Before the outbreak of World War II, he moved to Hiroshima with his family from Hawaii. After the war, he returned to the United States to pursue his education. Fred has family living in the Hiroshima area.

Fred Hasegawa was 15. His parents had immigrated to Maui Hawaii, where he was born. His father had worked in the cane fields and owned the Hasegawa general store on Maui before retiring in 1933 and moving the family back home to Japan.

There were 250 students in Hasegawa's high school class. School had been closed, but every morning the students took a train from the outskirts of Hiroshima, where they lived, into the city to work for civil defense - half in a weapons factory, assembling parts, and half tearing down houses to cut a fire lane through the city in case of a B-29 attack.

On Aug. 6, Hasegawa found the weapons factory closed because some necessary parts hadn't arrived. He and the other factory students were told to take the train and join their classmates on the fire lanes.

The bomb hit suddenly. One moment they were standing on the train platform. The next a blinding light shattered the morning sun and a cloud of dust seemed to put it out. Hasegawa was knocked to the ground by the concussion.

"I didn't know what had happened. We had natural gas tanks, and I thought maybe they had blown up. I crawled behind a building. I couldn't hear anything. My hearing was gone in the explosion. There was dust everywhere, and I couldn't see anything. I only wanted to go home."

By the time Hasegawa gathered himself to start walking toward home, what little was left of the city was in flames.

Hasegawa skirted the inner city and walked around the bay.

Hasegawa was lucky. The train station was three miles from ground zero. He wasn't badly injured, and no one in his family was killed.

Hasegawa returned to the United States to graduate from the University of Washington. Every other year, a group of doctors from a joint Japanese-U.S. research foundation comes from Japan to study them and others from Oregon and British Columbia.

Mitch Homma presentation at the Hiroshima Peace Park Memorial Cenotaph

The monument is aligned to frame the Peace Flame and the A-Bomb Dome. The Memorial Cenotaph was one of the first memorial monuments built on open field on August 6, 1952. The arch shape represents a shelter for the souls of the victims.
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Mitch Homma presentation at the Hiroshima Peace Park Memorial Cenotaph

Mitch at the Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

The Memorial cenotaph holds the names of all of the people killed by the A-bomb.

Flower presentation at Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Flower presentation at Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

USA group arriving at the Hiroshima Memorial Cenotaph

USA group arriving at the Hiroshima Memorial Cenotaph to pay respect and present flowers.

Hiroshima Memorial Cenotaph presentation

In the center of Hiroshima Peace Park, the memorial is arched-shaped like the roof of an ancient Japanese house, symbolizing a shelter for the victim`s souls. Underneath the arch is a chest which contains the names of the almost quarter of a million people who died.
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Flower presentation at the Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Flower presentation at the Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Flower presentation at the Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
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Flower presentation at the Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Rev. Brooks and Mrs. Corean Andrews

Flower presentation at the Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
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Flower presentation at the Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Hiroshima Memorial Cenotaph flower presentation Wilfred Schmoe

The Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims is in the center of Peace Park, on the axis stretching from the Peace Memorial Museum to the A-bomb Dome.
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Flower presentation at the Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Lee Schmoe at the Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Near the center of the park is a concrete, saddle-shaped monument that covers a cenotaph holding the names of all of the people killed by the bomb. The monument is aligned to frame the Peace Flame and the A-Bomb Dome. The Memorial Cenotaph was one of the first memorial monuments built on open field on August 6, 1952. The arch shape represents a shelter for the souls of the victims.

Rev. Brooks Andrews and Wilfred Schmoe

The Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
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The Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

World Friendship Center Hiroshima Japan

World Friendship Center was founded on August 6th, 1965 (exactly 20 years after the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima), by Barbara Reynolds, to provide a place where people from many nations can meet, share their experiences and reflect on peace. A group of dedicated volunteers have continued Barbara's vision of serving the Hiroshima community and guests to the city.
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World Friendship Center was founded on August 6th, 1965 (exactly 20 years after the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima), by Barbara Reynolds, to provide a place where people from many nations can meet, share their experiences and reflect on peace. A group of dedicated volunteers have continued Barbara's vision of serving the Hiroshima community and guests to the city.

(Rev. Brooks Andrews followed by Herbert Minonu Tsuchiya)

 Rev. Brooks Andrews followed by Herbert Minonu Tsuchiya at Hiroshima Peace Park

Arriving at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

Officials in Hiroshima, Japan opened a museum in early November 2012 commemorating the reconstruction efforts of Seattle community members in the wake of the city's atomic bombing.

The city will open Schmoe House in November to commemorate the work of foreign nationals in helping Hiroshima residents recover. The new museum, which will be affiliated with the famed Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, will be housed in one of the last remaining Hiroshima houses built by the Seattle-led volunteer group.

USA special invitees (Wilfred P. Schmoe with daughter Lynne and Stephanie Stone)

Lynne Marie Higer, Stephanie Stone,  Wilfred P. Schmoe.  31 October 2012 Hiroshima, Japan

Lynne Marie Higer, Stephanie Stone,  Wilfred P. Schmoe.  31 October 2012 Hiroshima, Japan

Schmoe House attendees and delegates from the USA

Yosh Nakagawa, a longtime leader in the Japanese Baptist Church as well as in sports and business and Rev. Emory Andrews' son, Pastor Brooks Andrews, (who is the interim senior minister at the church on Broadway just south of Seattle University) traveled to Hiroshima for the opening of Schmoe House. Nakagawa said several members of Schmoe's family and a number of Japanese Americans attended the opening. 

L to R: Mitch Homma, Stephanie Stone, Wilfred P. Schmoe, JoAnn Sims, Lee Schmoe, Larry Schmoe, Lynne Marie Higerd, Dr. Fred Isamu Hasegawa, Kumiko Hasegawa
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Schmoe House attendees and delegates from the USA

L to R: Mitch Homma, Stephanie Stone, Wilfred P. Schmoe, JoAnn Sims, Lee Schmoe, Larry Schmoe, Lynne Marie Higerd, Dr. Fred Isamu Hasegawa, Kumiko Hasegawa

Yosh Nakagawa from Seattle Washington

Yosh has made all the US contacts for this event.  Yosh is a personal friend of JoAnn and Larry Sims, current Directors of the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima.  As a boy, Yosh was interned under Executive Order No. 9066. During his internment, Yosh's pastor was Rev. Emery Andrews.
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Yosh has made all the US contacts for this event. Yosh is a personal friend of JoAnn and Larry Sims, current Directors of the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima. As a boy, Yosh was interned under Executive Order No. 9066. During his internment, Yosh's pastor was Rev. Emery Andrews.

Mrs. Corean Andrews with Mrs. JoAnn Sims

Mr. Larry and JoAnn Sims are currently Volunteer Directors of World Friendship Center (WFC). They are personal friends of the people in Seattle who are coming to the Opening Ceremony for the Schmoe Memorial Museum. They have coordinated the visitors from the USA and Canada for this event. They have also worked closely with Yoko Imada and her interest in creating the Schmoe Memorial Museum.
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Mr. Larry and JoAnn Sims are currently Volunteer Directors of World Friendship Center (WFC). They are personal friends of the people in Seattle who are coming to the Opening Ceremony for the Schmoe Memorial Museum. They have coordinated the visitors from the USA and Canada for this event. They have also worked closely with Yoko Imada and her interest in creating the Schmoe Memorial Museum.

Rev. Brooks Andrews in front of a photo of his father, Rev. Emery Andrews

In the summer of 1949, Schmoe, Rev. Emery Andrews, Daisy Tibbs-Dawson, and Ruth Jenkins, sailed to Japan with building materials and food and medical supplies for the Hiroshima hospital. With the assistance of many Japanese volunteers, and some skilled craftsmen whom they paid, the group built two duplexes to house four homeless families. 

Wilfred P. Schmoe with a photo of his father, Floyd Schmoe

Floyd Schmoe came up with a plan to build houses for people in Hiroshima. This project was called "Houses for Hiroshima", and it resulted in houses and other forms of compensation for people suffering due to the bombing.

To fund the project that he dubbed "Houses for Hiroshima," Floyd and Ruth mailed an appeal to their Christmas card list, raising several thousand dollars.
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Floyd Schmoe came up with a plan to build houses for people in Hiroshima. This project was called "Houses for Hiroshima", and it resulted in houses and other forms of compensation for people suffering due to the bombing.

Model of a Hiroshima house built by volunteers

The houses included a kitchen, bathroom, and two Japanese-style rooms, six-tatami mat in size.  "Houses for Hiroshima" started with the construction of two semi-detached tenement houses on a municipal housing site in Minami-machi. Construction carried on through the summer heat with the help of friends and associates.
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Model of a Hiroshima house built by volunteers.  The houses included a kitchen, bathroom, and two Japanese-style rooms, six-tatami mat in size.  "Houses for Hiroshima" started with the construction of two semi-detached tenement houses on a municipal housing site in Minami-machi. Construction carried on through the summer heat with the help of friends and associates.

Mr. Koya Azumi talking to Rev. Brooks Andrews

 Mr. Azumi was on the original Hiroshima Houses project for two summers. After the second summer he joined Floyd on the boat across the Pacific. He became a college professor in the US until returning to Tokyo care for his parents.

"Houses for Hiroshima" built in Minami-machi

There were applications for housing from 3,800 families when the first houses were finished in Minami-machi although the city could only select four families.
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There were applications for housing from 3,800 families when the first houses were finished in Minami-machi although the city could only select four families.

Rev. Brooks and Mrs. Corean Andrews at the Schmoe House

Yosh and Sue Nakagawa at the Schmoe House opening

Media coverage at the Schmoe House Grand Opening Ceremony

News media coverage at the Schmoe House Grand Opening Ceremony

Wilfred P. Schmoe speaking at the Grand Opening ceremony

News media coverage at the Schmoe House Grand Opening Ceremony

Dr. Fred Hasegawa reunited with a Hiroshima High School classmate

Schmoe House Grand Opening Ceremony
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Schmoe House Grand Opening Ceremony

Sue and Yosh Nakagawa with Dr. Fred Hasegawa

 Yosh and Sue are members of Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle, Washington. Yosh has made all the US contacts for this event. Yosh is a personal friend of JoAnn and Larry Sims, current Directors of the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima.  As a boy, Yosh was interned under Executive Order No. 9066.  During his internment, Yosh’s pastor was Rev. Emery Andrews.  Yosh is very active in the American Baptist Churches of the USA organization and has played a large role in getting the sites of the former US Internment Centers named as National Monuments.
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 Yosh and Sue are members of Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle, Washington. Yosh has made all the US contacts for this event. Yosh is a personal friend of JoAnn and Larry Sims, current Directors of the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima.  As a boy, Yosh was interned under Executive Order No. 9066.  During his internment, Yosh’s pastor was Rev. Emery Andrews. 

Rev. Brooks and Mrs. Corean Andrews

Rev. Brooks Andrews is currently the Interim Pastor of Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle, Washington.  He is the son of Rev. Emery Andrews who was Pastor of Japanese Baptist Church during the World War II period.   Rev. Emery Andrews came over with Flyod Schmoe to start the project in 1949.  Japan awarded his father, Rev. Emery Andrews the Fifth Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1970.
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Rev. Brooks Andrews is currently the Interim Pastor of Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle, Washington. He is the son of Rev. Emery Andrews who was Pastor of Japanese Baptist Church during the World War II period. Rev. Emery Andrews came over with Flyod Schmoe to start the project in 1949. Japan awarded his father, Rev. Emery Andrews the Fifth Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1970.

The Schmoe House in Hiroshima Japan

Floyd Schmoe came up with a plan to build houses for people in Hiroshima. This project was called "Houses for Hiroshima", and it resulted in houses and other forms of compensation for people suffering due to the bombing.

To implement this project, the Friends Pacific Yearly Meeting and the Japan Friends Years Meeting cooperated to raise funds. The money eventually came from Canada, France, China and other countries around the world. In August 1949, Schmoe and his colleagues arrived in Hiroshima and began building the first houses.
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Schmoe House, Naka-ku, Hiroshima, Japan