Do you think events like the A-bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the attack on Pearl Harbor, 9/11 and so on should be commemorated each year or would you rather see the dates fade into history without any ceremonies?

"History" and "story" are basically the same word. We've heard the story of 9/11, but the truth has yet to come out. Similarly, we've heard the story, but there is more to know about Pearl Harbor and the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings.

I'd like to see the truth come out about these events and the perpetrators exposed. Then they can fade into "history."

I think people reading well-researched, non-ideological, fact-based history books is about a million times more edifying than attending a ceremony or reacting to a FAcebook meme, which is where the majority of young people seem to be getting their opinions.

Should dates like October 14 and February 11 be forgotten or merely be holidays without celebrations?

I'd like to see historical events remembered without them being politicized by soon-to-be-forgotten so-called politicians.

Days like Aug 6 and 9th, and Dec 7th should be used to tell the true story (as Bertie says) of Why these days occurred. Knowing the story might help people avoid the same mistakes.

Look at divinda's comment on the "From Outbreak to Surrender" story also on this site to see how history has been skewered.

Could not both the tragic period in history be commemorated as a joint unified event of 75 years of peace.

Just my opinion, but I think Tokyo should do more to commemorate the Fire Raid. On a local level at least. The same goes for other cities that were firebombed.

Firstly, it reminds us of the destructive power of conventional weapons which are far more commonly used than atomic ones. The scale of the Fire Raid makes most distinctions with Hiroshima and Nagasaki pretty much irrelevant.

Secondly, unlike Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Fire Raid is not complicated by claims that it was necessary to bring about Japanese surrender. Wars generally did not involve killing civilians until the 20th Century. The idea that it is acceptable to do so is a modern creation and should be questioned. Remove the surrender justification, and you can have a far more productive discussion about the rights and wrongs of how wars are fought.

fwiw, I am not advocating ceremonies and think there is more benefit from one minute's reading than there is from having a one minute's silence.

Forgive if you can, but never forget.

Because if that happens, then you create the perfect excuse for bigotry, if you are not aware of such events. If you are not taught them.

Genocide, slavery, civil rights, from Hiroshima, to Derry, to Pear Harbour, to Auschwitz.

It is our duty to remember so that we may prevent future atrocities.

I see that some Japanese remember that 49 'pumpkin' bombs were dropped on cities throughout Japan to test in advance for accuracy in preparation for the upcoming fat man and little boy.

73% of the city where I live was destroyed in one night of firebombing, with 95,000 incendiaries from 140 B-29s. People who sheltered in stone bank vaults were deprived of oxygen and roasted to death. The rivers were packed with the dead, and with the dying who were trying to cool their burns. I am sure the survivors and relatives can never forget, but I suspect the annual ceremonies are always muted and respectful.

remember them so that the coming generations will know what happened and what to avoid

Forgive if you can, but never forget. 

Because if that happens, then you create the perfect excuse for bigotry, if you are not aware of such events. If you are not taught them.

Genocide, slavery, civil rights, from Hiroshima, to Derry, to Pear Harbour, to Auschwitz.

It is our duty to remember so that we may prevent future atrocities

I agree.

9/11 was almost 20 years ago and the truth has yet to be revealed. The commemoration always seems to focus on "rights and freedoms" and hate for Arabs. Also, more Americans have now died from Covid-19 than in 9/11. Hopefully this year there won't be any large gathering.

Ask any kid about August 8th and see what happens. That is, if you can tear him away from his Dumbphone while he's walking. Humans have very short memories, nobody thinks this can happen again, so why worry? There's absolutely nothing any of you reading this can do about it.

9/11? Americans still don't understand "why they hate us". Tribalism is alive and well!

It should be part of history books.

As time goes on, new tragedy, new wars, new disasters will happen. If you try to remember every disaster, in 200 years from now almost every other day you'll have to remember a tragic event.

Remembering the past is one thing, having a ceremony every year is another.

9/11. I felt sympathy for the U.S. for about 30 minutes.

After that my mind-set changed. If you demand to be the World Policeman, you will get punched in the nose.

America suffered because It Is What It Is.

Hiroshima/ Nagasaki have a place in History. I watched the Live Stream here in New Zealand.

Tears Streaming down my cheeks. I am 65, what happened to these two cities is relevant to me.

9/11 is not.

I felt sympathy for the U.S. for about 30 minutes.

I felt sympathy for the victims, first responders, traumatised New Yorkers.

Immediately I knew it was Uncle Sam's Frankenstein, Bin Laden, and the consequences would be huge. Saddam Hussein, having few friends and huge oil reserves was a natural target; the fact that he despised OBL a total irrelevance.

So, three thousand 9/11 dead would be avenged by a collective punishment that saw the slaughter of Two Hundred Thousand non-combatants in Iraq alone, largely unrecorded by 'Western' media, whose own sons' 'sacrifice' - conversely - made primetime headlines.

The brilliant English actor Peter Ustinov said, "terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich." And so the blood lust spread from monstrously asymmetric warfare visiting bloodshed on innocents, to attacks on the West's own civilians.

Lest we willingly condemn ourselves to an eternity of rinse-and-repeat flag worship and carnage, here's a radical idea: call out the military industrial complex for the evil, self-serving moral vacuum that it is, and hospice it.

Respectfully commemorate our collective loss by Celebrating Peace.

Study War No More.

Good question.... Look, now 75 years have gone and those atomic weapons are still here on the planet. You simply have to abolish and destroy them all, but instead what happens? More and more countries want them as a kind of insurance or for showing military, economic , religious powers and so on. Just destroy them all and everywhere, then you have really something to commemorate, for the first time.

Yes, they should be commemorated and commemorated with the truth and correct speech, but they generally are not.

They should also be commemorated in proportion. Pearl Harbor? Sick of hearing about it. Military men on a military base getting bombed by other military men from a country with high tensions due to the fact the President of the bombed men wanted to get his country into the war, especially in Europe. Americans make FAR too much of it and its the same with 9/11.

August 6 and 9, as mass murders of innocent, unarmed civilians, should be commemorated with 10 times more effort and be commemorated by burning effigies of Truman and Tibbets and others.

If you demand to be the World Policeman, you will get punched in the nose.

I would at least say Bad World Policeman, or even World Bad Cop. Even better would be top world neo-imperialist. 9/11 was as much the result of imperialism as the atomic bombs on Japan was the result of Pearl Harbor. It was chickens coming home to roost, but it was mostly, but not completely, innocent people who died, much like the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The perpetrators were evil, but so were the leaders of the places attacked.

As a British person the attack on Pearl Harbour is meaningless to me... the attacks by the Luftwaffe on parts of the UK were worse and more relevant. We commemorate Battle of Britain day, VE Day and VJ Day, and of course November 11. 9/11 was shocking, but it's an American tragedy...

The A Bomb attacks on Japan though were world changing events... horrific and shook the world to its core.