WASHINGTON - August 6 - On the 65th anniversary of the U.S. bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Peace Action, the nation's largest grassroots peace group, released a statement from Hiroshima by their policy director, Paul Kawika Martin and announced over 150 commemoration events nationwide.

"After the unnecessary killing of hundreds of thousands civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by U.S. nuclear weapons 65 years ago, fortunately the world has not seen these immoral weapons used again.  There is bipartisan support to significantly reduce or abolish nuclear weapons.  It's time for the U.S. Senate to consent to the modest step of ratifying the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) without wasting more taxpayer money on nuclear weapons labs as some Republicans demand.

"By sending John Roos, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, to the commemoration in Hiroshima - the highest U.S. official to ever attend - the Obama administration sends another symbolic message of support for a world free of nuclear weapons.  Besides symbolism, the administration needs to take more action such as reducing the United States' capacity to build nuclear weapons and increasing the rate of dismantling warheads."

The group announced tracking nearly 150 commemoration events on their website http://www.hiroshimaandnagasaki.org.  The public may find events near them or organize their own.  The group estimated that there were dozens of more events of Americans remembering the anniversaries and pushing for a world without nuclear weapons that didn't make it in their website.