Whenever U.S. army veteran Bill Geimer hears the sound of bells, he thinks of hope.
“Not just a pie in the sky hope, but an active version of it,” said the Sooke resident.
“It’s a ‘Get up off the ground’ kind of hope. When I hear the ringing, it reminds me that the phrase never again is more than just a slogan.”
Geimer, who left the United States 82nd Airborne Division in 1969, will be at Victoria’s Christ Cathedral Church on Aug. 6 and 9 for Bells for Peace, an event that remembers the day atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago.
As the Victoria chapter of World Beyond War, a global nonviolent movement to end the war, Geimer said the bells won’t only be ringing in Victoria.
Various global chapters of World Beyond War in Halifax, Virginia, and Christ Church in New Zealand will also participate.
Notably, the City of Victoria designated the week of Aug. 2-9 as Hibakusha Remembrance Week, which honours the survivor of the bombings.
There will be a live stream presentation at noon on Aug. 6 by three Greater Victoria activists to speak about the consequences of a nuclear explosion, the current state of international efforts to avoid another atomic bombing and the state of the ongoing threat. There will also be a Q&A period.
The event takes place at Christ Cathedral Church, 930 Burdett Ave, at 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6 and 11:15 a.m. on Aug. 9.
READ MORE: Atomic bomb remembrance lantern ceremony in Esquimalt Friday
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