News Release

Lights for Peace: Pearl Harbor National Memorial Remembers the Atomic Bombing of Japan 79 Years Later

Date: August 1, 2024
Contact: David Kilton

Pearl Harbor National Memorial will partner with Manhattan Project National Historical Park Sites to remember the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Lights for Peace is an afterhours event and luminary ceremony hosted on August 7, 2024.

Visitors can join the event starting at 5:00 p.m. with the program ending at 7:30 p.m. Pearl Harbor National Memorial is located at 1 Arizona Memorial Place, Honolulu, HI 96818. Visitors can participate in the days leading up to the event by writing messages of inspiration and peace on the luminary bags during their visit to the park between August 3 and 7. The illuminated bags will be placed along the shoreline of Pearl Harbor by those in attendance during the event. National Park Service staff will be present to share stories of the peace and reconciliation that grew out of the harrowing reality of World War II.

This third annual event comes one year after Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and United States Ambassador Rahm Emanuel signed an historic Sister Parks Agreement between Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Pearl Harbor National Memorial. This partnership has been established to further the mission of these two Sites to acknowledge the reality and tragedy of World War II and the many stories that connect within that trying period of our shared history while we seek to embrace the power of peace and the promise of partnership moving into our shared future.

For additional questions about this program, please email [e-mail]. or reach out directly to Pearl Harbor National Memorial’s Press Contact David Kilton.

Pearl Harbor National Memorial does not charge an admission fee, however there is a $7 per day parking fee. Pacific Historic Parks will have the Pearl Harbor Virtual Reality Experience, Narrated Multimedia Tour, and bookstore available to the public throughout the event. Pearl Harbor Visitor Center museums and shoreside displays will be open for the public, as well.