Hotfoot in Hiroshima

Hiroshima observed the third anniversary of its atomic bomb last week. In token of peace, doves fluttered, bells tolled and a poet was reciting an ode,when a squadron of R.A.F. Mustang fighters thundered overhead, drowning out his voice.

This martial interruption was the idea of Australia's Lieut. General H.C.H. Robertson, British Commonwealth occupation commander in Japan. Like many a Commonwealth occupation official, Robertson feels that U.S. policy in Japan has too much poetry, not enough punch. As commander of the Hiroshima area at the ceremony, Robertson had a rare chance to show the Japanese (and the Americans) what he meant.

He scrapped the U.S. plans for the ceremony, sent American subordinate officers to the rear of the platform, ruled out friendly U.S. messages to the people of Hiroshima. As honor guests on the platform he installed the members of an Australian parliamentary delegation. When he rose to speak, he briefly delivered MacArthur's greetings, then referred to the bombing of Hiroshima in words the Japanese have not heard for some time. Said Brasshat Robertson: "This disaster was your own fault. . . The punishment given to Hiroshima was only part of the retribution of the Japanese people as a whole. .."

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