Sadako Sasaki (January 7, 1943 -- October 25, 1955) was a Japanese girl who lived near Misasa Bridge in Hiroshima, Japan. She was only two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. At the moment of explosion she was at her home, about 1 mile from ground zero. As she grew up, Sadako was a strong, courageous and athletic girl. In 1954, at age eleven, while training for a big race, she became dizzy and fell to the ground. Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia, the "atom bomb disease".
At the Peace Memorial, in the city of Hiroshima, there was a tree of sorts, fashioned from literally a thousand multi-colored folded paper cranes (origami). These cranes are a memorial to Sadako.
Her friend told her that if she made a thousand cranes, her wish would come true and she would live. She had made 644 cranes when she died.
As this story spread throughout Japan, children sent origami cranes. Today, children of the world send their cranes to the city of Hiroshima to maintain the thousand cranes in memory of Sadako.
http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/kids...
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