The Phoenix of Hiroshima ❍ Ever Since He Was a Boy, Earle Reynolds Wanted Some Words and Phrases to Sail Around the World
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❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ Pages for All Ages ❂ The Phoenix of Hiroshima ❍ Ever since he was a boy, Earle Reynolds wanted Some words and phrases to sail around the world. As an adult, he became a ❂ to know before you read scientist who studied the way that children grow. In 1951, the U.S. Government asked him to study ❍ • nuclear bomb • arrested children in Hiroshima, Japan. The U.S. had dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. They • survived • trial ❂ wanted to learn what the nuclear bombs did to the • radiation • jury people who survived them. Earle Reynolds learned ❍ that children who survived nuclear bombs grew more • docked • court slowly than other children. They got sick more often. Earle became a world expert on nuclear radiation. ❂ • pacifists • convicted After working on that study, Earle and his wife ❍ • Coast Guard • forbidden Barbara decided to sail around the world with two of their children. Ted was sixteen and Jessica was ten ❂ • government • sentence when the family began their journey in 1954. Three • international law of the Reynolds’ friends from Japan sailed along with ❍ them. Their boat was called The Phoenix of Hiroshima. Earle and Barbara Reynolds were not Quakers when ❂ they sailed around the world with their children. But when their trip was almost over, in 1958, they met ❍ some Quakers who changed their lives. When the Reynolds arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii, near ❂ the end of their trip, they docked beside a boat called the Golden Rule. Four Quaker pacifists were trying to sail the Golden Rule to the Marshall Islands. The ❍ U.S. Government was dropping nuclear bombs on ❂ the Marshall Islands, as a way to test the bombs. The Quakers were trying to sail to the Marshall Islands to stop these nuclear tests. Instead, the Coast Guard ❍ stopped the Quakers from sailing. So the Quakers went to court in Hawaii to try to get a judge to give ❂ them permission to sail. The Reynolds went to court with the Quakers to support them. ❍ The Reynolds became upset by what they learned in court. They learned that the U.S. Government ❂ was being dishonest about the dangers of nuclear radiation. They learned that the U.S. Government ❍ was breaking international laws. They learned that the ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ 20 Western Friend, March / April 2015 ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ U.S. Government had forced Seattle people to leave their homes in the Marshall Islands. Portland ❍ Denver When it was time for the Hiroshima ❂ Reynolds to sail the Phoenix San Francisco back to Hiroshima, they Honolulu Los Angeles weren’t sure which way to ❍ go. The shortest way from Honolulu to Hiroshima went Marshall Islands ❂ through a part of the ocean where the U.S. Government ❍ said nobody was allowed to go, because of the nuclear tests. The Reynolds decided to just ❂ start sailing, and decide later which way to go. ❍ When they got to the forbidden part of the ocean, Today, members of Veterans for Peace are working they decided to sail through it. Coast Guard officers with Quakers in California to restore the Golden Rule ❂ stopped them, arrested Earle Reynolds, and flew him and put it back to work for peace. After that, they to Honolulu for trial. Barbara and the rest of the crew might restore the Phoenix of Hiroshima. ❍ sailed the Phoenix to Hiroshima, going the long way. A jury convicted Earle Reynolds of the crime of • Tell about a time that you and your family went ❂ “entering a forbidden area.” But a second court on a big adventure together. cancelled his sentence, and Earle did not go to prison. • When you need to make a big decision, do you ❍ After those adventures, Earle and Barbara Reynolds ever wait until later to decide? joined the Quakers. They worked for peace and • When do you think people should try to stop ❂ justice with the Quakers for the rest of their lives. what the government is doing? ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ This story draws from A Western Quaker Reader, pages 157-163, published by Western Friend. Photo on page 20 is of Earl ❍ and Jesissica on the Phoenix. Photo above left is of Barbara and Jessica meeting Barbara’s mother in Hiroshima after the trip. (These two photos have Creative Commons Licenses.) Photo above right is of a nuclear bomb test in the Marshall Islands (public domain). ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ ❂ ❍ Western Friend, March / April 2015 21.