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WWII vets play softball in Hiroshima

HIROSHIMA — Japanese and U.S. veterans who fought in World War II played softball games Sunday in Hiroshima to play for peace.

The games at an elementary school, where some 400 children were killed in the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing, was the second such event following one in December 2007 in Hawaii, organizers said.

The 28 Japanese players are from Tokyo and seven other prefectures, and the 18 American players from Washington, Florida and Hawaii, they said.

Their average age is more than 80 years old.

The U.S. team won in the Japan-U.S. match in the morning. The players played mixed in the afternoon.

They offered flowers the previous day at the Cenotaph for the A-Bomb Victims in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

Maynard Saugstad, 84, a former U.S. Navy officer, said it was wonderful to play in Hiroshima.

Takahiko Segawa, 85, a former crew member on a special-purpose minisub, said he felt that both the Japanese and U.S. veterans are equally hoping for peace.