NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) -- The MacArthur Memorial is hosting a very special exhibit of 1,000 paper cranes that were created by students here in Hampton Roads.
The exhibit in downtown Norfolk is entitled "A Better" World and will be displayed from August 2 to October 2.
The display coincides with the 71st anniversary of when atomic bombs were dropped on Japan on August 6 and 9 in 1945 and the end of World War II on September 2.
Students from Kemps Landing/Old Donation School, Maury High School, Lake Taylor High School, Tallwood High School, Salem High School, The Academy of International Studies at Rosemont, Larchmont Elementary School, Bayside High School, the Health Services Academy and Norview High School volunteered their time to create all 1,000 cranes on display.
According to an ancient Japanese legend, anyone who folds 1,000 paper cranes is granted a wish. At the age of 12, a Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki began making origami cranes when she started suffering from leukemia after being exposed to radiation from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Her goal was to make 1,000 paper cranes and then wish for a long, healthy life. She completed her goal of creating all 1,000 cranes, but died on October 25, 1955.
People around the world fold paper cranes every year in Sadako's memory and as a reminder of peace.
The MacArthur Memorial was founded in 1964 as a museum dedicated to the life and times of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur who is buried in the Memorial's rotunda with his wife Jean.
At the end of World War II, General MacArthur pressed for a lasting peace and hoped "a better world" would come out of the "blood and carnage of the past -- a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance and justice."
