SANTA BARBARA, October 21   -- Over 200 people came together at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's 29th Annual Evening for Peace to stand together for our common future. (See photo gallery)

On October 21, 2012,  the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation honored Sen. Tony de Brum at the Coral Casino in Santa Barbara, California.

Senator Tony de Brum has had a distinguished career in government in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. He has spent his entire adult life working for peace, justice and a world free of nuclear weapons on behalf of the Marshall Islanders. He has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister for Health and Environment. He currently serves as Minister in Assistance to the President and represents the people of Kwajalein in Parliament.

Senator de Brum has experienced first-hand the tragic effects of a world that maintains and uses nuclear weapons systems. Born in 1945, he grew up on the island of Likiep during the 12-year period when the United States tested 67 atomic and thermonuclear weapons in the atmosphere and under water in the Marshall Islands (1946-58). He personally witnessed most of the detonations that took place and was nine years old on March 1, 1954, when he experienced the most powerful of those explosions, code-named BRAVO.

One of the first Marshall Islanders to graduate from college, he focused on helping his people to extricate themselves from the legacy of U.S. nuclear testing in his island country. He played a key role in the negotiations that led to the first compact of free association between the U.S. and the R.M.I., and participated in the development of the Constitution of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Senator de Brum has also focused his attention on the newly-defined challenges of global warming and its effects on atoll populations. He remains deeply engaged in seeking justice for the people of his country and an end to the nuclear threats that confront humanity.

The generosity of Foundation donors made it possible for more than 90 students to attend the event for free. Many of them will continue to be involved with the Foundation through the Peace Leadership Program, the Action Alert Network and the internship program.