SPRINGFIELD — A group of peace activists who are supportive of the plan to temporarily house migrant children caught illegally entering the U.S. at Massachusetts military bases passed through the City of Firsts on Saturday.

As part of their March for Peace and Non-Violence, the members of the New England Peace Pagoda were demonstrating "to remember, and heal from" the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 and to show support for Gov. Deval Patrick answering a federal government plea to find temporary housing for up to 1,000 young people, mostly from Central American, who have been picked up at the southern U.S. border in recent months.

Patrick recently announced he was exploring using Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee or Joint Base Cape Cod in Bourne to temporarily place the young people in an endeavor which would be funded entirely by the federal government while their immigration status or fate was determined.

"We must support and embrace these children," said Sister Claire Carter of the Leverett-based Peace Pagoda in an interview with The Republican's Anne Gerard-Flynn on Friday. "It is our civic obligation in this humanitarian crisis."

The group's ten-day walk to the Statehouse in Boston and back to Leverett will take them to various communities across the Commonwealth to promote the message of living in peace without war or exploitation. For more details on the March for Peace and Non-Violence, visit the Peace Pagoda's website.