(21)For Days on End

Motionless, my mother and I stood, and my little brother crouched, in front of the fire in which we had burned my elder sister and other brother.
But after 10 days, my mother and brother could no longer survive either.
One by one, so many Hibakusha who thought they had survived, came down with bomb-related illnesses and were dead by the end of the year.

Urakami-cho, Nagasaki
Photo: Eiichi Matsumoto

(22)It's Empty Inside the Grave

My husband and my son never returned. Even my daughter and myself fell prey to atomic bomb disease, after looking for them.
Are they dead or alive?
We cannot hold funerals for those whose deaths are not confirmed.
Even if we could, I don't want to. It's empty inside the grave.
-- From "Deprived of My Husband by the Atomic Bomb"

Photo: Chugoku Shimbun

(23)Suffering in the Depths

After the atomic bombing, my husband deserted us.
With three children to take care of, we were driven into poverty.
We lived in a tiny 4-tatami-mat house with 2 straw mats and 1 tatami mat on the floor while making our living relying on whatever jobs were available for the unemployed and on public assistance.
Our only assets were 2 sheets to help us bear the cold weather.
The roof leaked awfully and we had no umbrella.
This life of survivor led me to attempt suicide.
-- From "With Hibakusha"

Hiroshima
Photo: Shunkichi Kikuchi

(24)Repeated Hospitalization

My father was exposed to the bomb at 2.5 kilometers from the epicenter.
Though he was injured by splinters of glass, he walked about the city for a week looking for his missing son.
About 8 years later, he suddenly lost his appetite. He had stomach cancer. Cancer spread to various parts of his body and after 5 years of going in and out of hospitals, he passed away at last.
We spent all our money for his medical expenses.

The Red Cross Hospital, Nagasaki
Photo: Hiroshi Matsuda

(25)Are Hibakusha Guinea Pigs ?

Without notice, I was called by the ABCC. I went there expecting to be given medical treatment, because I was anxious about the after-effects of the atomic bombing. I had to take off all of my clothes and was examined from head to toe, but received no medical treatment.
My neighbor, a young women who was exposed to the bomb at the age of 10 was crying, saying that even her pubic hair was photographed to examine its growth.
We were guinea pigs for Americans.

ABCC = Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission of the United States.

The U.S.-Japan Joint Research Team on Atomic Bomb (later incorporated into the ABCC)
Photo: Mainichi Shimbun

(26)Atomic Bomb Orphans

With no father, no mother, no brothers and relatives to turn to
From the day of the atomic bomb, they scavenged for food
Slept in the open and had no clothes to change
They could not live without stealing
They could not remedy their illness or go to school
They lived the lives of beggars.
They had completely lost their families and homelands, which should have been their places of comfort.

Children eating snow, Hiroshima
Photo: Yuichiro Sasaki

(27)The Trauma

That day, we managed to get home through the fire.
Our house had burned down; we could not find our four children.
We only found several bones, which crumbled into powder in our hands.
My wife fell into a state of shock.Three months later, our niece brought an Ichimatsu Doll which our daughter had given her, saying we should keep it in place of our daughter.
My wife was filled with joy at receiving it.
Since then, we have collected the Ichimatsu Dolls, one a year, to console the souls of our children.

Yoshio and Motae Kuramitsu, Saitama
Photo: Ittetsu Morishita

(28)(Voices of the Leadership) Why Was the A-bomb Dropped? -- Was it "to end the war earlier?"

(from the upper right to the lower left)
Douglas MacArther (The Supreme US Commander in the Far East) --"My staff all shared the judgement that Japan was so near to collapse and a surrender might occur at any time." -- "My military judgement is that the bomb is unnecessary. Japan is preparing to surrender."

Harry S.Truman (President of the US) -- "Fini Japs when that comes about." (His journal, on the first day of the Potsdam Conference, July 17, 1945) -- "(If we use the atomic bomb, IjBelieve the Japs will fold up before Russia comes in." (His journal of July 18, 1945 after he received the cable message which confirmed the success of the A-bomb test)

Henry L. Stimson (US Secretary of War, Supreme Commander of the A-bomb operation) "It was to bring the Japanese surrender at the earliest possible date, before the Russians, who had already entered Manchuria, reached the mainland of Japan."

James F. Byrnes (US Secretary of State) "(Mr. Byrnes) did not argue that it was necessary to use the bomb against ... Japan in order to win the war ...(His) view (was) that (it) would make Russia more manageable..."

Fumimaro Konoe (Prime Minister of Japan) -- This is a war without prospect for victory ... I cordially recommend that the way be explored to conclude the war at the earliest possible date." (Report to the Emperor on February 14,1945. However, the Emperor's decision was delayed, and Japan surrendered after the dropping of the A-bombs)

Joseph Stalin (Prime Minister of the Soviet Union) -- "At any cost, do it as soon as possible." Immediately after his return from Potsdam, Stalin ordered Foreign Minister V.M. Molotov to swiftly reopen the atomic weapon development program, which had been stopped since 1942. When the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Stalin gathered 5 leading scientists and ordered them to catch up with the United States.

Report of the US Strategic Bombing Survey Team (1946) -- "Even if the bomb had not been dropped, and even if Russia had not entered the war, Japan would have certainly surrendered by the planned landing on Kyushu on November 1, 1945."

Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima
Photo: Yozo Kudo