From: [email protected] (Gary S. Trujillo)
Newsgroups: alt.activism,soc.culture.japan
Subject: Hiroshima Survivors' Accounts (13 of 16) [was Re: Universal Peace Day]
Date: 4 Aug 90 21:10:50 GMT
Organization: gst's 3B1 - Somerville, Massachusetts

90/07/30 11:24:44 SYSOP    HIROSHIMA_WITNESS_No.4-3


Ms.  Taeko  Teramae was 15 years old when the bomb  was  dropped.
She was in the central telephone office, 0.5 kilometers away from
the  hypocenter.  Many  mobilized students were  working  in  the
central  telephone center that day. Some 7000 mobilized  students
were killed by the A-bomb in the city of Hiroshima. Teramae  When
the bomb  fell, I was 15 years old.   I was a third grader at the
girls' junior high school.  I saw something shining in the  clear
blue  sky. I wondered what it was, so I stared at it.     As  the
light grew bigger, the shining thing got bigger as well.   And at
the  moment  when  I spoke to my friend,there was  a  flash,  far
brighter than one used for a camera.  It exploded right in  front
of  my  eyes.     There  was a  tremendous  noise  when  all  the
buildings around me collapsed.    I also heard people crying  for
help and for their mothers.   I was caught under something  which
prevented me from moving freely. I was so shocked that I couldn't
believe  what  had happened.  I thought maybe I was  having  some
kind  of nightmare, but of course, I wasn't.  I felt pain when  I
pinched  myself to see if it was real.   I thought the  bomb  had
been  dropped   on the central telephone office.   The  dust  was
rising  and  something  sandy and slimy  entered  my  mouth.    I
couldn't figure out what it was since I couldn't move or see.   I
couldn't  see  anything in the dark.   A little  later,  I  smelt
something like sulfur.   It smelt like the volcano, Mt. Aso and I
threw  up.   I heard more voices calling "Mother!  Mother!"   But
when  our class teacher, Mr.Wakita, told us to behave  like  good
students  and stop crying, all the cries for help and for  Mother
stopped  all  of  a sudden.   We began to calm down  and  try  to
behave  as Mr. Wakita told us to.   I tried very hard to move  my
arms and my legs and finally I was able to move a little.   I was
so surprised to see the dark sky with all the red flames  through
the window  because it was only a few minutes before when the sky
was blue and clear.   It was all quiet and the city was  wrapped,
enveloped  in  red flames.   Mr. Wakita came to  help  me.     He
asked me if I wanted to swim across the river.    The bridge  was
burning and the river was very high.   I had no choice.   I could
barely  see  by then, though.   And Mr. wakita took my  arms  and
told  me to swim across the river together with him, so  together
we  went  into the river and began to swim. When we  reached  the
middle  of  the river, I could no longer see anything and  I  was
starting  to feel faint.   And as I began to feel faint,  I  also
began  to lose control.   Mr. Wakita encouraged me and helped  me
to  reach the other side of the river.   Finally, we reached  the
other  side.    What surprised me so much was that all the  cries
of  the students for help and for their mothers. It  just  didn't
stop.    I couldn't see anything.   All I could do was listen  to
their  cries.    I asked my teacher, I asked him what  was  going
on. Mr. Wakita explained to me how the high school students  were
burnt  and  crouching in pain in the streets.    I  couldn't  see
anything.    There  were  many students  who  were  mobilized  to
destroy  buildings to widen the streets and the area  of  Tsurumi
Bridge,  City  Hall and the Chugoku Newspaper on  that  day.  And
since they were outside, they were directly exposed to the  bomb.
Many  of  them  died, many of them died  right  there.    Someone
called for help in vain, and some jumped into the river and drown
to death.   If my teacher, Mr. Wakita had not come to help me,  I
would have died in the river.
Interviewer:How were your wounds?
Teramae:   If my wounds had been on my arms or my legs,  I  would
have  known  it was, but my wounds were on my face, so I  had  no
idea  for some time.   I just didn't  know.   I asked my  parents
how  I looked, but they just said that I had only  minor  wounds.
They  didn't  tell me the truth.   After I got better, I found  a
piece of mirror and looked into it.   I was so surprised I  found
my left eye looked just like a pomegranate, and I also found cuts
on  my  right eye and on my nose and on my lower jaw.     It  was
horrible.    I  was very shocked to find myself  looking  like  a
monster.   I even wished I had died with my sisters.   I was just
overcome with apprehension when I thought about it.

Interviewer   :  What is your biggest hope or dream now that  you
want to realize?

Teramae   :  Well, my hope is to have a comprehensive meeting  of
A-bomb survivors.    That's  what I want.   We had such a meeting
the  other day and in that meeting, both male and  female  A-bomb
survivors  repeatedly  said that they wanted  their  health  back
again,  even for just one day.   They said they can't  even  wear
short sleeve shirts because of the scars on their arms left  from
the bomb.   Lonely A-bomb survivors include those who lost  their
families and also the mobilized students who have remained single
because  of the wounds caused by the A-bomb.    There  are  great
many  of them.   So, I do hope to do something to support  always
lonely people. This has been testimony by Ms. Taeko Teramae.
--
Gary S. Trujillo                              [email protected]
Somerville, Massachusetts                     {wjh12,spdcc,ima,cdp}!gnosys!gst