From:
[email protected] (Gary S. Trujillo)
Newsgroups: alt.activism,soc.culture.japan
Subject: Hiroshima Survivors' Accounts (15 of 16) [was Re: Universal Peace Day]
Date: 4 Aug 90 21:16:09 GMT
Organization: gst's 3B1 - Somerville, Massachusetts
90/07/30 11:27:35 SYSOP HIROSHIMA_WITNESS_No.5-2
Eiko Taoka, then 21, was heading for Funairi with her one year
old son to secure wagon in preparation for her move out of the
building which was to be evacuated. Her son died of radiation
sickness on August 28.
Taoka: When we were near in Hatchobori and since I had been
holding my son in my arms, the young woman in front of me said,
"I will be getting off here. Please take this seat." We were
just changing places when there was a strange smell and sound. It
suddenly became dark and before I knew it, I had jumped outside.
Interviewer: What about your son?
Taoka: I held him firmly and looked down on him. He had been
standing by the window and I think fragments of glass had pierced
his head. His face was a mess because of the blood flowing from
his head. But he looked at my face and smiled. His smile has
remained glued in my memory. He did not comprehend what had
happened. And so he looked at me and smiled at my face which was
all bloody. I had plenty of milk which he drank all throughout
that day. I think my child sucked the poison right out of my
body. And soon after that he died. Yes, I think that he died for
me.
Tsutaichi Matsuzaka, then a 37 years old factory worker in
Mukaihara, was on his way to the main office of his company in
Hatsukaichi to get woodwork materials with three of his
coworkers. His three coworkers died one after another within two
or three weeks after the bombing.
Matsuzaka: My hair fell off. I had a fever and spots appeared on
my body. I heard all kinds of talk in those days, for instance,
that the one was doomed if these spots appeared. So I was in
constant fear for my life.
Interviewer: Two out of your three coworkers died?
Matsuzaka: No, No. three.
Interviewer: All three?
Matsuzaka: Yes, Hayashi died the following week. The next man
died two weeks later and the third, a little after that. I pray
that there never be another nuclear war like that. It was a
living hell.
Shizuno Tochiki, 23 at that time, was on her way to her office in
Kogo. Immediately after the bombing, she had a high fever which
lasted for ten days. She's suffered the symptoms of radiation
sickness, the purple spots appeared all over her body and her
hair fell out. It was only after one month that she was finally
able to get up.
Tochiki: I think the air-raid warning had been lifted, so I left
for Hatchobori without worrying. Then, there was a flash and a
big sound which is known as "Pika-don". The train shock and it
seemed to me as if a flash had directly entered my eyes. It was
extremely hot. Because of the jolt, people fell right on top of
each other. I think I was at a very bottom. I thought I would be
crashed to death in a little while because I was so small and had
the weight of all those people on top of me. But one by the
people on top finally left the car. They ran with all their might
along the railroad tracks. I could hear someone shout, "Another
hit and we're finished." But I could only see people's shadows.
When I gained consciousness, I was in a bed. I don't remember how
many days it took until I could walk again. One day I asked for a
cane, but I couldn't walk straight since my legs were so thin and
so shaky. I staggered towards a mirror and I fell utterly,
completely miserable as I had no hair, all my hair was gone. But
just being able to walk to the next room made me so happy.
Keiko Matsuda, then 14, on her way to Miyajima with two friends
since they had no mobilized labor on that day. One of her friends
who had been closest to the front and received the worst burns
died in firs-aid station in Nukushina.
Matsuda: It was very, very hot. I touched my skin and it just
peeled right off. The driver of the streetcar was not in sight. I
thought he had been quick to run away but now I think that he was
probably hurled outside in the blast. It was around August 25
that a pile of my hair just fell off all at once. I had a high
fever and maggots infested in my eyes.
Interviewer: In your eyes?
Matsuda: Yes. I was afflicted with erysipelas as well. I had two
children, but I had not told them about this experience. And I
don't want to talk about it. But this time many people are
testifying together and since I've been asked, I will talk. But I
have tried to avoid it until now.
Takeo Watanabe, 16 at that time, was working in a telephone
office and he was heading toward the Chugoku Newspaper Office. He
has speech difficulties since he has cerebral thrombosis. His
wife is together with him today.
Watanabe: How, how can I say it? Well, I, I don't know just what
to say. I got off the car and, and then, (His wife speaks for
him.) it was dark so he groped his way toward an air-raid shelter
he knew nearby. You know when I married him, I didn't know that
my husband was a victim of A-bomb until I read a diary that he
had kept at that time. He would not tell me about experience
himself. He just didn't want to talk about it. Every year from
the end of July to the beginning of August, he would have a fever
or become ill.
Interviewer: So you do not want to talk about your experience?
Watanabe: Hmm...Those day, it was, it was a burden, it was tough,
but I guess now I just, I just have no more choice.
Interviewer: And you finally decided to speak out?
Watanabe: Year.
Akira Ishida, then a 17 year old junior air man in the army, had
the day off and was going to Miyajima with his elder brother to
pray for good luck in the war. His elder brother died in
September 1945 of radiation sickness.
Ishida: Several months later, I can remember, I remember a cold
morning, I don't know why but my mother always kept a round hand
mirror by my pillow, which I picked up without thinking. I looked
at my face and I saw something so shiny on the corner of my head.
Using all my energy, I called out to my mother who was in the
kitchen, and I said, "Mother! My hair is growing back!". She was
so happy that she held me and she cried. I'll never forget that
day and the feel of the tears that my mother shed for me while
she held me in her arms. It still comes back to me even though
the people here are of different ages, we are also all of the
same age. On August 6th, 1945, all of us died once and then, we
were brought back to life. We were all born again. And we're in
our second life now. Everyone gathered here today is now 41 years
old if you count the number the years from the bombing. It's like
a class reunion. I feel that we must testify in the hope that our
experience will help to keep mankind from perishing.
These have been testimonies by a group of survivors who were in
the same streetcar when the atomic bomb was dropped.
--
Gary S. Trujillo
[email protected]
Somerville, Massachusetts {wjh12,spdcc,ima,cdp}!gnosys!gst
