HEO Man Jeong was 12 years old at the time of the bombing. He was a first-year student at Hiroshima City Second Elementary School. He lived in Hiroshima because of his father's work. He was in Fukushima-cho, about 1.7 km away from Ground Zero, at the time of the bombing. He says that seeing the streets and people of Hiroshima destroyed beyond recognition made him realize the horror of war. He says that he does not want to see even the word "war." "However, he believes that it is the responsibility of those who have experienced war to talk of it with younger generations. "He wishes to convey his yearning for peace.
Life Before the Bombing
I was living in Kobe before entering Elementary School. Then I moved to Chibune, Hyogo-Prefecture from Kobe. It is located north of Himeji. I stayed there until February or March of 6th grade. After that I moved to Hiroshima. Because of my father's job we were moving constantly. My father was working as a subcontractor for military work in Hiroshima. At that time, there was an army cavalry camp with hundreds of horses. My father's job was to transport the horse manure from the camp to the coast of Ujina to be dried. He would then transport the dried manure to the islands of the Seto Inland Sea to be used as fertilizer.
When the Bomb Exploded
It happened to be the day that my mother's parents were moving into the house next door to us. That morning, I was cleaning the house with my grandmother. It was at that time that the bomb exploded. We were cleaning the house when, all of a sudden, there was a bright flash. The next moment, the blast made our house collapse and we were trapped underneath. I opened my eyes but it was so dark I couldn't see anything. After about 10 to 15 minutes, light came in through the cracks and I could see. Our house had collapsed completely and I noticed I was covered in blood. Glass shards from blown out windows were stuck here in my head. My back was cut by a fragment of wood from the house and bleeding, but my life was spared.
"My grandmother returned to my mother's parent's house in Minami-machi. " "Our family had made an air-raid shelter near the Asahi Bridge on the Yamate River so that we could take refuge there in case of emergencies. " When we came out of our collapsed house and headed toward our air-raid shelter, two children came crying from the bank of Fukushima River. It was my little brother, who was in the first grade of elementary school, and his friend. "My brother was burned black and blistered. He was exposed to the bomb while swimming in the river. " When I took my brother's hand to take him and his friend to the shelter, his skin peeled off. As we were heading toward the air-raid shelter, our mother came looking for us. We went to the shelter together. My younger brother had burns all over but there was no medicine so my mother mashed potatoes and rubbed them on his body.
Father was exposed to the bomb on his way to work. Half of his body was covered with burns. One side of his body was unscathed because it was in the shade; the other side was exposed to heat rays and was entirely covered with burns. My father jumped into the river because he could not bear the heat. He came back with his bicycle around 10 o'clock. It began to rain just after my father got home. At first we thought it was just rain, but the color was pitch black. Since it was summer, we were only wearing shorts and T-shirts. Seeing how the black rain slid down our arms, some people thought it was oil.
In the evening, the military set up tents near Koi Station where military doctors and nurses gave medical treatment. We went there but there wasn't much medicine. They were treating people with mercurochrome. For burns, they were applying cooking oil. I remember there was a badly burned woman whose skin was hanging down toward her feet. She had a rod this big sticking out of her face. I still remember this. We saw dead people, horses and cattle floating down the river. I had just finished sixth grade. Seeing these things made me clearly understand the horror of war.
The war had been going on, but I had not actually experienced or seen things like this. But when the atomic bomb happened, I learned the reality of war. I reflected on how war can kill so many people and was terrified. We received medical care near Koi and returned to the air-raid shelter. Our father's cousin was living in Iwakuni at that time. He heard a rumor that a strange bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima and many people had died, so he came to find us. In the evening, we got on a freight train and evacuated to Iwakuni.
Life After the War
After living in Iwakuni for a while, we returned to Korea. Although Iwakuni was a rural area, there was a hospital and I got treatment, but the scars still remain. My father and my little brother had the most serious injuries. My father was hospitalized for a long time. It was summer. And I saw the…well, how can I describe it…. When flies get into wounds, they lay eggs and they turn into maggots. My father's and brother's bodies were covered with white maggots. "My brother died after a week. My father remained hospitalized for a long time until he got better. " The scars from the burns were severe and turned white. After returning to Korea, my father didn't live for very long either. He died when he was in his sixties from the after effects of the atomic bomb.
After returning to Korea, we were so poor you can hardly call it living. There was no food. My mother was from an affluent family. So we went to live with my mother's parents. In 1950, the Korean War broke out. I was 18 years old at the time. I joined the army and fought in the war. On July 27, 1953, the armistice was signed. After that we were demobilized and I returned home. However, it was impossible to make a living in the countryside. So I started working in a shipyard in Busan built by the Japanese during the colonial period. I have been living here in Busan ever since.
My Thoughts on Peace
I applied for the atomic bomb survivor health card in Hiroshima in 1988. I returned home with my card and told my cousin living with my maternal grandparents to apply for one too. He told me, "Don't ever say that we are atomic bomb survivors." "Never come out as an atomic bomb survivor." When I asked him why, he told me that our children would never be able to get married. He told me about how the effects of radiation would be passed on to the children of atomic bomb survivors. But if we want to share the truth about our exposure to the atomic bomb, we first need to come out as hibakusha. Otherwise, we won't be able to speak out about our experiences. Everybody needs to understand the horror of atomic bombs and wars.
People need to be informed about war and how wars have impacted humanity. In order to prevent people from killing each other, they need to know about peace and that there was this war and this weapon was used. We need to inform many people that we must not use weapons of mass destruction and we must not wage wars. I think that is the responsibility of those of us who have experienced war. I have seen the tragedy of the atomic bomb. I have fought in the Korean War. I have seen the realities of war in numerous places. So I hope the current generation will never face war. I don't even want to see the word "war." That is how much I abhor it.
To build a peaceful country, we need to cooperate with each other and work hand in hand with all countries. If war is about to break out somewhere, somebody needs to act to stop it and work toward a solution through dialogue. People who experienced war need to speak out about their experiences and teach the young generations. In order to become countries that do not wage wars, let us continue to think about the meaning of peace, and live peacefully. We should always keep this in our heart: A country without war, a society without war. If we live like that, I believe there will be no wars.
Production: Hiroshima Asahi Advertising Co., Ltd.
Translation: Students of "Nuclear Issues through the Translation of Hibakusha Accounts" (Yokohama National University, Fall 2020)
Translation Supervision: Ronni Alexander, Kenji Hasegawa
Translation Coordination: NET-GTAS（Network of Translators for the Globalization of the Testimonies of Atomic Bomb Survivors)
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