1. Takusuke Uesugi heard about the bombing and went in to the city where he witnessed tragedies of the aftermath. He was 22. The battle with his health, including white blood cell disorders, continues.
2. [at the time of the bomb]
3. I was at a place called the Osaka Air Force Supply Base, Ujina Depot, Kaitaichi Storage. They said it was six kilometers. It was an effort just to get out, to Hiroshima.
4. [reason for coming to Hiroshima]
5. From Kochi, I went to Osaka, where formations were made. Just as there were those sent to Kobe, Hamada, Kamogawa and Itozaki,
6. I just happened to be put in a group bound for Hiroshima. We all got split up.
7. Things came from all over Japan. Air force related supplies. At the supply park we would load ships with what they needed down south, such as supplies and ammunition.
8. Well then we'd load a ship and it would set sail, never to return. Because it sunk. So we ended up with loads of supplies. At least we had then. I don't know what happened to it all later.
9. [the morning of that day]
10. There was role call in the morning. After that was over, I guess there was no work to do. We were growing vegetables for food so I was on the farm for about an hour, I think. I'm not so sure.
11. Orders came, to return immediately because a new type of bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima. I hurried back and was preparing to go with my head band on.
12. [moment of explosion]
13. The moment it dropped, I was outside the warehouse. Non-commissioned officers and those doing office work didn't have any barracks. It was a warehouse. Those inside, their hats were blown off.
14. We used to use a magnesium flash to take photos at night. It was like that. Those who were facing the flash turned and those with their backs to it guarded their necks. We ran to an air raid shelter.
15. It wasn't 5 or 10 minutes before we went back out. We saw cirrocumulus clouds billowing above Hiroshima, like this. It was beautiful. Red, and … the thundercloud was very pretty.
16. This is incredible. It's so hot, we were saying. All we could think was that a new type of bomb had been dropped on one of the gas tanks in Hiroshima. Hiroshima had never had an air strike before.
17. [going into Hiroshima City]
18. At 9 o'clock. No, maybe an hour had passed. I went into the city to help the victims. Oh, there were so many victims.
19. I was in the distance so I wasn't directly exposed, but we were affected because we went into the city. It was a hot day, being August 6th.
20. In Kaitaichi, those rays fell upon us. Purple ones, in a flash. My face got hot, you see. Soldiers had no idea what went on. An elder did say something about a new bomb.
21. About an hour later there were orders to go to Hiroshima for rescue because a new type of bomb was dropped. 12 or 13 of us went on each truck and there were only 4 trucks available.
22. Our destination was Hijiyama. We went around this way from Kaitaichi because the railroad was out of commission.
23. As you can see, Hiroshima has many rivers. We had to cross the first river to get into the city. When we got to the Taisho or Ozu Bridge, vehicles couldn't cross.
24. [tragedy immediately after exposure]
25. We left the vehicle at Kamiyacho and got in with stretchers. All those people, it was out of control. They asked for water but I only had two or three cups full. There was nothing I could do.
26. We asked those able, to walk. The others we carried on our backs and crossed the river. There were so many of them, it was totally impossible.
27. The area behind Hiroshima Station was burning. The Station wasn't on fire though and neither was Hijiyama, going towards Ujina.
28. There was a big department store in front of Hiroshima Station. Let me see. Maybe it was just before Hatchobori. Fukuya. Smoke was billowing from the windows as an hour had already passed.
29. When there's fire, you can see in the sky, huge balls of fire and tornados of flames. Everywhere. I remember telling the driver that our truck is going to catch fire and we won't make it back.
30. [unforgettable scene]
31. Perhaps they weren't able to run or the army missed them, but there were 2, 3 people in water supply tanks set for air raids on every corner. They were burnt and dead.
32. We saw the shoes. Leather shoes don't burn easily but the laces were burnt to a crisp. Only military men wore shoes. Perhaps there were orders but we didn't touch the bodies.
33. We carried the breathing to the truck and took them not to the army hospital, not to red cross, but to an Ujina warehouse that was a shipyard hospital.
34. If they were well enough, we sent them across to islands, but they all died there. They probably all died the following day. The number who died was incredible.
35. We lined them up and asked soldiers which unit they were from. We wrote down their names and ranks but they probably all died.
36. Streetcars were all burnt. All I could think was, are the passengers all dead?
37. Just then, an army doctor and 3 nurses were giving treatment in front of Hiroshima Station. I don't know, but I think they're all dead, too.
38. In a time like this, the elite doctor was wearing a head band. With 3 nurses, he was giving treatment.
39. Down by the river, people were searching for their loved ones. There were so many of them looking for those who might had jumped in fleeing from the heat.
40. I think it was Fukuya department store. Dead bodies, when they burn, curl up. They couldn't have been that small, alive.
41. [witnessed during rescue]
42. The jailhouse was a ways away, but the inmates were quick. I think they were the first ones I saw. While we were on our way out to help, they were the first ones coming across the Taisho Bridge.
43. They were all wearing purple clothes. We had never seen that. They were wearing handcuffs and connected by rods like this.
44. They were the first, I think. They were crossing Taisho Bridge, towards Aki.
45. [worries concerning a-bomb effects]
46. At the time, there was nothing. While I was in service and after returning. I didn't have a wife. I did think about it when I was told I couldn't father children.
47. [as a hibakusha]
48. There are 5 of us here in Geisaimura. 3 from Hiroshima and 2 young ladies from Nagasaki. I guess they're not so young anymore. The ones from Hiroshima are older. My age.
49. Beyond Hijiyama, there was an Akatsuki communications unit. One of them came home after the War. He was burnt though.
50. The other one said that he had come ashore in Ujina the day after. Being the day after was like after the fire so it was different for him.
51. [anger towards war and the a-bomb]
52. War is bad. Stupid people shooting each other are bad. If you fight a war with nuclear weapons there'll be no more people.
53. The one dropped on Hiroshima was small. The ones now are 10's of times larger, I hear.
54. A house near the bridge we crossed was slanted from the blast. Slate tiles fell from the warehouse in Kaitaichi.
55. I think there's a difference between the way we think and the way those directly exposed, do.
56. Soldiers who were in the city say it was out of control, even if they made it out alive.
57. War is out of the question. It's bad. You'll lose your house and everything.
58. I have a lot of friends that got their Atomic Bomb Survivors' Health Handbook when they got seriously ill, because they had been in Hiroshima
59. The atomic bomb is bad. Nuclear weapons are unacceptable. War itself is at fault.
60. Those 2 years older or 2 years younger than me went out of their way to enlist for the country, just to lose their lives.
61. Those who lived are dying in turn now, at 80 or 90. At one time there were 600 hibakusha in Kochi. Now there aren't even 300.
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