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| KOIKE Takao（KOIKE Takao） |
| Gender |
Male |
Age at time of bombing |
20 |
| Recorded on |
2003.10.7 |
Age at time of recording |
78 |
| Location at time of bombing |
Hiroshima(Direct exposure Distance from the bombing hypocenter:2.0km) |
| Location when exposed to the bombing |
Osuga-cho, Hiroshima City [Current Kami-osuga-cho, Higashi-ku, Hiroshima City] |
| Status at time of bombing |
Armed Forces member or military personnel |
| Occupational status at time of bombing |
Headquarters, Second Army Command |
| Hall site |
Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims |
Dubbed in English/
With English subtitles |
Dubbed in English |
1. Takao Koike was at his army barracks in Osuga, 2 kilometers from the epicenter, at the time of the explosion.
2. He immediately started helping to recover bodies and to this day he has vivid memories, especially of the dead bodies floating on the river.
3. I was living in a place called Osuga, in Hiroshima.
4. At the time, you know we all thought it an honor to work for the country and the army had an advertisement out,
5. wanting something called a special cadreman.So I applied.
6. There was rumor that the American forces would invade the mainland and so the main government was divided into two, with headquarters in Tokyo and in Hiroshima.
7. I was transferred from Ozuki airport, and… well I was living in Osuga and doing some work there.
8. Luckily I was in a shelter. I was working there.And well, there was all this commotion, so I went outside to see what was going on and I saw that mushroom cloud you all know about, reaching higher and higher into the skies. Yes I got a glimpse of that.
9. So I wasn’t directly exposed to the explosion. And it was like that, and to tell you the truth,
10. there were those soldiers in the barracks who had been exposed and their faces were kind of burnt and swollen and I was wondering, ""Who's this?""
11. Then we started getting all kinds of orders. We made units of 7 or 8 and were told to go around to civilian homes in Hiroshima city on a rescue mission.
12. We probably went to a number of places, but most of the houses had collapsed and then fires started breaking out almost immediately.
13. Well there was a kind of purplish light, I guess,
14. but I was deep in a shelter so I only sort of remember something like that.I didn't really hear much at all. Just a little something that caught my attention.
15. Well, it was obviously a new bomb. Of course we had no idea that it was an atomic bomb.
16. Most of the barracks were flattened and fires had broken out everywhere in the city. The streets went on forever and I was dumbfounded.
17. There were many faces I couldn’t recognize. Things like that, you know, …comrades.
18. I went on my rescue mission. anxious about their safety.And it was hard to tell where you were because there were no landmarks left standing.
19. And then there were hoards of people jumping into the rivers wanting to drink water or something.
20. Then they would end up drowning and their bodies would bloat to several times their size. And they'd just be floating like that. It was miserable.
21. After saving fifty-some-odd people, I returned to the east army drill. It was a drilling ground, and there must have been over a thousand, mostly dead or severely injured.
22. I mean dead people and sick people. It was a drilling ground, and there must have been over a thousand, mostly dead or severely injured.
23. That east army drill ground was just a mass of people asking for water. They wanted water the most, being summer and all.
24. And the stench. That was hard to bear. We had to do something about those bodies.
25. So we lined up wooden boards and piled the bodies up like a pyramid and then poured heavy oil over them and set them on fire.
26. We were told that's all we could do.You could call it eternal hell. These horrifying scenes imprinted on my mind. I'll never forget them.
27. And the smell. I don't know how to express it other than it was beyond belief.It was impossible, really.
28. All those people, hundreds of them dead in the army drill.Oh there must have been at least a thousand dead and injured… and of them, quite a number were already dead.
29. And then there were those who died after they got there they just kept saying ""water, water,"" and to me it was like… it's not my fault. Well that's what it was like. And that's what I did.
30. It was none other than manual labor, because there weren't any machines for cutting wood or anything.
31. So we had to remove one pillar at a time; one board at a time. And then feel out where the voices were coming from.
32. In the end, I just concentrated with devotion, because there weren’t any machines to work with,
33. I rescued people by hand.Then, aside from the severely injured I had to leave citizens where they were once I rescued them.
34. Nothing else could be done. I had to go on to the next place, because I wanted to save as many people as I could,
35. so I asked those who could walk, to go on their own and most everyone went to the east army drill ground.
36. Each and every one of those nearly a thousand people gathered temporary it was like ""Give me water, I need water,"" and we were told that if we gave them water they would die.
37. I really felt sorry because I would have liked to at least give them water.
38. With all the rescue efforts and everything, what was happening to my body was more like delayed after-effects. A number of comrades died.
39. Even some who hadn’t directly been exposed. Even for those who weren’t directly exposed,
40. It was what went on inside the body, like diarrhea and high fever and hair falling out.
41. Something seriously went wrong inside the body, and many died because of it.With that happening around me,
42. I was convinced that my life wouldn't last much longer either, so I decided to return to my home in Ehime prefecture. That was in October.
43. My mother hadn't expected to ever hear from me again. Being such a big bomb, she had imagined that I was no longer alive. She was so surprised, she started crying.
44. So thinking I wouldn’t live much longer anyway,
45. I spent all of my money and hit up on my parents for any savings they had, took them up to Dogo Onsen, a hot springs resort in Matsuyama and lived there for nearly two months.
46. Mentally, I guess, as time went by… how should I put it… I figured I was alright, so then I started looking for work.
47. I don't know if it was because of having caught the bomb or what, but I applied to two or three places and they all turned me down.Then, well finally, I got a job and I stayed with it until retirement.
48. During that time though, I had to be hospitalized umpteen times. I'll explain what I had a little later, but that's what it was like.
49. It got to the point where I was so thankful to my company… of course I could never turn my back on them… and then there were my family.
50. I just felt so bad about causing them so much trouble.
51. Of course later as we learned more and more about the atomic bomb,
52. word started to spread about how those who caught the bomb wouldn't be able to have children… or that children born to them would be a bit strange.
53. Those were just wild imaginations, but because of that…I did think about not getting married.
54. My children went through a lot of distress about marriage.Things like… A-bomb effects are hereditary and that they might not be able to bear children…
55. I had three daughters, we are very grateful that they were all able to get married and we now have 9 grandchildren.
56. Just the other day, a great-grandchild was born, making that two great-grandchildren. Nothing makes me happier than to know that they are in good health.
57. I've had hepatitis, kidney inflammation, pulmonary tuberculosis, high blood pressure, cerebral infarction,
58. retinal breaks, arterial blockage in the lower left intestine, spondylotic myelopathy, cardiac infarction and so on.
59. I had the cardiac infarction just recently. It was, indeed… effects from the bomb. This was in September the year before last.
60. I collapsed and then was taken to the Central Hospital by ambulance. I was in intensive care there for about 10 days,
61. We really must ensure that the earth becomes nuclear-free. This is something I very strongly and grievously feel. When you think about it,
62. I mean think hard about Hiroshima in that bombing, well you just know that war is something that you must not do. War and nuclear power are out of the question.
63. So much is going on nowadays and I'm afraid that most everyone has lost their sense of appreciation. Too many people just don't understand.
64. In the long run, people take the bitter with the sweet. Things happen.
65. The best thing to do is forget about whether times are good or bad and just keep the good things with you and live with them for as long as you can…
66. and always be in pursuit of something. Study. This kind of thing is what has kept me going.
67. You can always find hope in that and it’s one way to be. A lot has happened to me, the atomic bomb,
68. but when I put those things in check and move on, it's this will that counts. And that's how I feel.
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*Many more memoirs can be viewed at both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Memorial Halls.
*These contents are updated periodically.
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