Etsuko Tanaka was 16 years old at the time. She was in Nishikaniya-cho, 2.5km from the hypocenter when she became an A-bomb victim. She was blown off a bridge by the bomb blast, and took refuge while blood ran from her head and face. She hid her keloids when she got married and she worried about the after-effects when giving birth. And she continued to live while receiving discrimination as an A-bomb victim.
【To Student Laborers Before the A-bombing】
I became an A-bomb victim at Taisho Bridge in Nishikaniya-cho. At the time, I attended Jissen Girls School. I was able to make it through the 2nd year, but in my 3rd year, I was mobilized to work. We cultivated potatoes on our athletic field. We were then sent to the Japan Steel Works in Kaita as mobilized students. Since I was taller than average, I was assigned as a lathe worker. I wore a headband, braided my hair and I put it all into a hat. I did it to avoid getting my hair caught in the belt, which could have caused me to die. That happened to two or three people. I was a lathe turner, so it was airplane parts that we were making. In those days, we worked hard with the idea in mind that, ""We'll win. Japan will definitely not lose, we will win.""
【The Place Where I Became a Bomb Victim】
I was hit at the Taisho Bridge. At that instant I thought that I was the only one that was hit. I have very little memory of what happened before or after that instant. My braided hair became a single strand. My clothes were torn to shreds. As I was exposed to the flash of light from my right side, so my right arm, right leg, all were burned from this side.
【My family Who Became Bomb Victims】
My family members were my father, mother, older brother who had entered the army, and I, and I also had three younger sisters, so we were 7 in all. My older brother was in Ujina at the time. My father died instantly. My mother, next-younger, youngest sister and I were exposed to the A-bomb. My middle sister had been school-evacuated to Ouchi County. I was the only one who suffered burns.
【My Father’s End】
My father was at the Second Hiroshima Army Hospital on the 5th and was scheduled to come back on the morning of the 6th. My mother was told to come pick up his remains which were in a small box.
【The Moment of the A-bombing】
I went past Kojin-machi Elementary School and then past Toyobo Co., Ltd. From Nishikaniya, I planned to cross the Taisho Bridge when I was hit. It was all in an instant, so I don't remember anything. When I noticed what had happened, I thought, ""I am the only one who was hit. What shall I do?"" I think that I had been thrown quite a distance. And my braided hair came loose, and only one single strand of hair stood up from the top of my head. And everything that I had been wearing was gone.
When I gathered my senses a bit, I noticed my hands were hanging down limp. Since there was nothing else I could do, I wrapped some rags around my hands. When I saw people coming from the direction of Shinonome, their noses had been torn off and their eyes had popped out. It was then, for the first time, I realized it was not only me who had been hit. The world was a living hell. There was nothing left to use to cover our nakedness with. So when they wrapped themselves in straw mats, you couldn't tell if they were men or women.
【Condition After the A-bombing】
Anyway, I didn't know about my own face, but I thought that my face was just like those of the people that I met along the road. When I went home, my youngest sister was surprised to see me. I was also surprised when I looked at my own face by mirror for the first time. Anyway, I was thirsty. Water dripped in the air raid shelter. I soaked a towel in it and I sucked some water up through the towel. A soldier scolded me, ""If you drink water, you will die."" I said, ""I don't care if I die, please let me drink some."" It tasted very good. So this story always makes me cry.
My younger sister and I got on a truck and went to Danbara Elementary School. Inside the school, people were lying down lined up in a row. They were all pleading for water. As the time passed on, my mother looked at my face and was once again surprised. My face had blown up like a balloon. My mother then said, ""You were so beautiful when I gave birth to you."" At night we slept outdoors. My brother put me on a sheet of tin and carried me home.
There was no medicine. At that time, I hadn't put any on my face, but I was told that ammonia was good, so I put some of my urine on my legs. That's the way I was, so I couldn't face in this direction. So it was due to the way I was, that I looked like this, and my arms and hands hurt, so this is the way it was. My legs stung. Since it was summer, flies flew around. When the flies attached and bit into my flesh it hurt more than I can describe. The back of my hands were burned from here, and were also covered with maggots. There were no medicines like there are today, so they ground up some potatoes and spread it on like this. And on top of that they sliced a cucumber and put it on there. That draws out the fever.
【Scars from the Atomic Bomb】
I have keloids. I have them on my legs as well. I think it was thanks to my mother's strength, but thanks to her, only my face was cured. But the skin here and on the left and the right is different. So when I am wounded on this side, it is comparatively difficult to heal. Mothers are strong. She was a woman of the Meiji Era.
【Worries When I Got Married】
I was concerned about marriage. My mother and my mother-in-law are sisters. They were in favor of me marrying my cousin. I said, ""I was hit by the atomic bomb, so is it alright?"" I conveyed a message, saying, ""If something strange should happen, I would be very sorry to have caused you trouble, so if you don't want to go through with it, say so while there is still time."" My husband was in the army and he came back home from Java. He had experienced many bad things, so he said it was alright and welcomed me warmly.
I had heard many stories, so when I became pregnant I felt very uneasy. I asked the midwife whether my child would be healthy. She said it would be just fine, so I felt a bit of relief.
【Effects on the Children】
My son was hospitalized died of lung cancer last year. I asked ""Is it because I am an atomic bomb victim, did that have some effect him?"" The doctor in charge said, ""That has nothing to do with it."" What made me worried was that the mother of my son's bride had said to me, ""You were hit by the atomic bomb, weren't you?"" Since I also never tried to hide it, I said that. Some people have said that because I was an A-bomb victim, my son only lived until he was 52. I was very sad that my son died, so being told that and on top of my sadness, my heart aches even more.
【Anger Toward the Dropping of the Atomic Bomb】
I hated America. I was surrounded by love from my mother and siblings who were alive, so I shouldn't think such things. I think that I should be happy that I am still living today. I am, of course, absolutely opposed to nuclear weapons. Because a single atomic bomb could wipe out the human race. I don't understand why innocent people have to be tormented so. It puzzles me. So I want to keep on reminding everyone to absolutely never forget the misery of the atomic bomb. I will continue to pray that there is never a war again, I pray for peace.
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