I remember that, in 1945, our side in World War II had been brought to bay. On August 6, a B-29 came to our skies as usual early in the morning. Retrospectively, probably because of a premonition, I was considering excusing myself from work on that day, because I was suffering from pain caused by an injury I had received on the sole of my foot while doing wartime student mobilization work the previous day. However, my father, who was serving as a teacher at Hiroshima Prefectural Hiroshima Daiichi Junior High School, did not allow me to be absent from work because of “such a minor injury.” Since a preliminary alert was called off, I reluctantly went out wearing straw sandals. The street car was crowded with passengers to degree that we cannot imagine today, with people clinging on to every part; I also clung onto the middle of the car. I had worked to help demolish buildings to prevent the spread of fires at Hiroshima Prefectural Office on August 5, and was supposed to do the same work on August 6, but the schedule was changed. My task on that day was to take care of potatoes at the Eastern Drill Ground. It was extraordinarily hot on that day, and the blazing sun shone from the early morning. I was unable to stay in the sun.
Because there was a moat to hide locomotives there, I went down into the moat to get some shade. While I was chatting with my fellow workers, the meeting time, eight o’clock, arrived. By order of an instructor, shouting, “Assemble!” I stood under the scorching August sun, and feeling almost dizzy. While I and a friend, who was accompanying me on his way, were slowly making our way to the assembly point, I suddenly heard a metallic high-pitched roar, a sound that by then was so familiar to me. Many students who had gathered around the instructor also looked up at the sky while maintaining their posture. Everyone at that time feared this ominous-sounding roar. However, the people of Hiroshima, who had never experienced an air raid, including myself, looked up at the blue sky, searching for the aircraft. Mr. AMEMIYA found it and pointed it out to me, but I was unable to spot it. I know that they were parachutes now, but they seemed strange at the time. I spotted three objects in the air. Yes, I was naively looking up at the blue sky at that time.
I then saw the brash massive body of a B-29. At that moment, though I do not remember it, I fell down. I rapidly covered my eyes and ears with my hands, as I had been taught to do so in an air-raid drill. When I opened my eyes, I saw only a yellow expanse in front of me. That large Eastern Drill Ground seemed to me entirely yellow.
People began to escape one after another. Then I first noticed that an incendiary had been dropped near me. I heard my hair frizzle. My shirt and pants were burnt only on the left side. Mr. AMEMIYA and I ran away aimlessly. We tried to extinguish fire as we went by beating it. I am not sure whether a few seconds or several minutes passed. Looking ahead while running, I saw the roofs of several houses blown away, and houses inclining and almost collapsed. I instinctively realized that a bomb had been dropped. When we returned to the moat to take a rest, my face and hands felt irritated and the skin on those parts of my body was peeling off and hanging down. The skin on my neck had completely peeled off. I blew my hands to alleviate the excruciating pain.
In a moment, we were very surprised to hear extraordinary voices of people, and went out of the moat. We were then struck by a breathtaking and incredible view of clouds. These clouds, like cumulonimbus, were beautiful and dignified beyond description. These were really just a mass of atoms, but what did we know? We just gazed at the extraordinary shapes of the breathtaking and splendid clouds, which were growing in width and height. A myriad of colors—green, red, yellow and blue—dazzled before us.
When I came to myself, I felt pain from my burns. The instructor ordered me to act freely due to my major injuries and my situation, which was beyond help. I decided to share in the activities of Mr. OZU and Mr. AMEMIYA, and went to look for my hat and lunch box, which had blown away in the blast. Although the wrapping cloth was burnt and unrecognizable, I succeeded in finding my possessions. We had no idea what to do next, but we started walking anyway. We tried going to Kojin Bridge. However, we found the entire area of Hiroshima City filled with choking smoke. We were unable to enter the city.
So we decided to go around to Ushita-machi. Around that time, people injured under destroyed houses or by broken glass began to escape from the city to the area where we were. I later heard that people who had been indoors at that moment became completely covered in soot. Probably because of that, the faces of all the people looked black and were bleeding.
We saw very pitiful people. People wearing shirts ripped to shreds reminded us of children’s images of “ghosts,” though I am not sure how I looked at that time. We then returned and arrived at a railroad crossing, when we came across many trucks that were carrying many injured people. Around there, we became separated from Mr. OZU. I later heard that he had escaped from there to Ujina-machi. While we were really heading toward Ushita-machi, we met someone who had escaped from an area near
Ushita-machi. That person said that the road to Ushita-machi and Ushita-machi itself had already started burning.
We helplessly decided to go on to Onaga-machi, because we heard that Onaga Elementary School had opened an aid station. On our way, a young woman whose facial skin had peeled away due to burns asked us for help. We were surprised when we arrived at the school, because few people had minor injuries like us. Many people were completely covered with blood, or had burns all over their body. I saw one person wearing only a loincloth, standing with his hands up, because most of his skin had peeled off due to burns and was hanging down. This scene evoked my deep emotion, rather than just misery. Fires broke out near the school, so Mr. AMEMIYA and I decided to go on to another aid station. We became separated from the young woman without noticing. Many houses in Onaga-machi were left open by residents who had
escaped from them. Roofs were virtually destroyed, houses were on the verge of falling down, floors had sprung up, ceilings were riddled with holes, and drawers were left open. It seemed that the residents had escaped with their valuables. Chickens were running around in the houses pitifully. Finding milk bottles for the neighborhood unit, my friend and I poured the milk on our injuries. Then we reached the foot of Mt. Futaba, where we climbed to Onaga Tenmangu Shrine. That was the house of a friend, so we stayed there until the afternoon. My feeling at that time was beyond words.
Hiroshima, which was a renowned large military city until a few moments before, had turned into a sea of flame. Hiroshima Station was burning, and the sky above the station was filled with black smoke. Fires spread to oil drums placed in an open space next to the station, and the drums exploded loudly, from which flames were blown off vertically. Black smoke continued to belch out. The sky turned black, shutting out the sunlight. It is said that, around that time, black drops of rain fell in the western area. It was mysterious, but I think the smoke and dust added the black color to the rain drops.
However, we still had slight hopes, because the fires had not spread to Ujina-machi. So we determined to head for Ujina-machi. I felt sick, so I was unable to eat anything. We thought we would become weaker if we did not eat anything, so we reluctantly ate a little of a boxed meal before departing. Around that time, security squads had begun their operations, and did not allow us to cross the river. Then we crossed the railway bridge for the track for trains to Ujina-machi, and reached an area in the east toward Hijiyama Hill. I continued to feel pain from my burns. We went across the railway bridge and finally arrived at Niho-machi Oko. We went around from there to Hijiyama Hill, and reached Hiroshima Vocational School of Medicine. However, that area was already a sea of flame. We were simply astonished, because the whole of Hiroshima City had been reduced to ashes in just a few hours after the bomb attack. The south wind continued to fuel the fires. Nothing remained, besides the high-standing Western-style buildings, including Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital and Hiroshima City Hall, seen in the distance. The sky shone crimson, so we hesitated to expose ourselves under it. Then, our seniors from Hiroshima Prefectural Hiroshima Daini Junior High School approached us, and started walking, saying, “Follow us.” We helplessly started walking, but the smoke was extremely thick and choking. We covered our heads with our clothes, exposing only our eyes. However, the hot southern wind raged toward the west, and ravaged our burns. I felt increasingly severe pain. If I had been walking alone, I would have returned.
On the roads, utility poles had burned and fallen down, and electric cables were whirling around. People were unable to use vehicles, so they were all walking painfully. After walking a short distance, we found horses and human beings lying down together along the road. The horses helplessly kicked the road with their hind legs. The people were completely burned and breathing faintly. Some people were writhing in agony in the tank, while others cried aloud for water. I was unable to look at them directly.
In a short while, we reached the back of Hiroshima University of Literature and Science, feeling relieved. I found a small river, from which a cool breeze wafted, a pleasant relief from the hot storms. We took a rest and relaxed. However, we had to walk through the hot storms again. We found a larger number of people lying down along the road. Some were shouting to forget their pain, while others were crying for water, all breathing faintly. We, however, managed to reach Takanobashi. I felt the road to this point had been very long and difficult. The southern area from this point onward had not yet burned. But I came across far greater numbers of dead people from this point. There was also a larger number of severely injured people. When we arrived at the end of a bridge, I found piles of severely injured people and dead bodies. We had difficulty finding places to put our feet down due to the sheer numbers of people, since the hot storms had not reached the bridge.
People who had been wearing a hat looked as if they had worn a steel helmet, because the skin of that area alone remained, while the other areas looked red, due to their skin peeling off. Most areas of their bodies looked so red that I thought that they had had Mercurochrome applied to their bodies. They carefully scrutinized the passersby in search of acquaintances, asking some passersby for their names and addresses, while giving their own names and addresses. They were so severely burned that other people were unable to recognize them. Many other people also cried for water. Because I had a water bottle, many people pleaded with me for water. They did not give up until I confirmed that the bottle was empty. I decided to hide it while I was walking. I had no idea how many severely injured people I had seen. Innumerable people were depleted of energy and writhing in agony, on or under the bridge.
At that time, many people had been working at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., and they said that the western area toward Eba-machi and Koi-machi was all right. I was so relieved and shared my delight with Mr. AMEMIYA, because my house was probably all right. At the same time, after enduring difficulty in walking, being carried off our feet by the hot storms, we became completely relaxed, and could not catch up with our senior. The senior encouraged us to follow him, while walking. Seeing many dead bodies and severely injured people, we went across the bridge and returned to Funairi-machi. Then the senior separated from us to go to Eba-machi. We then felt exhausted.
If I had not met the senior, I could not have returned there overcoming all these difficulties. When I reached the site of Hiroshima Prefectural Hiroshima Daini Junior High School after crossing Kan-on Bridge, I was filled with overwhelming joy. However, I could not see the buildings of my school. When I went around to the back of the school to enter it, I found that all buildings had disappeared after completely burning. I helplessly began to walk again, but my legs became stiff, while my wounds hurt me relentlessly.
When I returned to Koi-machi, I met my neighbor. When I rushed to ask about my house, the neighbor told me that my house was all right, so I was relieved. He then left us to look for his younger brother, who had not yet returned. I wept tears somehow. I became separated from Mr. AMEMIYA and finally
returned home, being worried about my father, who had gone out to work that morning in such bright spirits. I was too delighted to stop crying. The inside of my house looked dreary. My father was lying down in the main chamber, but seemed overjoyed to see me, realizing I had managed to return. He had been burned in Sakai-machi, much more severely than me. I was also exhausted, and lay down side by side with my father. He had to be admitted to the hospital three days later, where he told me to become a soldier and work for the country. However, he passed away on August 13. (I believe that all war victims sacrifice themselves for the country.)
By that time, my injuries had eased slightly, though my face had become swollen and had developed pus. However, I was unable to fulfill my promise to my father, since the very important radio program on August 15 informed us that we had accepted an unconditional surrender. I wish my father had been able to survive for two more days. I think that his last moment was quite pitiful. Although I was thus defeated, had lost my father, and was left behind with my grandmother, I hope for eternal peace.
The end
June 30, 1950
At the time of the A-bomb attack
Address: Furue, Furuta-machi, Hiroshima City
Name: MAEDA Norio
Aged 15
Position: Second-year student at Hiroshima Prefectural Hiroshima Daini Junior High School
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