16-year-old Nagasaki resident Chieko Ryu stands next to the charred remains of her mother, who died in an atomic bomb explosion, Japan, 1945
16-year-old Nagasaki resident Chieko Ryu stands next to the charred remains of her mother, who died in an atomic bomb explosion, Japan, 1945.
In the morning of this day, air alarm signals were constantly repeated, therefore For a long time, I couldn't leave the house and I appeared at work later usually. I think that it was already around 8 o'clock when I was able to show up on the radio.
As always, together with other workers, we started cleaning the premises. When I entered the office of the director of the radio station, which I had to clean, a female voice was heard in the yard: «В небе пакладся Б-29». I paid attention to these words and wanted to go to the window, but at this moment everything behind the window was illuminated by the light from the bright flash.
She was sharper than the flash of a match when struck against a box. The light was red. I threw myself on the floor, covering my eyes and ears with my hands. Then we were taught to do this when the bomb goes off
In dead silence, I felt as if I was in weightlessness. An unusual sensation arose in the whole body, as if everyone had scratched it. I can't say it hurt though.
However, I even thought that now I'm going to die. Then I did not immediately pay attention to this, but the glass that turned into small crumbs stuck into my skin in many places on my face and on my right arm. The whole body was covered in blood. Shards of glass remain in the right cheek to this day. For a while I was in shock and lay motionless, then faint voices were heard in the corridor. The office was dark and nothing could be seen.
I wanted to get out into the street in any way, I went to the sound of voices and ran into someone's back. I thought it would be better to go with him, and I realized that I was still alive. I grabbed onto his belt tightly and finally reached the exit. Quite a few people gathered at the exit, trying to open the heavy door. Opening it, everyone got out.
It was dark, like twilight. Debris fell randomly from the sky
thrown out by the explosion. The people who got out of the building of the radio station had black faces, their hair stood up straight, everyone was stained with blood. Clothes hung in tatters. It was impossible to recognize a person without hearing his voice.
We all thought that the bomb hit the radio station directly and hit it hard.
destroyed. Not far from the radio station was the building of the Chugoku Shimbun newspaper. It also housed our information department, through which received information for broadcasts, so together with 2 - 3 other employees of the general department, we decided to go there and left our building.
Then we realized for the first time that the zone of destruction is far from being limited to radio station. The neighboring buildings were all in ruins, here and there. flames rose. From the window of the representative office of the radio station at 5-6 The floors of the newspaper building also burst out with great force flames.
Therefore, we decided to go further to the Shukkeien Park, located
nearby. I tried my best to escape from the scorching flames, from the screams of people trapped under the rubble, from people looking for their relatives, but it was almost impossible.
A large number of people gathered in Shukkeien Park. We crossed the lake in the park and came to the banks of the Kyobashi-gawa River. Then, one by one, the trees in the park began to light up, and the flames began to reach the bank of the river where we were. Finally, with a loud crash, a huge pine tree, located on the very bank of the river, caught fire.
We jumped into the water and began to observe the situation, standing chest-deep in water. At this time, the Osuga-cho quarter, located on the opposite bank of the river, began to burn. The fire spread in all directions. The fire did not subside either on the opposite bank or on our side, so our repeated attempts to get out of the river were unsuccessful, and we constantly had to go back.
We jumped into the water and began to observe the situation, standing chest-deep in water. At this time, the Osuga-cho quarter, located on the opposite bank of the river, began to burn. The fire spread in all directions. The fire did not subside either on the opposite bank or on our side, so our repeated attempts to get out of the river were unsuccessful, and we constantly had to go back.
A huge number of people fled to the embankment along the river, so there were so many people along its banks that there was no place to sit down. There were army barracks nearby, so there were probably a lot of soldiers here.
They all had a round island of hair on their heads, similar to a plate, probably from hats, and the rest of the body was completely burned, and they suffered quietly. There was also a mother, clutching a child in her arms, whose entire upper body was in tatters. It seemed to me that the child was already
dead. From the burnt and wounded people, endless pleas were heard: “Give
water. Bring me a drink!!" Although there were also people who shouted: “You can’t drink!!” Many people could no longer endure suffering from numerous wounds and burns, and threw themselves into the river. Most of these people did not appear on the surface, and they were carried away by the current. From above, the current also brought dead bodies, and soon the entire river from bank to bank was filled with them.
When we were in the water, bodies floated past one after another, and we guided them further downstream with our hands. At that moment, we were so busy with it that it didn't even occur to us that it was just awful.
I have seen more terrible scenes with my own eyes than are depicted in the pictures of hell. The fire was strong and we couldn't move from our place, so we spent the day on the embankment on the bank of the river near Shukkeien Park. Around sunset, a boat arrived, which was looking for employees radio stations.
We were ordered to go to temporary medical point on the parade ground on the east side of the river, so we were transferred to a sandy bank on the opposite side of the river. I was very worried about the fate of my mother, who was left at home alone, so I said that I wanted to go home and not go to a temporary medical center. However, other employees began to dissuade. They told me "Stop and think about
return to the city. The Misasa-hommachi quarter where my house was located in the western part of the city of Hiroshima, so to get to it, you had to go through the blazing quarters. Everyone was against my intentions, so I said that I would go with everyone, but
seizing the opportunity, separated from the general group. Hearing the voices of those who saw that I was gone and began to call me, I shouted back: "I'm sorry!" and one decided to get home.
Comments
Post a Comment