Genbaku

Today in place of 3rd and 4th period we had attended a lecture. Atomic bomb survivor Toshifumi Ohashi told us his story of the events of August 6th, 1945, the United States attack on Hiroshima, Japan, and the first use of nuclear weaponry in the history of the world. Half-listening and half writing, I tried my best to write down his story, so I could relay it again. There are probably some inaccuracies, but I did the best I could; I think today this was an experience that I should try to remember before it fades away:

Ohashi was a technical officer working Kure Naval Facility, an artillery producing factory located about 20 miles and 50 minutes by train from Hiroshima. Kure and the surrounding area was known for heavy industry, and remained a central city for the Imperial Army. Prior bombings had all but decimated the factory, and at the time all that remained was the building's outer concrete shell, yet the interior was still used by the military. "Everything flashed pure white, like the Magnesium used for photography. Soon later, sound of the explosion sent a shock wave that blasted with an incredible force." After looking outside to see what had happened, an enormous cloud could be seen rising in the direction of Hiroshima. Rays of light from the morning sun illuminated the cloud, causing it to glow pink against the sky; almost beautiful. Ohashi knew that that morning, a group had been sent to Hiroshima that very morning, and should be arriving by now. "What became of them?" he wondered. Along with some other soldiers, he was ordered to Hiroshima to see what happened.

On the road to Hiroshima, he knew that something wasn't right. With previous bombings, there were always people running away from the explosion, but here, there was nothing. Ohashi and his fellow officers debated amongst themselves what it could have been. A large gas station was stationed between Kura and Hiroshima, so the explosion of the gas tank might have been the cause of the incident. But incidentally, the gas tank was unharmed, as if nothing had happened. Dropping off soldiers who themselves had homes in Hiroshima, Ohashi asked some people squatting by the road what they had seen. B21 Bombers had dropped something with a parachute. While they were watching it's decent, it exploded. He then found out that most of the survivors had fled to a southern military base for help. His story then takes us there.

Wounded people flooded the base, as far as the eye could see. Skin and clothes draped loosely off of their frames. "How could this happen to people?" he had wondered. Soldiers that didn't have their shirts on in the heat of a summer day were especially wounded. Ohashi asked the visiting physician there what had happened, but the doctor couldn't respond. 「水、水、くれ」"Water, water, give me water" was all that the wounded could say. Finding only tragedy and no clues there at the base, he returned to the train station and found only a corpse. All of the trains as well, had gone, so in an attempt to find answers, he decided to follow the tracks to where a large department store should be. But after awhile, the heat and the flames were too intense, forcing him to turn back.

Boarding the truck back to Kure, they found a mess anger who had been ordered to go to Tokyo, saying "Everything has been destroyed". Because all devices of communication had been lost, the message had to be delivered by hand. Having nothing to eat or drink that day, he returned home. Yet upon arriving home, he fell violently ill with symptoms that resembled dysentery. That evening, U.S. President Truman made a radio announcement announcing the attack on Hiroshima. Further broadcasts from the Japanese government advised everyone to wear white in order to avoid further damage from the bomb. What was known about the attacks at that time amounted to very little. Ohashi grew so ill that he couldn't move. "Though I'm not afraid to die, I don't want to die like them. Like the people in Hiroshima" he had thought. After seeing a doctor, the doctor confirmed that the symptoms indeed resembled to dysentery, but after finding the diagnosis to be false, could advise nothing but rest.

After the U.S. occupied Okinawa, everyone had worried that the main islands were next. "Could we fight until the end? Despite what had happened so far, the idea of the Japanese surrendering seemed impossible." Newspapers, with no place to be printed, stopped, leaving the radio as a sole means of acquiring information. On August 15th the voice of the Emperor was heard to the public for the first time in the history of the world. By word of the Emperor, the Japanese were going to surrender. Upon hearing his, all Ohashi could do was weep. However, because radio quality was not the best at this time, and because the Emperor had used language not common to the public, some misunderstood the message, proclaiming in the streets to "Keep fighting" "Don't give up yet."

Ohashi eventually retired from the military, working for Mitsubishi in 1946. Progress at that time, was slow, and remained so for several years. No one was healthy enough to start rebuilding.

Ohashi movied to Osaka in '46, and in '93 needed surgury preformed to remove cancer from his esophagus. The Japanese government provides "Atomic Bomb Survivor" health cards to those affected, essentially providing free health care as well as check-ups twice a year. He is aftive in the "Atomic Bomb Survivor's Association" which is actively working to remove nuclear weapons from the planet.

However, there was one more story he had to share.

The November after the attacks, a friend of Ohashi's had decided to pay a visit to a friend named Takemoto who had been volunteering in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing to protect the city against future raids. Standing at the door, he heard her voice, cheerful and strong, and was relieved to think the damage wasn't as bad as he had thought. Then he saw her, and was at a loss for words. Where a face should be was a hard and white substance, like the melted wax of a candle. Her skin melted and fused, her eyes could not close. Scars had rendered the joints of her elbow stiff, making any movement of the arms impossible. She told him, when her husband returned home for the first time to see her, she said that staying married this way was impossible with a face as hideous as hers, and asked him to divorce her. After all, he shouldn't have to stay married like this. Her husband replied "if I had come home like that, would you ever leave me?". From that time on, the two lived happily together until her husband died just a few years ago. Ohashi said that her voice though, is still as 元気, energetic and lively, as it had ever been.

When the lecture ended, I sat with my pencil hovering, lost in thought. So many parts of me conflicted with the other, it was impossible to know what to think. What was the right answer? Who had been in the wrong? With the hands of every nation drenched in the blood of the innocent, it becomes impossible to point blame at any signal country for the atrocities of war. Yet, in some way, I feel responsible, in that even today I choose to stand behind my country, my home. There lies a great sense of shame in the mistakes that we've made as a nation, yet I know, we're not alone in this.