Hiroshima, Japan: The Literature of the Atomic Bomb
SURVIVAL STORIES & ORAL HISTORY
|
|
|
|
The following stories are first hand accounts of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. These first hand stories are handed down to younger generations as oral history. They detail the very graphic, distructive and disturbing accounts of people who were fortuate enough to survive a most unfortuate incident. Their stories provide the country of Japan a history that can only truely be understood through the words of these survivers. |
A Personal Record of Hiroshima A-bomb Survival |
"Suddenly, a bluish white light flashed like
an electric welding spark, gas welding torch, or magnesium burning at
a time. The world went white." - Takeharu
Terao |
Testimony of Hiroshi Sawachika |
A 28 year old army doctor desicribes seeing
the mushroom cloud above the gas company. He notes that, while
not injured, his white shirt was now red. After noticing a near-by
victim who was heavily injured by broken glass, he relized it was her
blood that the he was covered in. |
Testimony of Yosaku Mikami |
This is the story of a fireman just getting off of a 24-hour shift. Upon bording a pulic transportation street car, he describes a blue flash and being blinded by smoke. With fire and destruction everywhere, this brave fireman ran back to meet the releving shift and help out in any way possible. Stopping everywhere they could to put out fires, the firemen quickly began to identify and help those most injured, but encountered difficulting moving people as their skin was falling off. Many of these firemen across the area died roughly 30 to 45 days later. |
Testimony of Yoshito Matsushige |
This account of a 33 year old camera man for
a local newspaper describes his events the morning of August 6, 1945. Living
only two miles away from the detination, he describes a while light, followed
by an increadalbe explosion. Being a photographer, his first instinct
was to grab his camera and head toward the center of the town. His
photographs
are famous and know as some of the earliest ever taken after the bomb was
dropped. |
Home |
Poetry |
Literature |
Links |
