Furthermore, as Stafford Warren would later explain, “The chief effort at Los Alamos was devoted to the design and fabrication of a successful atomic bomb. While Manhattan Project scientists did anticipate that the bomb would release radiation, they assumed that anyone affected by it would be killed by the blast. The United States, whose knowledge of radiation poisoning was only marginally better than that of the Japanese, was of little help. Doctor Tatsuichiro Akizuki compared it to the Black Death of the Middle Ages: “Life or death was a matter of chance, of fate, and the dividing line between the man being cremated and the doctor cremating him was slight” (Southard 99). It would not be the last time the hibakusha faced discrimination.Īlthough Japanese doctors began to guess that the outbreak of illness was caused by radiation, they had little means for treatment or research. The Japanese government’s report on August 23 describing radiation poisoning as an “evil spirit” did not help the situation (Hogan 133). Hibakusha were turned away from homes, and some farmers even refused to give them food. Rumors quickly spread that the mysterious illness was contagious. These included hair loss, bleeding gums, loss of energy, purple spots, pain, and high fevers, often resulting in fatalities. Meanwhile, symptoms of radiation poisoning began. They made primitive huts on the edge of the cities, or slept in train stations and burned-out train cars. Some left with what little provisions they could find, but many had nowhere to go. In the days after the bombings, families in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were advised to leave the cities. So many homes have burned down. What will we do now? What will we do? What will we do?’” (95). ‘After everything we did to try to win the war! What purpose did it serve? So many people died. Nagasaki resident Seiji Nagano recalled, “‘Why?’ we asked. The end of the war disenchanted the survivors. The surrender of Japan was announced on August 15, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki. Yamahata Yosuke, the photographer on the team, remembered, “One blessing among these unfortunate circumstances is that the resulting photographs were never used by the Japanese army… in one last misguided attempt to rouse popular support for the continuation of warfare” (79). The Japanese military quickly sent a three-member documentary crew to record the bombings for possible propaganda use, though there would be too much chaos to use the footage. To read more accounts from the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, click here. You can watch testimonials from survivors here. I know it sounds strange, but I felt absolutely no pain. Katsuji Yoshida, only a half mile from the explosion, recalled, “Blood was pouring out of my flesh. “The earth was shaking so hard that I hung on as hard as I could so I wouldn’t get blown away” (Southard 43). Koichi Wada, two miles away from ground zero, remembered, “The light was indescribable - an unbelievably massive light lit up the whole city.” Sumiteru Taniguchi, fourteen at the time, was blown completely off his bicycle by the force of the blast. Three days later, the United States dropped a second bomb, a plutonium implosion bomb called “Fat Man,” on Nagasaki, home to an estimated 250,000 at the time. White bones scattered over reddish rubble
Sadako Kurihara also expressed the aftermath in her poem “Ruins” (226): As Doctor Michihiko Hachiya recalled, “Hiroshima was no longer a city, but a burnt-over prairie” (199). Hundreds threw themselves into the nearby river to escape the fires that burned throughout the city. Those at the epicenter of the blast were vaporized instantly. Others suffered horrific burns or were crushed by falling buildings. Then there was a big sound a second or two later and everything went dark” (Rotter 197). “Five or six seconds later, everything turned yellow. Kimura Yoshihiro, in third grade at the time, saw the bomb fall from the plane. It exploded with approximately 15 kilotons of force above the city of 350,000, causing a shockwave of destruction and a fireball with temperatures as hot as the sun. On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped its first atomic bomb, a uranium gun-type bomb nicknamed “Little Boy,” on Hiroshima.