‘Everywhere there were pitifully injured people’: how a newly unearthed memoir captures the devastation of Hiroshima

In an exclusive extract from his memoir, Kiyoshi Tanimoto describes the terrifying trip across the city to locate his wife and child • ‘I didn’t want to be a victim of the bomb’: read an interview with Tanimoto’s daughter Koko Kondo Most of the people of Hiroshima had neither seen nor heard any plane.

They heard no sound of explosion. They had seen only a strange flash in open daylight, or merely felt the reflection of the flash.

However, there had been a tremendous explosion. The parents of Mr Konda, one of our church members, had been waiting for a train at Yokogawa station, located 2km [one and a quarter miles] away from the centre of the bomb’s explosion.

They saw a B-29 and a parachute dropping through the air. Before they had time to wonder at the sight, they fell unconscious.

Afterward, they could not remember sensing any sound or light. When they regained consciousness, they found themselves lying on the ground, burned and without any clothing.

The houses all around had been crushed to the ground. After getting to their feet, they ran toward the suburbs.

Other people rushing along the Koi highway had the same experience. Continue reading...

References

• Original
  ‘Everywhere there were pitifully injured people’: how a newly unearthed memoir captures the devastation of Hiroshima