Hiroshima

This is a story of facts. And yet most of you reading this, was not even born. Which I include myself. The writer of this story. And yet this story still affects me.

We all know what happened some sixty years ago. On the 6th of August 1945, the city of Hiroshima was destroyed. The lives of these people, at that moment changed forever.

Let's take a journey back. It was early morning with a slight chill in the air. Hidemi; This is my mother in law, She was just seventeen years
old at that time. She and her soon to be husband was visiting the city of Hiroshima. Yet They were not on a site seeing trip. They were there for a marriage meeting. This meeting is set up between two families. Women of this era married who there own father's choose. Not who they may have loved. They didnt have a choice or say.

Days prior Hidemi, recieved a telegram. Which stated. " That you need to come home. " Now who sent this telegram? And did they know what was about to happen?  Being a good Japanese daughter Hidemi left and headed home. Yet with that comes another question? Who made that decision? and why didn't her husband go with her?

So he stayed behind and waited for her return. Yet this question has no answer for Hidemi is now over eighty years old and can't remember.
The time was 08:15. And on the 6th of August. A bright flash, more brighter than the morning sun. Some 1,900 feet above ground. The heat
that was generated reached a scorching four thousand degree's centigrade.

Which caused steel plate to fuse, Roof tiles melted. And yet this was nothing. Blisters and third degree burns covered there bodies from
head to toe. Even the clothing, melted into their very skin.

Within seconds, a shock wave traveled along the ground at the speed of sound. Carrying with it gamma radiation and the debris from the surrounding buildings of which ninety percent was destroyed. In seconds thousands died, Vaporized where they stood. Within weeks
thousands more due to radiation poisoning.

Charred bodies filled and lined the streets and yet there were no streets. The smell of burning flesh filled the air. The ones that did survive
lost everything, all that they knew was gone.

At ground zero, where I stood is a memorial of what was of long ago. A single dome building remains, It was this building and it's dome that
was directly underneath the exact moment in time when this weapon detonated.

This building and the other images that I saw, was at that moment burned into my own mind. Which I will never forget A bridge made of cement and stone, but it's not the bridge itself but what's on the side of it. I call it an x-ray of very high energy. it's this image that I can't shake or forget. It's an image of a man or woman along with the chair they were sitting on. It was burned into the stone. A shadow
was left for the world to see.

Second was a set of steps leading up to a bank and it was a bank when I was there. But sixty years ago is unknown for all records were destroyed. Again it's not the steps but what's on them. This time is a shadow of two people. A wife talking with her husband before he sets out for work? or was it a child hugging there mother before school started? 

Yet we shall never know which. Day was turned into night. Not because the sun was setting. It was due to the fires that ragged thoughout the city and the debris that filled the sky.


This radiation cloud covered everything and everything was contaminated. A river was running through the city of Hiroshima. These survivors needed food and water. But did they know or just didn't care? By eating this fish or drinking its water would kill them? I truly believe they didn't have a choice. Yet more people died for doing so.

Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki was destroyed by atomic weapons dropped by the United States. In total some 170.000 people died. Yet both cities were re-built. Sixty years later people are still dying. Due to the affects of an event that happened.

In the beginning I talked about my mother in law. She did marry, and had eleven children. I married Hidemi's youngest daughter. And after thirty years we are still married. But what if?  The guy she was supposed to surivived? Would my wife, the woman I love been born? It's a question that

can never be answered.  Yet with so much pain and suffering. So much death and destruction, and after sixty years have passed. People are still dying and suffering. But what do we learn? Will this happen again?  This event was neither right or wrong. Remember we were at war.

But this is our history. These families lost so much. Can we truly say " I am so sorry? "  I do not believe that we can truly understand what they must have gone through nor how much pain and suffering they endured. I hope and pray this will never happen again.


Dave