17. Hiroshima Municipal Girls' Middle School Monument
Never dressed in colors of flowers,
Never wearing rainbow-colored ribbons,
You were killed by the uranium explosion.
All I could do is to adorn you
With rainbow-colored paper cranes.
Explanation
This school lost 679 teachers and students who were working on building demolition. This is the highest number of fatalities suffered by any school in the city.
This monument was erected at the school (presently Funairi High School) in 1948.
Under prohibition orders enforced by the Occupation army forces, use of the term, “atomic bomb” was forbidden. Therefore, Einstein' s equation, E=MC2, was carved on the box which the girl in the centre of the monument is holding.
The monument was moved to the present location, near the Motoyasu riverside, on the south side of Peace Memorial Park, in 1957.
On the back of the monument is engraved:
“Rest in peace within this grassy hill, protected by a wall of friends.”
The writer was Masaomi Miyakawa, who was the school' s principal at the time.
Location: Nakajima-cho, Naka-ku