15. Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital Workers Monument
A red cross, a world-renowned logo.
This should have been a place of comfort.
This should have been a place of healing.
This should have been a sanctuary never to be violated,
That August 6th.
Explanation
The Japan Red Cross Hiroshima Branch was established in 1903. The Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital was being expanded, as they anticipated the increase of sick and wounded soldiers in the all-out Sino-Japanese War.
Since it became an Army-designated hospital in 1939, inpatients were exclusively military related people. Citizens were treated only as outpatients.
This hospital was located 1.5 km from the hypocenter. The blast pressure destroyed its wooden structures entirely, but the reinforced facilities were saved due to the fire-fighting done by the staff and others.
Soon after the A-bombing, the exposed people gathered there in great number, seeking relief.
The following day, the Military Headquarters announced that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was a “special bomb.”
In the Red Cross Hospital, the films in a cabinet of the X-ray room on the second floor and the basement were exposed to light, so the bomb was presumed to be an atomic bomb. Researchers and scientists later confirmed that it was an “atomic bomb” and reported that to the military.
Location : Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital, Senda-machi, Naka-ku