Chieko Kiriake

Waiting for Peace Doesn’t Make It Come

4. My August 6

On that Monday, I was allowed to go out for two hours and left the factory after the morning assembly to go to Kubota Clinic.  I walked along the Kyobashi River and reached the foot of Hijiyama Bridge (1.9km from the hypocenter.)  Because there was a clear blue sky and it was hot, I decided to rest for a while.  I found a small wooden boathouse near the steps going down to the river.  When I stepped under the boathouse eaves, there was a sharp flash around me.  It was as if sun had fallen down in front of me.  I said, “What!!” and was flung on the ground by the tremendous blast, where I fainted.  I didn’t know how much time had passed, but when I came to, I was covered by something heavy, and I couldn’t move my body.   I cried out once, “Please help me!” but no one replied, and there was complete silence.  So, I struggled to get out by myself, crawling through the crushed boathouse that covered me.

Outside was pitch dark, even though there was such a clear sky in the morning.  I was dazed and stood there, having no idea of what had happened.  The sky was getting a little bit lighter, and when I looked back at the way I had come from, houses of both sides were all flattened.  And when I looked at the other side of the Kyobashi River, the whole city was wrapped in red flames.

I’m sure I had heard the sound of an airplane flying overhead in the morning.  That was not unusual.  I heard that a large formation of enemy planes had come and dropped massive bombs, making many cities in Japan seas of flames; however, I noticed only one airplane in that morning.  My mind went blank and I was just standing on the foot of the Hijiyama Bridge. Then, I saw many people were running and screaming from the other side of the bridge. Most of them were boys in uniforms, probably in the first or second year of middle school.  Though their uniforms were burning, they didn’t try to extinguish the flames.  They were just running, and some of them jumped into the river over the bridge handrails. 

Thinking I should do something, I decided to return to the tobacco factory.  I couldn’t walk on the road that I had come from, because debris of collapsed houses lay on both sides.  Climbing up and down over the collapsed walls and roofs, I finally reached the factory.  However, the factory had also collapsed. I didn’t see anybody, so I thought everyone must have escaped.  When I was struck dumb again and standing there, one of my classmates, Ms. Nasu crawled out from the debris.  Her forehead was bleeding, so I bandaged her with a sling in the first aid kit bag which we had to carry.  She said, “You are bleeding, too!” and she picked out a piece of glass from the back of my head.  For the first time, I noticed that I was hurt, but I didn’t feel any pain until then.  Later, I found that some pieces of glass were still stuck in the back of my head and neck

Ms. Nasu and I started going to Ogonzan Hill, designated as our evacuate area.  On the way to the hill, looking pale, she said, “I can’t walk anymore!  I’ll stay here and you go!”  However, I couldn’t leave her alone behind.  Though I was only 140cm tall, I carried her on my back and managed to reach a small open area halfway up Ogonzan Hill.  Many students from other schools were there and about ten from our school.  When I looked at the city from the hill, there was a red sky.  When I looked in the opposite direction, toward Ujina, there was a blue sky, and the town was the same as usual.  The painting of that red sky of the city that the artist Ikuo Hirayama drew is exhibited at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.  His school, Shudo Middle School, also had designated Ogonsan Hill as their evacuate area.

We all returned to our school before noon.  On the way to school, we passed debris of broken rooftiles and glass.  Our school buildings were leaning, and the glass of the windows was all blown out.  However, the buildings of the Hiroshima Girls Professional Training College in the same campus (present Prefectural University of Hiroshima) didn’t collapse.

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