Remembering Hiroshima

[Reader Rabbit]

Senator Clinton's recent comments indicating her willingness to use nuclear weapons got me thinking about the first, last, and only time human beings had done such a thing to their fellow men. I dug out my dog-eared copy of John Hersey's Hiroshima and spent some time reminding myself what happens to the victims of such an attack. Thought I'd share some excerpts with folks.

Wounded people supported maimed people; disfigured families leaned together. Many people were vomiting. A tremendous number of schoolgirls—some of those who had been taken from their classrooms to work outdoors, clearing fire lanes—crept into the hospital. In a city of two hundred and forty-five thousand, nearly a hundred thousand people had been killed or doomed at one blow; a hundred thousand more were hurt...Tugged here and there in his stockinged feet, bewildered by the numbers, staggered by so much raw flesh, Dr. Sasaki lost all sense of profession and stopped working as a skillful surgeon and a sympathetic man; he became an automaton, mechanically wiping, daubing, winding, wiping, daubing, winding.

pp. 25–26

He (Mr. Tanimoto) was the only person making his way into the city; he met hundreds and hundreds who were fleeing, and every one of them seemed to be hurt in some way. The eyebrows of some were burned off and skin hung from their faces and hands. Others, because of pain, held their arms up as if carrying something in both hands. Some were vomiting as they walked. Many were naked or in shreds of clothing. On some undressed bodies, the burns had made patterns—of undershirt straps and suspenders and, on the skin of some women (since white repelled the heat from the bomb and dark clothes absorbed it and conducted it to the skin), the shapes of flowers they had had on their kimonos. Many, although injured themselves, supported relatives who were worse off.

p. 29

Under many houses, people screamed for help, but no one helped; in general, survivors that day assisted only their relatives or immediate neighbors, for they could not comprehend or tolerate a wider circle of misery.

p. 29

Just before dark, Mr. Tanimoto came across a twenty-year-old girl, Mrs. Kamai, next-door neighbor. She was crouching on the ground with the body of her infant daughter in her arms. The baby had evidently been dead all day. Mrs. Kamai jumped up when she saw Mr. Tanimoto and said, "Would you please try to locate my husband?"

(Mr. Tanimoto)...knew he hadn't a chance of finding Mrs. Kamai's husband, even if he searched, but he wanted to humor her. "I'll try," he said.

"You've got to find him," she said. "He loved our baby so much. I want him to see her once more."

pp. 40–41

There are many passages with far more gruesome descriptions of the victims, but these struck me as good examples to highlight the human cost. Hiroshima is a fantastic read, and I'd recommend it to everyone. Most libraries and bookstores carry it. Just be sure you get the newer version, with "Chapter 5: The Aftermath," which was written 25–30 years later.

[LakeSamish706]

1. Excellent reminders to everyone in the world of what we don't want to see happen.....

Edited to say:

One of the big problems is the fact that many of the times we do shit like start wars and kill innocent people, it doesn't affect people personally like the George Bush's and the Hillary Clinton's, but something like a nuclear exchange would undoubtedly affect all humans on earth.

[Reader Rabbit]

7. Exactly. Here's another quote which sums the inequity up:

As ever, the little people were ground up like meat, while those with enough power to really be held responsible escaped.
—Lois McMaster Bujold, Mirror Dance

[cosmik debris]

2. You didn't even mention

the thousands that got vaporized in the first 2 seconds.

Maybe they were the lucky ones.

[Reader Rabbit]

6. I thought I'd taken care of it with the first excerpt:

"...nearly a hundred thousand people had been killed or doomed at one blow..."


Though I do agree with you that they may have been the lucky ones.

[cosmik debris]

10. You're right of course

I just like to point out that many of the victims did not have time to endure the suffering. They transformed from solid and liquid to gas, in less time than it takes to inhale.

And while the tales of suffering are truly heart wrenching, being vaporized eliminates even the faintest hope of recovery.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

3. To all persons posting about nuclear weapons, one point must

be made, ALL NUCLEAR WEAPONS SHOULD BE DESTROYED, there is no sane use for them they are not weapons, no country should have them. This is our world and it is our human right not to be held hostage with nuclear weapons. Right now the United States is spending 150 billion to replace most of our nuclear warheads, this should be stopped, no one seems to be talking, ask why? This is the most important subject right now for the world to address. Peace be with us all.

[Captain Hilts]

5. Yes. nt

[LakeSamish706]

11. Some would rather talk about Obliterating other countries than concentrate on...

peaceful solutions to misunderstandings.

[Captain Hilts]

4. It is tradition that no president rule out any option. nt

[magellan]

8. Last time we used nukes on that scale, but let's not forget depleted uranium

It's radioactive and lethal too, and we're using it all over the Middle East.

[eleny]

9. Thank you....

I was just thinking about Hiroshima in relation to Clinton's statements on Iran.

One more thing. There we had Truman who refused to follow the CIA's recommendation that he approve their taking out Mosadek because the CIA thought Iran would be selling oil to the Soviets. But Truman dropped the bomb not once but twice on innocent civilians in Japan. I realize that the debate is that it was to save the U.S. from great loss of life in battles that would have been waged. But I got to thinking about nuclear retaliation on a large scale and Iran and Truman came to mind.

Btw, have you ever seen footage of the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Decades ago when I was probably in high school I saw the film Hiroshima Mon Amour on tv. Actual footage is inserted and it's most chilling. I'll never forget the image of a woman breaking through the roof of her home in bewildered terror.

[LongTomH]

12. Hibakusha - the atomic bomb survivors

The Wikipedia entry on hibakusha reads:

Hibakusha (被爆者, Hibakusha ?) is the term widely used in Japan referring to victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As of March 31, 2007, there were 251,834 living hibakusha certified by the Japanese government, with an average age of 74.6. The Japanese word translates literally to "explosion-affected people". Almost all live in Japan, but several thousand bomb survivors live in Korea and elsewhere.

<snip>

Each year, on the anniversaries of the bombings, lists of the names of hibakusha whose deaths have been recorded in the previous year are added to the cenotaphs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As of August 2007, the death tolls stand at 253,008 at Hiroshima,<7> and 143,124 at Nagasaki.

There is a good deal of documentary footage of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings on Youtube. I posted one excerpt from BBC coverage on the Political Videos board.

Any political candidate who talks about nuking anyone should be rejected. I know the bomb ended a long, horrible war that brought incredible suffering; but, we should never contemplate its use again. A responsible position would be to talk about restoring the drive for non-proliferation.