First Weapon Features and What to Know

This is the story of the first ever use of a weapon of mass destruction. Very recently, the weapon we are about to deliver was successfully tested in the States. We have received orders to drop it on the enemy. It is the most destructive weapon ever produced. The target was an empire with its own secret weapon, the suicide bomber. I trained myself that I could die at any time. We've got Nyaga, Kakura, Nagasaki, and Hiroshima. Hiroshima was an important military base, the headquarters of the second general army with a key role in the defense against the expected invasion.

It took about 45 seconds from the time the bomb left the airplane until it exploded. And I think there wasn't a man in the airplane that wasn't either timing it with his watch or counting or doing something. I was sure the bomb was a dud. I was sure it wasn't going to work. After falling for 43 seconds, the time and barometric triggers started the firing mechanism. A uranium bullet fired down a barrel into a uranium target. Together, they started a nuclear chain reaction. Solid matter began to come apart, releasing untold quantities of energy.

There was a white light in the window, a flash, white like magnesium. The bomb delivered its destruction in stages. The flash came from a giant fireball 300 m wide. I was astonished. It was a startling light. Even if you had your back turned to it, you felt the shock go through right to the center of your brain. At the same time, any area of skin that was exposed became very hot. Heat. Such burning heat. Temperatures directly below the fireball were 4,000° C. The heat rays left shadows. Ladders, railings, even people left their outlines on stone and metal.

Anyone in the open air was either vaporized or turned to carbon in an instant. At the same time, the flash sent out powerful infrared radiation and gamma rays. These could penetrate walls and attack the cells in human bodies. Then I slowly opened my eyes and for the first time looked in the direction of the light. Just at that moment, a mushroom cloud appeared. People who saw this in Hiroshima are nearly all dead by now. There is barely anyone left now who can say they actually saw it happen. behind us more.

A fraction of a second later came a powerful shock wave which moved at the speed of sound. It turned everyday windows and walls into shrapnel. As soon as the blast hit, I was thrown across the room. My body was flung from wall to wall and from the ceiling to the floor. My body was thrown around like it was a ball. A jet black belt of cloud came towards me. It came from there over the lip of the mountain. The black cloud spread between the mountains and came rolling in my direction, swirling like this. Just like that, my body was scooped up.

It was the blast. It sent me flying through the house. The flash was very brilliant and it only lasted a very short period of time. It was over in a few short seconds. We didn't see any bodies down there or anything of that type. Uh you didn't see any buildings collapse. You can't really distinguish things like that. And even if we had been able to, we couldn't do it anyhow because there was just a it was all covered with smoke and dust and everything. I'm not emotional. I didn't have a first goddamn thought or ought to tell you what it was.

I did the job and I was so relieved that it was successful. You can't understand it. Seeing the fires on the ground and the cloud coming up, then you get pretty uh distressed that there's such havoc down there and people are suffering. There are no exact figures for the number who died in the instant of the explosion, but tens of thousands of people in the open near the fireball vanished in a fraction of a second. For the survivors, the ordeal was just beginning. Thousands of people were injured and terribly burned. Many were trapped in the rubble. Just 260 m from the bomb, the two girls in the bank had been sheltered from the worst of the explosion by the earthquake proof building.

When the girls struggled outside, they found a vision of hell. The morning sunshine was gone. The whole city was dark and shrouded with smoke. The streets were full of corpses. The words city of death came to mind. There were only dead people. We were the only living souls. It had been the morning commuting hour, 8:15 in the morning. People that had been walking the streets were doubled up dead over each other for as far as we could see.

They had died immediately, naked, burnt. I just asked myself why and could not find any words. The two of us just crouched down and burst into tears. at the communications hospital one mile from the explosion's hypo center. Nurse Kinuko was blown away from the window. Like so many others, she was badly lacerated by flying glass. I have pieces of glass sticking up from my body all over from my head, my face, my body. The drill ground was less than a mile from the hyper center. 20-year-old Cadet Morioaki had gone inside the barracks building just before the bomb exploded. His colleagues outside were exposed to the full heat flash.

They were all either dead or gravely burned. Hi Rashima Castle, which had been there in front of my eyes, had gone. Everybody was covered in blood. The wooden buildings had been smashed to pieces. In another part of the city, she gay Heratsuka's peaceful family breakfast had given way to chaos and confusion. When we got out, we saw that the whole of Hiroshima had been turned upside down. None of the buildings were left. Fires were breaking out in different places all over the city. Then I looked around for the children. There was my daughter Kaspo. She was six.

She was buried from the chest down and wedged in by timber and plaster. I tried to get her out. I was desperate But whatever I tried wouldn't work. The fires were moving closer and closer. The flames were at our feet and roaring up around us. We could not stand the heat and pain any longer. the school building had also collapsed. In the blast, 8-year-old Takashita Namorei and his friends were trapped in the rubble, crying out for someone to rescue them. First things I saw was a pitch darkness. Then I could sense the several soldiers above my head moving the debris and the final one soldier dug me out.

All I remembered that as the soldier clutch me in his arms, weaving through the fires between the fires. The only place we are able to escape is the river which runs behind our school. Near the station about 2 mi from the flash, Teruko Fuji thought her tram had shortcircuited on the overhead cables and that the whole thing was her fault. I thought I'd caused some kind of disaster. I thought I'd broken the tram and done something terrible. didn't it? And then I thought, is it a bomb? That was when I realized that it wasn't me who' caused all this trouble.

First, I thought only the station area was affected, but then I saw people walking towards me with injuries and skin hanging from them. Everybody thought perhaps if I go over there I could be saved. People to the west thought the east might be better. People were going in every direction in total silence. Amid all the destruction, there was at least one miracle. 8-year-old Takashi Tanamorei was carried through the burning city by the soldier who rescued him. At last, the soldier reached a river and from the crowds, the little boy heard a familiar voice.

Somehow my father spot me. I guess he called in my name and I maybe I responded and I said that's my daddy. And then he stood straight toward the soldiers and he bowed many times to the soldiers said, "Thank you. You are savior." Later on after we were flying back, conversations started about, you know, the war being over as a result of this bomb. Despite the number of people we killed, we saved multiple numbers over that for being in a war and being killed on American side, on the Japanese side. That time there was such a hatred for the Japanese that the more we killed, the better off we thought we were because that means there was going to be less that we're going to have to contend with during the invasion.

After a 6-hour return flight, the Anola Gay reached Tinian Island. There probably three, four, 500 people there. And when we get out of the airplane, why? Of course, we're all getting out. We're tired and everything of that type. And I get out. I remember getting out carrying my oxygen mask. I'm right behind Paul. And um then some joker calls us to attention. I got out of the airplane like I was told. He p this thing on my shirt. Guys are taking pictures of it. I salute him. And after that was over with, back to my duty. We're got to go to debriefing by the intelligence people. They had certain things, Dak, did you see this? Did you see that? And so forth confirming that we had bombed the right target.

Guy said, "Sure. Dr. Aida escaped from the rubble of the farmhouse 4 miles outside Hiroshima. After checking on the child he had been treating, he headed back towards the city. It's about 6 kilometers to Hiroshima. From there, when I was halfway there, suddenly a strange creature appeared out of nowhere. As it was summer, if it were human, it would have been wearing white. What I saw was all black from top to bottom. Pitch black. I thought it was strange. At the top, there was something round like a head. It had shoulders. Something like a body followed. But it was like it had no face. It was black. The area around the eyes had swollen up. It had nose. The lower half

of the face was just mouth. It was frightening. As a doctor, the first thing you do is take a pulse. But when I took his hand, there was no skin. There was nowhere I could hold. So I stood up saying please pull yourself together and walked around him. This person gave a small shudder and then he stopped moving. He had died. He had fled three kilometers and then died there. That man was the first fatality caused by the bomb that I saw. Army recruit Shigaru Terasawa had been stationed seven miles from the center of the blast. His unit was sent to help survivors, but they soon faced a terrible conflict between their compassion and their training.

Even now, there are things that I will never forget. One is the sound of people begging me for water. In those days, we had been told not to give water to the badly burned. To tell you the truth, we all had these big military water flasks on our hips. People were begging for water, but we didn't give them any. We had been told that if we did, they would die straight away. And so, I didn't give them any. A lot of people died. Now, looking back, I wish I had given them water. Burned and bleeding in the intense heat, people were desperate to find any water they could.

They fled to the rivers, to pools and reservoirs. Among them, nursed Kinuko. I knew there was a pool of water in the backyard of the hospital. Lots of people had already got into the pool. More people had jumped on top of them. This is one scene I can never forget. I still dream about it. Then came a strange deliverance. Dark raindrops began to fall from the clouds above the burning city.

We opened our mouths and drank it. Our throats were parched, but it was difficult to capture the rain into our mouths. The rain was made black by ash and smoke which had been sucked up into the rising mushroom cloud. When these ashes mixed with cool, humid air in the upper atmosphere, they formed thick black raindrops and fell back down onto the city. The drops of rain were big enough to hurt when they hit your skin. It descended in a torrent. Black fluid flowed where the rain fell.

It was raining black fluid. What the people who drank the rain didn't realize was that it was highly radioactive. In time, it would poison many thousands. On the day the bomb was dropped, President Truman was still traveling home from Europe. On our way back on the Augusta, returning to Washington, we were on the edge of our chairs because we expected any day, any time, any day to have a flash from the War Department that uh the first bomb had been dropped. And on August 6th, as we were about one day out from Norolk, we that flash came, George Elsie decoded the telegram that brought the news to President Truman on the Augusta. When something like that came, we would walk it to immediately. We would

interrupt whatever he was doing. He happened to be having lunch with the crew at that point. took it to Truman who showed it to Secretary Burns and to Admiral Ley. And then Truman announced to the ship's crew this great accomplishment. We have dropped a single bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima with the power of 20,000 tons of TNT. The city has been COMPLETELY DESTROYED. was cheering. Cheering by the crew, cheering by the officers when he read it in the officer's mask. The Augusta was one of the ships that was destined for the uh Pacific and would have been involved in the invasion. And uh the crew knew that just about everybody who was in Europe knew that they were headed would be headed for the Pacific and an invasion

of Japan. So they were just as overjoyed as the president was that this damn thing is over. We hope this will be a warning to the Japanese military. Come on, boys. WE'RE GOING HOME. HE WAS EAGER to get home because he was sure that the word the Japanese surrender would come very soon. In case there was any doubt, Truman spelt it out to the Japanese high command. It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July the 26th was issued at Potan. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a reign of ruin from the

air the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Late that afternoon, the mayor of Hiroshima issued his own proclamation. The present catastrophe is the result of a horrible and inhuman air raid. The enemy's intention is clearly to undermine the fighting spirit of the Japanese people. Citizens of Hiroshima, the damage is great, but that is only to be expected during a war. Keep up your spirits. Do not lose heart. the morning after the bomb. A fullscale rescue effort began.

Squads of soldiers from surrounding garrisons were drafted in to help. They collected the dead bodies and disposed of them before disease could spread. The wounded were quickly taken away for treatment. Makeshift hospitals were set up, although there were only a handful of medical staff. Dr. found himself treating 3,000 survivors in a village outside Hiroshima. At first, we had no medicine, no equipment. There was nothing we doctors could do.

However, we gathered up some things and started treating the burns. Nurse Kinuko had an extraordinary escape. I don't know whether I was unconscious for hours or for days. When I did come round, I thought, "So, I am still alive. God must have given me strength." She woke to find that she had been thrown into a mass grave. After I crawled out of the hole, I managed to cross the road to get to the entrance of the hospital. It took me a terribly long time as I could not stand nor lift my arms or move them to the side. I crawled like an insect and finally reached the hospital entrance.

Dr. Hinoi from the pharmacy spotted me and exclaimed, "You're still alive." He picked me up and carried me to the surgery area. The corridor was full of people lying side by side. and removed all of the large pieces of glass that were stuck in me. All over the city, relatives search the ruins for signs of survivors. Before midday, my friend's father came to get us. But my friend, who had escaped from the bank with me, turned out to have a broken spine. She died a week later. How did you say?

She was a year younger than me. I am nearly 80 years old now, but she was only 18 at the time. Whenever I think of her, she is still 18 years old. She was a very pretty, gentle person. Nurse Kinuko decided to make her own way home. She crawled from the hospital as far as Hiroshima station, but no trains were running. I was told that I had to go to the next station to get on a train. I asked myself what the best way to get there would be.

I didn't know the roads. I realized the only way was to crawl along the railway track and that was how I got to the next station. Several times I lost consciousness. Sometimes I woke up to see blue sky. other times to black sky. In the end, I reached the station. Kinuko finally reached her hometown where she was nursed for many months by her mother who had given her up for dead. 3 days after the Hiroshima bomb, despite all the destruction, Japan still hadn't surrendered. A second bomb was made

ready, and Truman issued another warning. The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. If Japan does not surrender, bombs will have to be dropped on more industries. I urge Japanese civilians to leave industrial cities immediately and save themselves from destruction. I realize the tragic significance of the atomic bomb. Having found the atomic bomb, we have used it. We have used it against those who attack us without warning at Pearl Harbor. Against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war. Against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare.

We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans. The second bomb was intended for the city of Kokura, but it was too cloudy, so the plane moved on to Nagasaki. Desperately short of fuel, the crew released the bomb despite more clouds. The bomb missed the aiming point and fell into a valley. This time, there was no firestorm, but even so, more than 50,000 people were killed.

The Supreme War direction Council in Tokyo was meeting on the same day. By now, the Russians had declared war on Japan. Then came the news from Nagasaki. Then Prime Minister Suzuki did something unheard of. He asked the emperor to break the deadlock and make a decision. Emperor Hirohito told them he wanted to end the suffering and bear the unbearable. 4 days later, radical soldiers attempted a coup to prevent the surrender. They failed. At dawn, on the day that Emperor Hirohito was to broadcast an announcement to the Japanese people that the war was over, General Anami prepared

to end his life in the timehonored tradition of Sepuku. suicide note read, "My death is my apology for my great crime. At last the troops were going home. There was jubilation around the world. But then came something that would forever change perception of the bomb. It started in the hospitals. A mysterious illness began to spread. I noticed it from about the fourth day. Of course, it had been there all along, but I thought people were dying of severe burns.

The woman who lost her children in the fires, she gay Heratica and her husband were amongst those affected. They lined my bed up next to my husband and took his test first. When they had taken enough blood for the sample, they withdrew the needle. What do they do? But the blood wouldn't stop. Nothing worked. Whatever they did. Even when they applied pressure, it carried on bleeding. During this time, purple spots began breaking out all over my husband's body. He then vomited a large amount of brown liquid.

Afterwards, he went limp and died an hour later. He had managed to survive that far. But then even he was taken away from me. husband was one of thousands who would die from this new and untreatable condition. They were rotting. It was necrosis. There were no white blood cells, so the blood had no power to fight against infection. And so suddenly the rotting set in the end. The hair would start to fall out. When you put your hand on the patient's head, tufts of hair would come away in your hand. It emerged that those who were worst affected had been close to the hyperenter or had swallowed radioactive material like the people who drank the black rain. In hindsight, we realized that it was

radiation. But at that time, we didn't know what it was. Radiation sickness has become the single most disturbing legacy of the bomb. American scientists had always known the bomb would produce radiation, but the scale of the after effects came as a shocking surprise. Today, Hiroshima is a thriving city of over a million people. Japan too has been transformed into a prosperous country that has renounced the use of war entirely. Although no one has used a nuclear weapon since, arguments continue

as to the morality of dropping the bomb. Was it really necessary? Could it have been avoided? The nation had no rice to eat. People had not eaten white rice for a whole year. How could such a country go to battle? The Americans knew that very well and still dropped the atomic bomb. Why? It was an experiment. They knew that the bomb had enormous explosive power. What they did not know was how much damage the radiation would cause. Some scientists thought they knew, but they had not tested it. So they made an experiment to find out by testing it on human beings. The final decision that resulted in the two bombs, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was not made in Potam. It

wasn't made by Truman. It was made by the Japanese militarists when they rejected any opportunity to surrender just their armed forces and save further massive loss of life. Today, there are just a few places that bear the scars of August the 6th, 1945. The shadow of a vaporized man left on stone. Firstand memories are fading too. Ako Takura, the bank clerk, who had been just 260 m from the hyper center, is one of the last witnesses to the full horror of the bomb.

There is a department store called So in Hiroshima, where I stop sometimes for tea. From the T-room, I can see the road from the bank to the drill ground where we escaped. I see old people walking happily down the street. Young people holding hands and enjoying each other's conversation. Children holding their parents' hands and looking happy. And I think about those awful scenes that I experienced many years ago now and all the people that lost their lives. I think to myself, what was all that? Did it really happen? Every year on the 6th of August, there are ceremonies to recall what took place on that day, to make sure that these events are never forgotten or repeated.

At sunset, tens of thousands of candles are released on the river in Hiroshima. Each candle representing the soul of one of the dead.