Hiroshima Part two

Everyone is so busy chatting that no one notices our speaker slip in through a side door and onto the stage. I see her right away. She is beautiful. She is very petite woman. She has a cute pixie haircut with bright red lips that match her bright red sweater. She has the warmest smile. She has scars. She doesn't speak english well but had her talk translated into english and has it stored in a little binder. We are told she will read the script to us in english. I am a little worried because I want to hear and understand every word she says. Professor Scott finally sees her and yells for everyone to take their seat. He gives her a brief introduction and with the release of a heavy sigh she begins. 

Her name is Matsubara Mieko and on August 6, 1945 she was 12 years old. She was at school and was on recess playing with friends. The weather on that day sealed Hiroshima's fate, sunny and clear not a cloud in the sky. There had been air raids all morning long so when she heard the sound of a B-29 approaching, she thought it was weird that no sirens went off but shrugged it off thinking that if there was cause for concern there would be a warning. As the noise from the plane grew louder she put both of her hands over her eyes to shield the sun to try and get a glimpse of the plane.

At 8:15 a.m. Matsubara's life would never be same. Within seconds her whole world turned black, literally. Can you imagine looking up at the sky and seeing the plane that's about to inflict complete and utter devastation on your city and your life? 

She lost consciousness and when she came to her day had turned to night. Her clothes had melted to her skin, she was bloody, her hands were disfigured, her eyes were burning, skin literally was melting off her body. Sometimes you wouldn't be to make out some of words but her body language and the anguish in her eyes and her voice spoke louder than words. I felt my body tremble. The room was dead silent as she took a drink of water. She then called out for her friends but no one answered. They were dead. All she wanted to do was go home. Her house was far enough away from the blast zone that her family was ok and if she had been at home instead of school that day she would've been fine. But she wasn't at home. She was within kilometers of where the bomb was dropped and it was a miracle that she had survived. She started to make her way towards home where she came to the bridge. It was covered with people calling out for help. 

The river was littered with dead bodies. People were jumping in the river hoping to alleviate the pain from the burns but jumping in the water only made things worse. Then, in the distance she had her name being called. She followed the voice to find one of her friends. She asked, "is my face OK?" She could tell by the look on her friends face that it wasn't. Her eyelids had melted off and she had suffered terrible burns all over her face. She said skin was falling off her arms and off numerous parts of her body. She was in tremendous pain and was at deaths door for 4 days. 

Soon after, the American military arrived but not to provide aid. They were sent to monitor the effects of an atomic bomb on human beings. They were in no way allowed to help any of the victims. They took pictures of people suffering from burns and radiation but provided no aid. Yes, that's right, no aid. The Japanese government is just as guilty because they didn't provide any aid either. People set up their own makeshift aid centers without the proper medical supplies or knowledge about how to treat burns or what to do about being contaminated by radiation. She said people wrapped kimonos on their burns to sooth the pain but this only made things worse because it wasn't sterile and would increase infection. There was no food or water within the city, you had to go into the countryside and so it was 3 days before she was able to drink or eat anything. 

140,000 people were killed and a city was completely ruined. I never knew this but for years after, atomic bomb survivors were severely discriminated against. Because of the way you looked people were afraid of you. People were scared that you were contaminated with radiation and wanted nothing to do with you. Her voice trembled when she talked about how no one would sit next to her on the bus and how no one would giver her a job. She was never able to find anyone who would marry her so she has been single her whole life. She wanted to be something when she grew up and she wanted a family. You could tell how sad this made her. No one man has ever loved her or touched her because of the way she looked. Her scars scared men. She has had a lot of reconstructive surgery but her scars are still visible but I can't imagine what they used to look like. The sound of sniffling noses fills the room and as I look around it seems there is not a dry eye in the house. 

For years she was filled with anger, hate and resentment towards Americans and even her own country. She said when she first met some Americans she was surprised at how kind they were. She then realized that maybe not all Americans were bad because it was the government and military that made the decision to use nuclear weapons not the American people as a whole. She even said that she knows that if Japan had possessed the atomic bomb first they would have used it. In 1988 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to have her breasts removed. Her doctor is monitoring what might be early stage stomach cancer. She said this is something that many survivors have to deal with--you get recover from one cancer only to discover you have another. She said she gradually found peace by talking about her experience and that she felt it was important to be a survivor and not a victim. But the effects of atomic bomb still haunt many survivors, mentally and physically. The pain never goes away, you just find ways to cope. 

After her talk, Professor Scott said we could ask questions. The room was silent for a good 30 seconds before the first brave soul raised their hand. I was the second. And then there was a third, fourth and so on. Someone asked about forgiveness and she said with anger in her voice that she will never forgive the American's who made the decision to drop the bomb as well as the pilots who carried out the mission. She would never forgive her own government for letting the war escalate to the point that it did and for not providing help to their own people in a time of tragedy. Till this day the government has never offered any compensation. When you're at the museum they have a model of what Hiroshima looked like before and after the bombing. It's astonishing to see the magnitude of destruction. All you think too yourself is why did they do this? Was this really necessary? 

President Truman's justification was that it was the only way to end the war and that it would save a million Americans lives by avoiding a ground invasion. The fact of the matter is in August of 1945 the Japanese had already lost the war, they just hadn't surrendered. Their military was destroyed and they were clearly near defeat but were they near surrender? The emperor was god to people and they weren't going to surrender until he gave the signal. So they were going to fight till the very end and the Americans knew this. What's troubling though is with the military intelligence that they possessed they knew that Japan didn't have a chance so what's the point on dropping nuclear weapons to end a war that is already over? The bombs were dropped because the U.S. didn't want a political settlement, they wanted to end the war on their terms. They wanted to make a statement to the world about their capabilities and being the first to use nuclear weapons would send a clear message. There was an arms race to see who could build them first and I think that if Russia or Japan had beat us to it that history would be quite different. The main problem with the dropping of these weapons is where they were dropped. 

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, they started a war they had no chance of winning. What they did 'right' and I am not condoning violence or war but you have to look at it from both sides, they attacked a military target. In times of war those should be your targets. Hiroshima was not a military target. It was a lively city full of people who wondered why their emperor wouldn't surrender. A city full people who would suffer tremendously because their emperor, their god was too prideful to end a war that he started but couldn't finish. Yet at the same time, in my opinion, using those atomic weapons on innocent people was mass murder. Some may call it casualties of war but I think that's just an excuse to justify the actions taken. What I find interesting about atomic bomb survivors is there is just as much resentment towards their own country as there is to America. They feel that the war could've ended a lot sooner if the Japanese military and government would've just said the magical words but they also feel that the Americans were a bit too curious about their new toys and took the first opportunity they had to test their capabilities at the expense of innocent lives. 

Someone asked her what she wants people that couldn't hear her talk to know and she said that life is precious and that it's important to love, respect and understand people around the world. She hopes that no one ever has to experience what she went through and that all she hopes for is world peace. Of course we all want world peace and for an hour while I am in her presence, I really believe that it's possible. But then I look at the state of the world and wonder if peace is just a word, a hope or a dream that has a nice ring to it but will never be possible. Who knows what the future holds and as the old saying goes, anything is possible. We can only hope.