Hiroshima survivor’s account

Posted on by Jason Sandford

Miyoko Watanabe, a survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, planned to visit Asheville on July 9, 2008, as part of the arrival of a national traveling exhibition, “Hiroshima-Nagasaki: Images and Stories from Eyewitness Accounts.” A delegation from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum planned to attend the opening of the exhibition. The museum advocates for the peaceful disarmament of all nations possessing nuclear weapons by increasing citizen awareness of the effects of nuclear weapons.

In a written account of her remembrance of the bombing, Watanabe describes the horrible destruction she witnessed the day of the Aug. 6, 1945, Hiroshima bombing.

“As I left the shelter, I saw a boy about junior high age burned and without hair except on the top of his head where he had been wearing a combat cap. He staggered along like a ghost with both hands held out in front of him. The skin on his cheeks had burst open and was dangling down. He was horribly burned and walking barefoot saying, ‘Water please! I’m so hot! I’m burning!’”

This document is Watanabe’s written account. Click here to download a PDF of the document.

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