The Wilmington morning star., 1946-03-19
At Hiroshima
BY CAPT. MAX x. GILsTRAP

. BY CAPT. MAX K. GILSTRAP
At 3 am. on cold January night. stepped
from the sleeping car onto the snow-powdered
station platform at Hiroshima. I hadn't ex-
pected to find hotel accommodations. But the
Japanese conductors remark that I would
probably be the only American in this desolate
city until my train returned in u hours was
bit startling. wondered, momentarily, if
had been wise in making this stop-over at the
| historic scene of the dropping of the first
atomic bomb in enemy territory
| l ventured into the dinaly lighted station.
My officers uniform drew the curious gaze
of well-bundled Japanese civilians and SOL
diers, lined up before the ticket windows In
the rear of the station, across the street,
dark figures were huddled around fires sput-
tering from the falling snow. 1t was tempta-
ton to share their heat But decided to walk
to keep warm, and struck out across bridge
into Hiroshimas ruins.
It was an eerie Landscape, with shifting
moonlight revealing stark sihouettes of char.
red tree trunks, telephone poles, and bits of
buildings, whitened with snow. Crunchng over
floor of spattered stone, broken and melted
glass, twisted iron and debris, I was remind
led of the hushed desolation of Darmstadt,
Cologne, and Nuremberg. But, unlike these
German cities, Hiroshima was nearly devoid
of standing relics. 1t was as though raging
fire had swept the area, leaving nothing in its
wake
At am, saw light hickering from the
window Of sheet-iron shanty. Farther on, a
blazing fire lighted the Oriental features of
man and woman talking in low tones. A
dusky figure, scraping past IN wooden san
dals, lighted a match, ostensibly to see his
watch, and glanced my way. bicyclist ex-
claimed "O-hi-oh'' in morning greeting. In
the distance streetcar, surprisingly, ratified
through the ruins.
curious civilian, looking on offered
to act as my guide. He insisted on carrying
my baggage. Now Hiroshima pronounced Hi
ro-shi-ma, which means broad delta, began
to take on meaning. Broken masses of china
ware indicated the former site of a japanese
tea garden; large mounds of earth marked
where the remains Of thousands Of bombed
victim had been cremated and buried; signs
stuck about in former home sites bore mes
sages from members Of families. One read:
"Aeda family. ALI safe and we live at Togo
saka." Another addressed to sister simply
asked "Where are you?" 1t gave the question
er's location.
Halfway between Aioi Bridge and KAN
yacho Junction. my guide stopped abruptly
and pointed straight up into the sky. "Up
there thousand meters is where the bomb
exploded Notice the destruction around here
is more severe"
''The explosion was like a giant camera
flash bulb,' was the way my guides friend,
George Tsudano, described it in faltering Eng
lish, when we talked to him in his shanty
near by. Mr.. Tsudano is director Of his neigh
borhood Of eight families which, before the
blast, had 280. He was near the City Hall
around eight nine am On that fateful
day Of August 6. He heard an airplane high
up and wondered if it might be American
then the flash came. Even before he heard
the noise he darted into his brothers. house
to be caught there by falling walls and roof
Crawling out, he witnessed a great cloud of
purple smoke 'that made it like night for 20
or 80 minutes. There was sudden, terrific
downpour of rain which lasted about an hour,
but didn't put out the fires"
1t was during the first 10 days following
the, explosion that people suffered most, said
Mr.. Tsudano. He lost wife and two children
IN the disaster. Many people experienced red
| splotches on their skin and the effects proved
fatal. Others lost their hair. Nearly everyone
suffered burned hands and faces from the
furnace-like blast Mr.. Tsudano scotched the
scientists theory that plants wouldn't grow
here for rs years by pointing through the
window to his big lettuce patch He said he
had felt no effects from radio activity
1t was now nearly pm, my train time,
so we 'hurriedly surveyed some 300 new
frame houses built near the city's outskirts
| to shelter the homeless Our tour ended in
one of the IL or IS large buildings left stand
ling where we warmed ourselves around a
huge copper kettle of burning embers Here
a Japanese workman gave me my only souve-
mir Of Hiroshima--the hilt Of broken Japa-
nese sword.
At train, took my baggage, thanked
my guide and returned his wobbly salute
(my gloves were large for him). Watching
his Figure retreat down the track, l thought
of the almost pathetic kindnesses the lnhabi-
tants had shown one whose uniform must
have symbolized the force that caused their
misery. II seemed clear that when such people
throughout the world are given proper teach
ing and social environment, we will not have
to worry about who may learn the secret OF
the atomic bomb In the enlightenment OF
these who have reaped the whirlwind, the
world will find it's only sure safety from the
fate that befell Hiroshima. Science
4 Monitor.
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