The Northwest times. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1947-1955, 1947-08-05
By HIDEO HOSHIDE
THE LAST TIME I SAW
HIROSHIMA

AhhE AfAo1 AANkL 4 saw
HIROSHIMA
The first time I saw Hiroshima
was from the air. Our four-en-
gined C-54 was circling over the
worlds first bombed city that
cloudy day in October, l945. It
was only two months before, on
the morning of August at 8:l5
O'Clock, that the seventh largest ia
anese city with wartime popula-
ton of $4,000 inhabitants first
witnessed the devasting explosion
Of the atom bomb. Those who
were left to tell of their harrow
ing experiences knew then that the
was was lost. However, this I'M
known weapon of the Americans
which they later learned was
'genshi-bakudan" (atomic bomb
was only "pika- don" to them, or
"flash-and-noise".
From our small portfolios we
could see the extensive destruction
caused by a single atomic bomb
and the fire that followed which
burned out roughly circular area
of A square miles. From the air,
the center portion of the city ap-
peared to be completely levelled
with the streets giving a checker
board appearance. Here and there
concrete buildings still stood, al
though they appeared to be mere
empty shells.
The city of Hiroshima is located
on the broad fan-shaped delta Of
the Ota River, whose seven mouths
divide the city into six islands
which project fingerliEe into Hiro-
shima Bay of the Inland Sea.
Bridges which numbered over 30
important ones connected these
islands. Some of these bridges
near the center of the explosion
appeared to be down. The target
Of the bomb, we learned later, was
the Chugoku Regional Army Head
quarters which occupied the central
part Of the city along with the
main commercial district. A large
patch of ground which we could
see must have been the army pa
rade grounds. There was not much
left OF the barracks which housed
the soldiers.
This air-view OF Hiroshima (and
Nagasaki, only few hours before>
was made possible through the
courtest of the pilot who felt that
land route TO Tokya from Okinswa
would be better due to the weather.
We were on our way to report to
our headquarters of the United
States Stragetic Bombing Survey on
three-months duty. The survey
was established by the Secretary
of War to conduct studies of the
effects of our aerial attacks on ia
pan. We were attached to the
Morale division of the Survey
which was to make a study of the
patterns of belief obout the war,
before and after the bombing. On
one Of trips, I was able to go 70
Hiroshima and vicinity in Deem
Der, 1916 to conduct interviews
with the people there.
The ground view of Hiroshima
differed quite bit from the pre-
vious air view. How we could
clearly see the impact of the atomic
bomb. The concrete buildings
were actually mere shells with the
windows and doors blown out.
Since the bomb had exploded over
the city, the buildings vertically um-
der the blast were either crushed
of weak, or the roofs were crushed
In with little or no damage to the
walls. Trunks of trees remained
standing but stripped of their
branches. At somewhat greater
distances from the center, the hor-
izontal and verticol componentS of
the blast damaged the roofs and
walls facing the explosion One
could easily discern the direction
of the center of the explosion by
the way houses, poles, trees, etc.
leaned away from the explosion.
The effects of the radiant heat