davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1953-08-16
Survivor Report
Hroshimo Hospital Stoff Recalls Horror
That Came With the Tiny Bomb of 1945
By John McKeIwoy

In March of 1852 a group Of
japanese doctors bowed politely to
one another and sat down around
a table in Hiroshima hospital.
Old friends were there and, despite
the grim conversation, laughter
broke out now and then.
The doctors spoke bluntly and
briefly. They spoke Of pain and
death; Of stark courage and whole
sale destruction. They spoke Of
August 6. 1945.
This was the day their hospital,
the Hiroshima Communications
Hospital, rocked and burned from
the atom bomb blast, treated q tidal
wave Of casualties.
Their remarks were recorded by
a team OF doctors representing the
Atomic Energy Commission and
called the Atomic Bomb Casualty
Commission. The transcript was OBJ
tanned from Brig. Gen. Elbert De
CourSey of the Armed Forces Insti-
tute of Pathology.
Thousands of Patients
Communications Hospital is 10
Gated in the northeast section Of
Hiroshima. Shortly after the bomb
fell, this same section was mass
of flames. Thousands Of dirty,
dazed and bleeding persons fed the
rapidly spreading inferno.
The hospital escaped total destruc-
tion. It was built of reinforced
concrete. Fire, nevertheless, man.
aged to break out in sections of the
building.
DR.. Hachiya, the hospital direc-
tor, opened the meeting. He de-
scribed the general situation of the
hospital at the time Of the blast and
then said, simply:
"All members of the staff sustained
injuries. :. Nevertheless they made
every effort to fight the fire which
had broken out within the hospital
while continuing to administer medi-
cal care In the midst Of the sur
rounding sea Of fire. While I was
injured at my residence hurried
to the hospital. -. However, must
confess that I was unable to assist
the staff, but rather caused them
additional trouble"
The Job of running the hospital
fell to DR.. Koyama, an ophthalmolo-
gist. Injured in the blast, he was
unable to move his left arm He
described the hospital scene.
1.-THE unprecedented disaster frus-
trated all our previously arranged
programs for emergencies. It was
impossible to accommodate all the
patients as the wards had been
destroyed by fire. The bedding was
burned and we were unable to sup
ply linens. Emergency medical sup
plies were also destroyed. The num-
Der of patients continued to increase.
They were accommodated along the
passages and entrances. even filling
the hospital yard in the eno.
During the daytime the scorching
sunlight poured on them, while
at night the chilly air made them
Shiver. !"
The doctor added that all toilets
Evening star., 1953-08-16
By George Gomow

(Dr. Gdn1oD, professor OF the
oretical physics at the George
Washington University, is one OF
the Nations top authorities on
nuclear physics and close GdDtSer
OF the Atomic Energy Commits
Sion)
energy" Deuterons are the nuclei Of
so-called heavy hydrogen" Once
created In the fusion Of two protons,
deuterons react rapidly with other
protrons leading to ordinary helium
as the end-product.
This goes on inside the sun at the
inconceivable temperature Of 20 mil
lion degrees. But even at this fierce
heat. the reaction is slow. A pro-
ton, colliding billions Of times per
second with other protons of solar
material, must go on colliding for
billions of years before "lucky hit"
will lead to it's fusion with another
proton. Only because the sun is so
huge can such a slow process pro-
vide sufficient energy to make the
sun the supporter of all life on
earth, SO million miles away.
Deuterium and Tritium
But deuterium, heavier isotope
of hydrogen. is another matter. It
works much faster than ordinary
hydrogen nuclei and works in one
of two ways. The first Is "deute-
rum r deuterium II helium-3 r neu-
tron r energy" and the second is
"deuterium r deuterium ztritium r
proton + energy" Tritium, In the sec
ond reaction, is q still heavier hydro
gen isotope.
In either Of these reactions, the
work is over with in only 10000
second at the solar temperature. At
still higher heat levels, the reactions
rate increases very rapidly, until
finally 1t becomes practically in
Simultaneous and therefore explosive.
Getting of the sun and down to
earth, the problem is to get the
materials necessary for such q reac-
ton, and to create sufficient heat
to set them of.
Deuterium (H-2) exists in nature
in the proportion Of two parts in
10000 Of hydrogen, as compared to
10 parts Of U-235 in 10000 Of ura-
mum. But even though it Is COM
paratively scarcer than U-235, deu-
terium is much easier to extract
from its parent substance. And
deuterium "ore" is much more plen-
tiful than uranium ore, for the raw
material Of deuterium is water.
Artificial Element
Tritium, though better as an ex-
plosive than deuterium, does not
exist In nature. and must be pro-
duced artificially In atomic piles.
Atom for atom, tritium is as expen-
sive as plutoniun1. So it may be
used In any hydrogen device only
as q catalyzer. Added in compare
lively small quantities, it helps start
and maintain the maximum deute-
rum reaction.
The second part Of the problem
h to bring these substances to .
Evening star., 1953-08-16
The Process hu Makes the Sun Shine Also Can Set OFF Explosion
Bad Enough Blast and Char Circle SO Miles in Diameter

temperature few times higher than
that in the center Of the sun. This
can be done by using an ordinary
f1ssion bomb as the trigger mechan-
ism, since the temperature at the
center of an exploding bomb of this
sort Is reported to be so million
degrees. How this Is done is the
No. secret, Of course.
Unlike the flSsion bomb, which
either Is or is not big enough to go
OF, the size and power Of an
H-bomb depends on the amount of
material put into it, as well as the
perfection of its construction. But
one can say generally that it may
exceed the power Of an ordinary
flssion bomb by d factor of about
1000. Since the nominal" atomic
bomb has the power Of 10000 tons
Of INT, 1t follows that the typical
H-bomb has the force Of 20 million
tons
The Forces Involved
How great q force is this? It
depends on what effect Is being
discussed. Nuclear weapons have
three destructive forces: % Shock
wave, or blast; 90 thermal radia-
ton, essentially heat; 60 nuclear
radiation, or "radioactivity." either
instantaneous or delayed (the latter
being due to products Of the fusion,
or f1ssion).
The Hiroshima and NagaSaki
bombs did most Of their damage by
blast, with thermal and nuclear
radiation following in that order.
AS the power Of the bomb goes up.
the radii of action Of the three
factors change in different ways:
/. The destruction radius due to
blast increases as the cube root Of
the force.
2. The radius Of heat action in
creases as the square root.
3. The radius Of radioactivity
increases much more slowly.
logarithmically.
Rodius Of Destruction
Thus. in an H-bomb. the nuclear
radiation peril will be Of rather
small Importance, while the heat
effect will become more important
than blast. According to existing
data, q 20,000-ton flssion bomb has
Q lethal blast radius of about one
mile, and killing heat radius of
three-quarters Of q mile. The 20
million-ton hydrogen bombs blast
radius would increase by q factor of
10. becoming 10 miles, and the kill
ing radius for heat-effect would be
over 80 times greater, or about Is
miles.
What would this mean to Wash
ington? A 20-million bomb
dropped on the Ellipse in front Of
the White House would destroy by
blast virtually all the District, and
severe blast damage would be suf-
fered in such suburbs as HyattSville,
Bethesda and Alexandria. Severe
burns could be expected as far away
as the southern suburbs Of Balti-
more, the outskirts of Annapolis and
the Marine Base at Quantico.
Evening star., 1953-08-16

Cosnic is the only word for the hydrogen bomb.
With nine such weapons dropped in the proper places
attacker could blast burn the entire main line of
America" from Boston to Washington-a strip so miles wide
in which is concentrated of the population
at least third of the wealth of the Nation.
The maps above, drawn by Star Staff Artist Newman
Sudduth show graphically the force of the hydrogen bomb
The large map indicates how maximum of destruction
could be done with minimum number of bombs. The
radius of destruction calculated the basis Of data
vded in the article beow by Dr. George Gamow of George
Washington University Each circle about
1000 square miles within radius of IS miles of point
Zero This radius is the probable limit Of killing heat for
Evening star., 1953-08-16
Anatomy Of the H-Bomb-

Last fall the Atomic Energy Com
mission announced completion of q
successful "thermonuclear expert
ment" hydrogen explosion) at its
Pacific Proving Grounds. A week
ago Premier Georgi Malenkov told
the Supreme Soviet that Russia, too,
has developed the hydrogen bomb.
Assuming that Premier Malen-
kov'S statement was fact and not
propaganda-and there is no sound
reason for denying the possibility
of its truth-the great powers
potential for mutual destruction Is
vastly increased. The atom bomb,
now only eight years old, may not
be obsolete or even obsolescent. But
it certainly is relegated now to a
No. position in the worlds
arSenalS.
What is the difference In basic
principles Of the "old-fashioned"
uranium and plutonium bombs and
those of the new device whose ex-
plosion is based on hydrogen?
AS everybody knows today, con-
ventional atomic bombs work
through the fssion-or breaking up
of heavy nuclei with the concur
rent liberation Of large amounts Of
energy. There exists in nature only
one kind of atom which can be used
successfully for chain-reaction fis-
sion bombs: It is U-235, the lighter
iSotope of uranium. which forms
only seven-tenths of / per cent Of
all the uranium in the world.
Plutonium CPu-239) is an artifi-
cial improvement over natural U-235.
But to get this substance, one must
burn" U-235 in atomic piles. Ac-
cordingly, plutonium is even more
expensive than the rare light isotope
Of uranium.
Fusion, Not Fission
The principle of the hydrogen
bomb is entirely different; in fact, it
is the reverse Of the A-bomb prin-
ciple. It utilizes fusion-the process
in which energy is liberated when
two light nuclei unite to form a
heavier one. Theoretically, fusion
can take place between any two sub
stances in the first Qighter) half of
the periodic table Of elements. But
as matter Of practice, the lighter
the nuclei, the better for fusion. And
hydrogen, the lightest Of elements, is
the best of all.
The reason for this lies in the ex-
istence Of strong electric repulSions
between nuclei. This repulsion tends
to keep nuclei apart. But since the
smaller the nucleus. the smaller its
electric charge, less energy Is re-
qutred to cause fusion of light nuclei
than Of heavier ones.
The hydrogen bomb has been COM
pared to q piece Of the SUM-" This
oversimplifieS only slightly. Energy
production in the sun is due entirely
to the fusion Of hydrogen nuclei, or
protons. as DR.. Charles Crutchfleld,
formerly Of George Washington Uni
versity, discovered about IS years
ago.
What happens in the sun can be
written symbolically as "proton + pro-
ton y deuteron r positive electron r
Evening star., 1953-08-16
A Dying Child

Then a nurse spoke:
'It is our duty as nurses to make
patients happy and comfortable. At
that time most of us were suffering
from injuries and the number of pa
tients was increasing day by day.
Only four or five of us recovered
from injuries. Therefore. even now,
I am sorry we were not able to give
them the care they required"
And a pediatrician:
soon after the explosion, I
heard q child pinned under a col
lapsed house crying, It's hot, hot,
help me- Nothing could be done
to help him, and finally he was
burned to death. For about year
afterward, I was unable to sleep
well at night, remembering the mis-
cry and sorrow with the cry Of this
child in my ears"
DR.. Hachiya closed the meeting.
He said: II am glad we have had
this opportunity to recall the days
following the bombing and discuss
them in a friendly atmosphere.
The polite Japanese bowed and
walked out.
They had discussed the A-bomb.
No one mentioned the H-bomb.
Evening star., 1953-08-16

In the lower righthand map showing the prob
able blast and heat 1ethal limits for atomic bomb of
the type which civil defense planning is based-25
times powerful the Hiroshima type The inner circle
IL miles in radius, is the limit of killing fash The outer
circle 135 miles in radius is the limit of total blast de-
strucon The center is at the Zero Milestone the Epse
The map in the upper left shows how the
Metropolitan Area would be affected by H-bomb
dropped at the point. The blast radius 10 miles,
covering from Annandae to College Park The heat
radius Is miles, from Mt Zion to Jacksonville and from
Manassas almost to Ekrdge Within the smaller circle
live well million people, within the larger
than is million.
Evening star., 1953-08-16

a hydrogen bomb 1000 times powerful the atomic
bomb dropped at Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.
Because Of the wide destruction wrought by bomb
bobardiers accuracy becomes secondary factor Also
with the Hbomb the obvious targets longer the
logical ones to be hit For instance Bowie Md would
the if the destruction of Metropolitan Washington
the objective Not only would the bombs heat scar
the entire District and metropolitan Northern Virginia. its
force ranging northward would strike the dock
mercal of Baltimore
Less damage would be done as far away as
80 miles
The nsets show graphically how the picture in Wash
tngon changes with the menace Of the hydrogen bomb
Evening star., 1953-08-16

in the hospital were out of order.
"Most perplexing," he said. was
the problem of flies. We were .
without supply of insecticides"
Attending the meeting with the
doctors were group of persons
from the hospitals staff. Comment
ing next was a Mr.. Yamasaki, an
Office clerk of the hospital, who
helped cremate the bodies. Il had
a hard time" he said. above all.
we had no fuel. We were without
even matches until we were able
to borrow one from a patient. Old
pieces of wood were collected and
I alone cremated 95 or 96 cadavers.
"The sight of the cremation left
O marked impression on me-"
City Scenes
Another doctor broke in to de-
scribe what he saw on entering the
city just after the blast:
"The first victim saw was man
drawing horse cart. His face was
smeared with soil and his eyes were
turned up. Then I saw many women
who looked like ghosts and their
arms raised up in front of them;
one was carrying baby in her
arms. Most OF them were either
naked or nearly naked"
A surgeon commented that he
worked 20 days without sleep or
rest and lost my self confidence"
as his patients continued to die.
A doctor spoke on first aid for A
bomb disasters in the future. "At
least two attendants should be avail
able" he said, "for each patient. At
that time (the time of the blast)
there were five or six attendants
available for thousands of patients
and no complete treatment could be
given. All we could do was just lis
ten to the pleas of patients for as
sistance."
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-03-20

ANNAPOLIS, Mar. 2O.-Wel-
fare groups and charitable Or
CARNATIONS told the Senate Jul
dietary Committee they whole
heartedly opposed a bill to make
relief roles matter of public
record.
The bill introduced by Sena-
tors Turnbulll, Democrat, of
Baltimore County and Hod, Re-
publican. of Carroll. also would
give local officials more author
ity over county welfare boards.
Assistant Attorney General
Robert Weinberg represented the
administration in opposing the
measure yesterday. He said that
although publication of lists in
Chicago had cut the relief rolls
by $250,000 year. the move
was too drastic for Maryland
to take until the matter is
studied thoroughly.
Welfare representatives con-
tended that exposure of relief
lists would hurt the most de-
serving and helpless-the chill
dren and old people.
Senators Turnbull and Hon
made a study of welfare laws as
a legislative council subcom-
mlttee.
Senator Turnbull explained
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-03-20
Welfare Groups in Maryland
Oppose Opening Relief Rolls

that the main purpose Of the
bill was to give more RESPONSE
bility to local boards in welfare
administration and regulation.
The Sobeloh commission had
found present laws do not de-
fine clearly the responsibility Of
State and local boards.
Under terms Of the bill, mem
bers Of county welfare boards
would be named by the county
commissioners instead of the
State board.
Welfare board witnesses said
the present system, under which
the county commissioners make
recommendations to the State
board. was working satisfactorily.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-03-20
Backing Of Business
For Works Program
Urged by Merrill

Washington buSineSsme n
should support the Districts pro-
posed 1887 million public works
program. according to E. D. Mer-
rill. president of the Washington
Board of Trade.
Businessmen and their COM
panies must bear part of the
cost of the long-range program,
through increased taxes on mu-
nicipal services such as water
and sewers. Mr.. Merrill told the
Junior Chamber of Commerce
yesterday.
Stresses Federal Aid.
But, the Federal Government
also must be persuaded to bear
share through interest-fre loans
and outright grants, the business
leader stressed.
THE prime objective now"
Mr.. Merrill told the junior cham
Der. at a Burlington Hotel lunch
con, lis to gain congressional APP
proVal for the principle involved
in the public works program,
particularly the method of f.
nancing it."
Lack of enough funds has
created a situation that threat
ems both the health and we'll
being of Washington citizens, he
asserted.
Urges Planning Cooperation.
Mr.. Merrill also urged bust.
nesSmen to cooperate with plan
ming agencies working on Met
ropolitan Area development. He
commended a suggestion by,
Harland Bartholomew. National
Capital Planning Commission
consultant, for a presidential
commission to study area trans
portation needs.
The trade leader also stressed
the need for more private bust
ness in Washington.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-03-20
1865 Koreu Veterans
On 81 Bill in Viroinio

~ me NSSoeI0i0d PF03S :.
RICHMOND, Va, Mar. 20.-A
total OF 1865 veterans of the
Korean fighting are taking train
ing under the CT Bill of Rights
in Virginia, a Veterans Admins
tration Official said yesterday.
The total of such trainees in
Virginia, including World War
II and Korea, is slightly more
than 10000.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-03-20
BerIiners' Club to Meet

The Berliners' Club of Wash
ington, composed of former
American and allied residents OF
the German capital. will hold a
reception from s to 8 o'clock to-
night in the Officers Club OF
the Naval Gun Factory. Mrs
Sarah Law is president.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-03-20

Arlington Store Hours:
Today, 1880 to $3.50
Washington Store Hours:
Today. $50 to s PM.
Evening star., 1953-10-17
Trieste and the KremIin

1t seems clear from Andrei Vishinsky's
rather threatful remarks before the United
Nations Security Council that the Kremlin
wants to obStruct, not promote, a peaceful
settlement of the Trieste situation.
At any rate, the solution" offered by
VishinSky is obviously not going to solve any
thing. All it does is resurrect a plan which
events themselves have long since rendered
obsolete and unavoidable. The plan is the one
contained in the Italian peace treaty. AS orig
inally set forth, it provides that Trieste is to
be Free Territory under the protection of
the Security Council, with governor serving
as the Councils chief agent in establishing an
independent civilian regime
In demanding that the Council now act to
put this Set-up into immediate effect, the men
of the Kremlin-who blocked the plan in the
early postwar years by refusing to agree on
governor acceptable to the West-have warned
that they will never countenance any other
arrangement worked out without their full
participation and assent. Further, by declaring
that there can be no Trieste solution except
in accordance with the terms of the Italian
peace treaty, they have indicated that they
would reject compromise even If they were
invited to take part in special negotiations
aimed at producing one.
In other words, with VishinSky mouthing
how Britain and America are violating the
italian treaty and using the Free Territory as
a base for aggression, the Soviet Union has de-
manded that the Security Council "solve" the
Trieste problem by reviving dead plan thor
oughly unacceptable to all the parties chiefly
concerned. Yugoslavia and Italy, though they
are otherwise bitterly at odds on the issue, GER
tainly are as one in opposing that plan, and so
are the Western Big Three-a fact that makes
it totally worthless.
1t is plan, in short, that is favored only
by the men of the Kremlin and one may safely
assume that they favor it solely and simply for
misunderstanding purposes. Judging from vi
shinskys remarks, their prime objective in
advancing it is to muddy the waters with prop
aganda and aggravate tense and delicate
situation in which we and the British are seek
ing to persuade Belgrade and Rome to accept
partition formula as realistic and workable
compromise.
Accordingly, when the Soviet demand
comes up for debate in the next few days, the
Security Council should make short shrift Of
it. It hardly deserves serious or respectful
treatment.
Next to living on the side of a volcano
the most hazardous existence we can think Of
is that Of long-tailed cat in house full OF
rocking chairs
Evening star., 1953-10-17

WastefulneSs-not to mention utter in
eficiency-of an all-time high record,
with which we were f1agrantly abused
during 20 long years? Have they so
utterly failed to grasp the significance
of last November's popular verdict?
Out of sheer outraged desperation
over the New Deal-Raw Deal programs
and practices of throw away, give away,
steal away every cent gougable from
the hard-earned incomes of taxpayers
for the benefit Of crooked politicians.
racketeers and others then close to, if
not actually inside, the White House,
even honest Democrats rose up and
helped to overthrow the last corrupt
administration
1t i'll becomes any one responsible
for, or even connected with, either of
those evil regimes to breathe even
word against our present leader in his
tremendous struggle to right such
monumental wrongs accumulated over
the past 20 years. No human being
could possibly produce overnight order
out of such utter havoc, chaos, inefd-
cheney and economic peril. But already
we have, at least, the satisfaction of
knowing that our White House is occu-
pied by family truly representative
of honest Americans who will bring
no shame on us, either at home or
abroad. B. Carson.
Evening star., 1953-10-17
One Way to Look at 1t

The common cold is making its pre-winter
inroads, and as long as we have to have it, we
ought to start looking at it in the proper per-
spective. Despite it's discomfortS, it is an excel
lent excuse for not doing the things we had
wished we could find an excuse for not doing.
Going through cold also is a preview OF
the utopia we have been seeking without hope
of finding. For who has not dreamed of lying
in bed in the morning without worrying about
the important appointment which should be
kept, or the work which is piling up at the office?
Or of finding oneself the center of attention
which extends to breakfast in bed? If the
peaks and valleys of the cold are properly con-
trolled it might even be possible to have dinner
in bed Medical men agree that the best way
to whip cold, since they have no specific cure
is to Jump into bed, relax and forget your
worries. 1t is best to take the physicians advice
Here is the chance to read the books you
have been promising yourself to read. Here is
the opportunity for escaping dull evening of
bridge, the chance to postpone once more the
evening dancing promised in weaker moment.
Each of us has his obligations, social and busi-
ness, which he sometimes wishes to escape, and