ブックタイトルeigo13

概要

eigo13

My brother and the A-bomb（兄と原爆） (104)Taeko Tsujimoto（辻本堪子）My family had lived in Hirose-cho, Hiroshima City. But because my mother gavebirth to her third daughter in April, we had evacuated to Kabe. We lived near mymother’s parents’ home. My elder brother Setsuo, was in the fourth grade. He was takencare of by our aunt, and he went to work every day. I went to work too at Japan SteelWorks. On August 6, I was demolishing the outside of a building, working for thebuilding evacuation in the area near City Hall. And then, we were bombed. I started toescape with several other members from the same job. When we went to the bottom ofMt. Hijiyama, my elder brother vomited a lot of black blood and he cried out "As I amalready useless, everybody escape without me, don’t mind leaving me." His friend said,"We left while looking back with heaving hearts for Mr. Tsujimoto." Afterwards, withthe aid of a member of the relief squad, he was taken to the Fuchu National ElementarySchool.A lot of the mobilization students and untitled civilians seemed to be lining upthere. Among them, there was a student of the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial HighSchool. She would gradually become unable to see, to talk, and seemed to get into theworst-condition possible.My mother felt a piercing pain and was anxious about the safety of my elderbrother. However, she was not able to go to look for him because she had a baby.Additionally, she could not do anything because my father had gone to war. Then on thenight of August 9th, a stranger came and said “I live in Kabe. My son also went out towork as a mobilization student, but we lost his whereabouts. I looked for him here,there and everywhere. Then I went to Fuchu National Elementary school. There I toldmy name to the students who had been burnt and looked for my son. But I could not findhim among them. However, when I was walking and shouting, "I’ve come from Kabe!" Astudent said, "Oh, you’ve come from Kabe, have you? Actually my mother has evacuatedto a place called Shigematsu in Kodo, Kabe. As she has a child, she will not be able tocome here, so please tell her that I am here." To be honest I was worrying while I camehere, worrying about when I should tell his mother, but I was relieved to have been ableto tell you.” and with that, the stranger left.Then, about 2:00 in the morning, there was a person who knocked on the door. Ianswered it. I saw a young man who had worked in my factory for a long time. He wasanxious about my family, so he visited us. My mother talked to him about my elderbrother. He said “I will go for you.” After that my mother prepared some tomato juice