ブックタイトルeigo13

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eigo13

Keep Speaking About Hiroshima（ヒロシマを語り続ける） (137)Thurlow Setsuko（サーロー節子）On August 6th in 1945, I was thirteen and in the second grade at juniorhigh school. I was forced to join the volunteer labor service. It was the firstday that we had started decoding the enemy side’s messages. We were in thegeneral headquarters, 1.8 kilometers away from ground zero.At 8:15 we were on the second floor of the wooden building. Major Yanaiinstructed us to do our best for the Emperor. Soon after that, I saw a flashlike pale magnesium covering the entire window. I was literally blown over.I was floating in the air. Then I lost all of my senses. When I came to, it wasdark and silent. I couldn’t move under the beams of the destroyed building. Itwas strange that I was not upset, even though I was facing death. I prayedpeacefully. After a while, I heard my classmates’ voices. “Mom, help me.Lord, help me.” Even now I feel as if I can hear Miss Ando’s voice. Suddenly,someone grabbed me by the shoulder. He said, “Don’t give up. I will help youget out of here. Try to keep moving your body in order to get out. You can seelight on your left. Go toward it, and you can get out of here!” He ordered me.He seemed to be a soldier.At last, I was able to get out of the destroyed building. The building thenburned down. Most of my classmates were under that building and they wereburned to death. A soldier said, “Runaway towards Mt.Futaba quickly.” Itwas in the morning that the bomb was dropped. However, it was so dark. Isaw people going away from the center of the city to Mt.Futaba. They werenot like human beings but ghosts, dragging their feet behind them. When Ilooked at them closely, I found that their hair stood up and their bodies werewounded. Their clothes were burned and they were almost naked. Some ofthem were totally naked. Their bodies had gotten swollen and had turneddark red because of their burns. Their eyeballs were popped out. Their skinand flesh were hanging down from their bodies. They kept walking slowlywith their arms raised forward, so that they could reduce the pain of burns.The scene looked like a slow motion of a silent picture. Then, they fell downon top of one another, never to stand up again. I joined people and walkedtoward Mt. Futaba with a few classmates. We were very careful so as not tostep on dying or dead people.