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Eighty years since the first and only time the atomic bomb was used for warfare on Aug 6. and Aug. 9, 1945, survivors of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki open up about what it was like on the ground in Atomic People, airing on PBS Aug. 4.
The U.S. had been developing the bombs since the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. When the U.S. dropped them four years later, they instantly killed about 78,000 of Hiroshima’s 350,000 residents and about 40,000 of Nagasaki’s 240,000 residents. About a week after the bombings, on Aug. 15, it was announced that Japan would surrender, officially signing the documents on Sep. 2 and ending World War II.
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Most of the survivors were children when the bombs were dropped, yet they can recall those fateful days vividly.
Dripping flesh
Survivors recall initially seeing bright lights. In Nagasaki, Kikuyo Nakamura, who was 21 back then, said the mountains looked like they were on fire. Students in Hiroshima recall an intense light, a blinding light speeding towards them in their classroom.
The effects of the bombing could be seen immediately in Hiroshima, survivors say. One man describes the roof tiles on his home shattering and a hole opening up in the ceiling. Hiromu said the sky looked like it was “raining fire.”
Michiko Kodama was in school at the time and recalls hiding under a desk as the ceiling came crashing down. Windows shattered and splintered across the classroom desks and chairs.
Hiromu describes seeing someone with “skin hanging off his face like an old cloth,” the “flesh dripping like candle wax.” Kodama’s father collected the 7-year-old from school, and while he was carrying her on his back, she saw people with melting flesh—which she calls “a scene from hell.” Chieko Kiriake was 15 when she saw victims with skin from their legs peeling off.
As victims started to die, students had to dig holes for them in their playgrounds. “I cremated…
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