Memoir of the A-bombing;
1st and 2nd year students at Hiroshima Second Middle School
－A difference of life or death
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by Sadao YAMAMOTO
Atomic Bomb Witness for This Foundation
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That fateful day of Hiroshima Second Middle School
When the bomb was dropped, I was 14 years old, a 2nd year student at Hiroshima Second Middle School.
At that time, all the 3rd year students and older students had been mobilized and were working at munitions plants and other places, and only 1st and 2nd year students were left in the school.
Even though it was the summer holidays, those 1st and 2nd year students were taking turns going to class at school (to make up for lost classes) and going to building demolition work.
Building demolition work refers to pulling down buildings in the central area of the city, to create a fire preventive belt in case of air raids.
Students from all junior high schools and girls' schools in the city area were called up to participate in building demolition work.
The place that our school was asked to go to was the banks of Honkawa River, just 500m from the hypocenter.
It was there that 1st and 2nd year students from my school took turns to do building demolition work.
On that fateful day, August 6, it was the 1st year students who went.
1st and 2nd year students, a difference of life or death
The 2nd year students, myself included, were to go to school on the 6th.
However, when we had finished the demolition work on the previous day, we were told by the teacher not to go to school the next day, but rather to gather at the Eastern Drill Ground to weed the school's sweet-potato field. So that is where we went.
The place that the 1st year students went was 500m from the hypocenter, while we the 2nd year students were at the Eastern Drill Ground, 2.5km from the hypocenter.
This difference was the difference between life and death.
The 322 1st year students and the 4 teachers with them all perished.
The 2nd year students who had gathered at the Eastern Drill Ground had some burns on their faces and bodies, but I did not hear of anyone who died as a direct result of the bombing.
In actual fact, if 2nd year students had gone to school that day, 8:15 was the time when I was walking through the middle of the city on the way to school, and I would surely have died.
I was saved because we gathered at the Eastern Drill Ground that day.
Eastern Drill Ground at the time of the bombing
I think that the teacher at the Eastern Drill Ground had just called us 2nd year students to gather together, but it was right at that time that three B-29 heavy bombers came flying overhead from the south.
But since the air-raid alert had been lifted and there had been few planes flying over, we all looked up thinking that it must be some kind of reconnaissance.
Those planes suddenly turned around and flew away, which we thought was strange.
It was at that moment that there was a huge booming sound and at the same time a forceful blast that blew us away.
When I regained consciousness and stood up, huge brilliant pink flames were billowing up with a monstrous force right in the direction of Hiroshima Station.
I was certain that Hiroshima Station had been bombed, and thinking that another bomb would be dropped, I fled with a number of my friends to Onaga Tenmangu Shrine, which was located on a nearby mountain.
I had burns on one side of my face.
I had my burns treated with tempura oil at the shrine, and then fled into the valley behind the shrine.
Tempura oil was used at the time as first-aid treatment for burns.
I hid there until around 3 or 4 in the afternoon.
After checking that the fires in the city had died down a little, I returned home.
The inside of my house was a mess as a result of the bomb's blast, but thankfully all my family members, both those who were in the house and those who were out, survived.
My father was particularly fortunate.
He was in a building around 700m from the hypocenter when the bomb was dropped, but luckily was on the other side of a thick concrete wall and was not even injured.
He was one of the few survivors in that building.
Tragedy of the 1st year students of Hiroshima Second Middle School and Requiem for Them
The 1st year students were in a location that was close to the hypocenter.
They were almost directly below the atomic bomb that exploded approximately 600m overhead, and for a long time I believed that they had all met a violent end in that place.
However, in 1969 there was a drama series called "Ishibumi (Stone Monument)" aired on TV.
It was the story of the 1st year students of Hiroshima Second Middle School, and when I watched it I was surprised.
The depiction of the students in the drama was unbelievable.
Together with the TV drama series, a book called "Ishibumi" was also published, and described them in great detail.
According to the book, while around one-third of the 1st year students did fall on that spot,
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each of the other students were named and described in detail
－ children who, although seriously burned, tried desperately to get home, driven by the thought of seeing their mother or going home again;
children who tried to get back to the school with their teachers;
children who lined up on stone steps with their friends and died;
children who fled to the river, formed a circle with their friends and encouraged each other by singing war songs.
Thinking of them filled me with emotion.
On October 2 in the following year, 1970, the male chorus for which I was the conductor performed "Requiem Ishibumi" at Hiroshima Public Hall (a building that was where the current International Conference Center Hiroshima is located).
It is a requiem to the 1st year students of Hiroshima Second Middle School.
When I opened the back door of the Public Hall, I could see the Hiroshima Second Middle School memorial monument.
We dedicated the encore to the children of the memorial monument.
This is something I will never forget.
We must abolish nuclear weapons and achieve world peace to ensure that this kind of tragic history is never repeated.
I too will continue to do my best through atomic bombing testimonials and other activities.
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Ishibumi, A Book Recording the Fate of Hiroshima Second Middle School 1st Year Students (Edited by Hiroshima Telecasting Co., Ltd., Published by POPLAR Publishing Co., Ltd.)
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Profile [Sadao YAMAMOTO]
Born in June 1931.
When the bomb was dropped, was in the Eastern Drill Ground 2.5km from the hypocenter, a 14-year-old 2nd year student at Hiroshima Second Middle School.
Worked many years in a company, participating in a male chorus in his spare time.
Conducted the first performance of "Ishibumi－Requiem for a Male Chorus" on October 2, 1970, in memory of the 1st year students at Hiroshima Second Middle School, which was completely destroyed in the bombing－the performance is an unforgettable memory even today.
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