VOSHN 241

<body><a href="../index.html">HOME</a><br><table summary="225"><tr><td class="etesti">225</td><td class="edate">August 9<sup>th</sup>, 1945.  Midnight</td><td class="eage">16 years old at that time</td></tr><tr><td class="ei_midasi" colspan=3>The whole nation was gone.</td></tr></table><div class="largep"><p>I ran up to the halfway of Fortress mountain (the mountain where the antiaircraft artillery was located) and looked down Urakami area on fire.  The fire spread out everywhere.</p><br><p>Zenza Elementary School was the concrete building. But the building caught fire and red flames from the classroom windows lightened up all over the area. The most of the area was ruined by fire. It was as though the whole district of Urakami was a cauldron with firewood underneath.</p><br><p>As the evening went, the fire went on and on here and there; Takenokubo, Urakami, Yamazato and Shiroyama (districts' names).  The only places that were left unburned were Mitsubishi Ironworks and the nearby factories along Urakami river.</p><br><p>At Fortress mountain, there were soldiers and civilians.  Most of them were injured and moaning.  I thought, "We are only survivors. The whole nation of Japan must be gone."</p></div></body>