VOSHN 245

<body><a href="../index.html">HOME</a><br><table summary="228"><tr><td class="etesti">228</td><td class="edate">August 10<sup>th</sup>, 1945.  Before dawn</td><td class="eage">17 years old at that time</td></tr><tr><td class="ei_midasi" colspan=3>I stare at my hands even now.</td></tr></table><div class="large"><p>It was summer then.  One morning I left the mountain for Oka-machi (district) at about 4 a.m., where my house had used to be.  In Oka-machi, I saw trains were blown off and turned into wreckage.  Many people were also blown off and lying down here and there outside.  I reached the fire-devastated site of my house.</p><br><p>Though I had lived there for more then ten years, it took much time to identify the place where I had used to live because the whole of my town was destroyed.</p><p>No one was there.  Though I saw many dead people lying there, I couldn't see any people living.</p><br><p>Then I looked for my mother.  I held up skulls of dead bodies which had already been reduced to bones with my both hands.  Her trade mark was some golden teeth.  I picked up dozens of skulls, checked each of their teeth and put them back as they had been before.  I couldn't find my mother's.</p><p>I sometimes stare at my hands even now.</p></div></body>