VOSHN 299

<body><a href="../index.html">HOME</a><br><table summary="278"><tr><td class="etesti">278</td><td class="edate">August 15<sup>th</sup>, 1945.</td><td class="eage">If Japan had surrendered a week earlier, my father had not been dead.</td></tr><tr><td class="ei_midasi" colspan=3>22 years old at that time</td></tr></table><table summary="haikei"><tr><td class="bg" background="../../photo/img702.jpg"><div class="large"><p>Hearing the news of Japan's surrender, I wished that the war had ended a week before.  If it had, my father would not be dead.  I went to a nearby shrine and cried loudly, it was really galling.</p><br><p>I was staying at a relative's house for evacuation.  The males of the family who had been drafted into military service came back and everybody was delighted.  One of the sons, who was an accounting officer of the Navy, returned with a truck-load of supplies.</p><br><p>I still cannot put my feelings on the day into words well.  My brother died in a battle, and I wished that the war had ended a week earlier and my father survived at least.  The relative's house was very near to the shrine, so I went there trailing my feet, cried loudly alone.  I think I cried for about two hours.  My elder sister-in-law came to check on me and told me that everybody was worried about me.</p><div class="greens">Translation by another person.</div><div class="large"><span class="orangered">If Japan had surrendered a week earlier, my father would not have died.</span></div><br><p>When I heard the news of the surrender, I thought, "Why didn't the war end a week earlier?  Then my father wouldn't have died."  I felt so deeply vexed that I visited the precincts of the shrine and cried out in a loud voice.</p><br><p>At the relative's house to where I had been evacuated, the members of the family who had been in the military service came home.  They were so full of joy.  The son of the family, who was the chief accountant in the Navy, had brought back supplies that filled up the truck.</p><br><p>What should I really say?  Needless to say, my eldest brother who died in the war wouldn't have been helped.  But if Japan had surrendered a week earlier, my father wouldn't have died.  The relative's house was below the shrine so I dragged my leg and visited the shrine's garden and cried out in a loud voice.  I think I cried for about two hours.  Then my sister-in-law came to see me and said," Everybody is worried about you."</p></div></td></tr></table></body>