Hiroshima, through one survivor's eyes 62 years later, man shares his memories of the atomic bomb

star ledger ^ | Sunday, March 16, 2008 | NATALIE PINEIRO

[Coleus]

It was a clear, hot summer day on Aug. 6, 1945, when 10-year-old Kenji Kitagawa kissed his mother and brother goodbye before leaving for school. The fifth-grader didn't know that would be the last time he would see them alive. Life was forever altered for Kitagawa and the rest of the world 62 years ago, as an American B-29 bomber, flying 26,000 feet above his hometown of Hiroshima, Japan, dropped an atomic bomb.

Now 73, Kitagawa travels the world as part of an effort to educate people on the destructive power of nuclear weapons. Sponsored by the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, Kitagawa has been publicly reliving his experiences from Hiroshima for the past three years. With foundation Chairman Steven Leeper serving as translator, Kitagawa shared his experience with an audience of about 60 people at Christ Church in Summit last Sunday.

"After retiring, I had this feeling that I was not going to live much longer, and I thought, 'What is the most important thing for me to do?' and my mind was brought back to this place," he said, referring to Hiroshima. Kitagawa and his classmates were awaiting an assembly program at their school when the bomb hit at 8:16 a.m. A flash of blue and white light came like lightning through the windows, charring all who were directly exposed, Kitagawa said. Confusion and panic followed, as a ferocious blast of wind came crashing into the school.

"There was an amazing roaring sound and the entire school started to collapse," said Kitagawa. "I remember falling and feeling like a hammer was hitting me over the head." When he came to, the classroom was in total darkness. He would learn later that the sun became obliterated by the mushroom cloud from the bomb.

[Santa Fe_Conservative]

I can’t even begin to imagine...

[pillut48]

Ooo, I know the answer/s to this!!

“I’ll take “Bush’s fault” for $1,000, Alex!”

or

“I’ll take “All America’s Fault” for $1,000, Alex!”

[Snoopers-868th]

I would like to see the second page to see if this is a hit piece or not and we are bad Americans for ending WW-II. I won’t do their dance to get there.

[tet68]

I would have liked to read the rest of the article,
did they happen to mention that there was a WAR ON?

[JimC214]

while were at never agains, how's about never again the rape of Nan king, never again a Bataan death march. these and other atrocities lead up to us nuking them. If they didn't do any of this they wouldn’t have gotten nuked plain and simple. Now flame away.

[MiltonFriedmanFan]

How does one survive a direct nuclear blast at ground zero and never suffer any lasting complications?

[Hunble]

Next time, do not mess with AMERICA!

[Navy Patriot]

Now 73, Kitagawa travels the world as part of an effort to educate people on the destructive power of nuclear weapons the philosophy of the Japanese being a master race.

There, fixed it for him.

[21twelve]

“Now flame away”

Now that you mention it, the firebombing of Toyko killed more people than the two nukes did as I recall.

[sionnsar]

"I think that anyone who has ever been to Hiroshima, or has met a survivor and has seen the damage caused by these nuclear weapons, could never justify their use," Mitchell said. "I think it's important to spread Hiroshima's message of, 'Never again.'"

"atomic" bombs

[Sawdring]

Do people still laugh when children are taught to duck and cover in the event of a nuclear war? Whoops, we don’t teach those drills anymore because a nuclear exchange isn’t as likely.

[sionnsar]

I would like to see the second page to see if this is a hit piece or not and we are bad Americans for ending WW-II. I won’t do their dance to get there.

Not a hit piece, surprisingly.

[Coleus]

I would have liked to read the rest of the article, >>

it takes 2 seconds to make up a zip code, year of birth and gender.

[sionnsar]

Now that you mention it, the firebombing of Toyko killed more people than the two nukes did as I recall.

I recall the same.

[DuncanWaring]

Here’s a description of what an invasion of Japan would have involved:

http://www.webwizpro.com/1945InvasionofJapan.html

Probably would have cost a million Americans.

And tens of millions of Japanese.

[silentreignofheroes]

You don’t,
But you can survive

[Hunble]

How does one survive a direct nuclear blast at ground zero and never suffer any lasting complications?

If your survive the initial blast effects and are in the shadow of any gamma-rays, your chance of surviving a nuclear blast are very good.

That is why U.S. Army troops could be located close to the nuclear test blasts in Nevada and not be harmed, since they were in slit trenches and protected.