<Begin Segment 18>

TI: Okay, so we're into our third hour on this day. And I guess now I want to kind of focus a little bit more on your work, which was to study the, sort of the effects of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, in particular, with the people. And so you were part of this survey. But before we talk about the survey, I just wanted to get your first impressions of when you first saw or visited Hiroshima? What was it like?

TI: Well, Hiroshima was actually not, even the GI, U.S. forces, they were not able to enter into the city proper. They were on the outskirts, there was an infantry group, but they were not able to go in. So I was the only one that was able to go into Hiroshima, because they had navy doctors in a place called Ujina hospital, where all the victims of the atomic bomb were housed, and some of them were just still living in hospitals. And so I was able to see those people while I was staying in Hiroshima.

TI: And how much, how long was this after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima?

HH: Well, this must have been into December, I think... in December. But by the time we went to Japan, I think we did go in September from San Francisco, and on the way up from San Francisco, we had to stop in Guam.

TI: Okay, so by the time you got there, so it sounds like about four months after the dropping of the bomb is when you actually got to Hiroshima. And even then, they didn't let sort of normal or people into that area, so you were one of the first people to really go in there, to really study the effects.

HH: Yes.

TI: Okay, so four months after -- and this is now in the wintertime -- what did it look like, Hiroshima?

HH: It was just like some of the pictures. I saw a streetcar that was all burned and still on the streets, and I saw all the area that, buildings with the domed, I don't know if it's an observatory or whatever it is, in the park area, which is now Hiroshima Peace Park. But it was all destroyed, everything. Because I was able to visit the city hall, I think it was, building, which is a concrete building, but I had to go there to see if I can find some information I needed. But I had the jeep and I was trying to drive around cemeteries. There's lots of cemeteries in Japan and Hiroshima's the same way, right in the residential area. And all the stones and markers would be kind of tipping one way 'cause it's concrete, or toppled over. And the utility poles would be scorched on one side. The bomb was supposed to be not in that area. It missed the target in a way, but it was away, supposedly they had a training, Japanese army, closer to the hills surrounding Hiroshima. Because Hiroshima is on a river delta, so there were a lot of bridges, concrete bridges or wooden bridge, and that was one of the problems that they had, was people trying to rush out. They thought it would be better to jump into the water, but many drowned or died. So that was added to the estimate that they had, was 30,000 or so. And I could visualize what kind of situation that it was, fire, Japanese homes are very easy to catch fires, and also it was done in the morning, and it was easy for the fires to catch. And so many died in their burning... because the houses were all devastated and everything. But in the hospital area...

TI: Well, do you remember, before we go to the hospital, what your feelings were when you saw that devastation?

HH: Yes. This was just like what I'd heard about before I went there, what Hiroshima was like. And it was just the way, because when I went to city hall, I was able to go up on the roof and take a picture, four ways. And only thing is it was all leveled except a few concrete buildings which wasn't a lot. But it's just a skeleton of it left. And that building that I was in, and there were already workers there, and I was able to interview some of those people or ask them, and then they told me about the windows and doors were all flying in, and so some were injured that way. And then they showed me some of the pipes that they had for water or whatever that were exposed to the radiation or heat, that was kind of melted.

TI: So these were metal pipes that were just sort of melted?

HH: Yes. So really, it was completely devastated. It was just... something you can't explain. I was more interested in seeing, one especially I saw, they had a newspaper, I think, that had a picture of a shadow created by the horse-drawn cart, and you could also see the shadow on the concrete bridge, there were many bridges in Hiroshima. And I was able to even see that exact place where the shadow of the man drawing the cart was cast onto the concrete bridge.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.