WRITTEN MONUMENT(English)

Shizuko Ueda (74)

The place of my A-bomb exposure:
Kako-machi, Inside of my elder sister's house, 1.2 km from the hypocenter
Acute symptoms of those days:
Ｎo injury
Diarrhea for ten days from August 9
The dead in my family:
My niece A-bombed at Kako-machi (living with me)
My uncle A-bombed at Kanon-machi

My background
I was born as the third daughter to my parents at Toyohira-cho, Yamagata-gun. Father, Taro Tanaka, and Mother, Sae had one son and six daughters. I graduated from Asaka National Elementary School in Toyohira-cho.

My father died of cerebral hemorrhage at the age of sixty-two. My mother died of old age at the age of eighty-seven. I hear the eldest sister died shortly after she was born. The fourth sister died of heart disease at the age of sixty-eight. The fifth died of pleurisy when she was nineteen. My brother also died of sudden heart disease at the age of fifty-five. Out of the seven, only three are still alive; the second sister, Asa, who is also a resident at this nursing home, and the sixth sister, who lives in Toyohira-cho, and me.

As is often the case with a girl in those days, my parents pushed me to marry a distant cousin, Haruo Toge, who was twenty years old, about whom I knew nothing. During the six years of married life, I had two boys. Our married life had many complicated problems, so I decided to get divorced leaving the children with the Toge’s as my parents-in-law were still young and healthy. I returned to my own parents' home. As for the two children, the eldest son died at the age of twenty-one. The second son is well.

To make a living, I worked at a rental kimono shop in Kako-machi, being introduced by my uncle, Shukichi Sugi, who owned a rental kimono shop in Takasho-machi.

Nothing but a Living-hell
My elder sister, Asa and her daughter, Mihoko and I were living in a rented house in Kako-machi.

On the morning of August 6, my sister left home for work, Chugoku Paint Company, in Yoshijima-cho. Mihoko and I were exposed to the A-bombing inside the house. After I saw a flash, I fainted. I didn't know how long I remained unconscious. When I came to, I found that my two-storied house was completely destroyed, and I was caught under the debris of the building. Fortunately I had no injury; I could crawl out from the wreckage.

I desperately fled to the Sumiyoshi River and spent that day on a raft. I stayed on the Meiji Bridge during the night. What I cannot forget even today is about my niece who was also trapped under the collapsed house, shouting, "Help me, Auntie. Help me!" Though I heard her voice, I couldn't do anything but run away leaving her behind. I really felt sorry for her. On August 7th, my sister, who survived, and I went to the ruins of our burnt house, where we found the body of Mihoko. We carried her on a tin sheet to the bank of the Meiji Bridge. She was cremated there together with countless other bodies, by policemen and soldiers. The scene was a living hell on earth, nothing else. I can't forget it even now, nor will I all my life. Later my sister and I took refuge to the Hera Elementary School in Hatsukaichi-cho and stayed there until August 15th, the day the war ended.

In those days there was no decent food, so we would often eat barley, soybean soup, noodles and so on. I had diarrhea for ten days from August 9, which made me weak. I didn't receive any medical treatment, for there was neither medicine nor hospitals. Thank god, it stopped naturally.

Becoming a special, certified patient
After hearing the news that Japan surrendered on August 15, my sister and I went back together to our parents' home in Toyohira, Yamagata-gun, and stayed there until October. My second son, Teruhiro, who had been in the Navy, came back safely at the end of August after he was discharged from military service. In October, we rented a room in Midori-machi. Shortly, my son got married and three of us started a new life.

In February 1946, we could luckily move into a municipal house in Moto-machi by drawing lots. Three grandchildren were born one after another, so there was not enough space for me to relax. I was anxious about my frail physical condition, too. Around the time someone introduced me to Tomoichi Ueda (age: 75), who lived in Nagatsuka, Gion-cho, and we got married in 1960. I lived there for six years until my husband died in 1966; he died of cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 81. After that, I lived with an acquaintance in Saka-machi, doing household chores for her.

After I was A-bombed, my health deteriorated. I underwent an operation on my gall bladder in May 1952, and another operation on my large intestine in 1955 at Hiroshima Municipal Hospital. Later when I had a medical check at Funairi Hospital, I was diagnosed as anemic. On October 19, 1959, I was designated as a special, certified patient.

Before and after entering the nursing home
After my second husband died, I wanted to live with my son's family again because I had been frail and suffering from anemia after the two major operations. I asked my son to let me live together, but his answer was not favorable probably because he still had resentment about my having deserted him when he was a child. As I said earlier, it was a difficult choice but I couldn't explain why I did that. So I reluctantly moved into my relative's house in Chiyoda-cho, Yamagata-gun. But my life there was not comfortable.

At that time, an official at Chiyoda Town Office told me about this nursing home. I was glad and decided to enter this home. I became a resident at this home on June 1, 1975.