Newspaper of my home-Battle fire and daily life spelled by boys August 3, 16:04

"Please shoot the Yankees for a day without being overwhelmed by your

house." In 1945, a 13-year-old boy wrote "My House Newspaper."

Daily events and family conditions are recorded for fathers who live apart.

There is also a clear diary from the end of the war to just after the end of the war, and there is also a frank feeling on the day of the end of the war.

How did the war appear to the boy's eyes?

And how did you regain your daily life?

I followed in the footsteps using my diary and newspapers as clues.

(Osaka base broadcasting station reporter Takumi Kato)

"I thought it was just a hoax"

Wednesday, August 15 Sunny and a little cloudy

"From noon, it's said that His Majesty the Emperor is broadcasting himself, so if you're wondering what's going on / I'm talking about unconditional surrender, I'm talking at the temple, and the newspaper around 4 o'clock Even though I came, I believed in the victory, so I thought it was just a hoax / I cried with indescribable sadness. "

August 15, 1945.

This is the diary of that day when the Japanese learned of the defeat.

I wrote Takashi Morimoto, who lived in Hyogo prefecture, and was 13 years old at the time.

The boy also continued to believe in victory.

And it conveys the feeling that the defeat was not immediately accepted.

The diary was written for almost a year from May 24, 1945 to the spring of the following year.

During the war, it is also written that the air raids are going on.

"It's a bomb. I was wearing a futon all over the house."

Tuesday, July 24, Sunny

"Today, an alarm was issued from the morning / P51 swept the machine gun and damaged Futami Station, the sea boat, and Tsuchiyama (* area name). It was a Tsuchiyama bomb. The uncle and aunt had evacuated / had many casualties and casualties brought to the temple / a child of a commercial shipping school was dead and had a machine gun popping out. "

July 24, 1945, just before the end of the war.

The state of the air raid in Futami-cho, Kako-gun, Hyogo Prefecture, which was now Akashi City, was written.

The situation I saw and the state of my family at that time are recorded plainly.

At that time, paper was precious and savings were the norm.

The text is tightly written for two lines between the lines.

What kind of boy is Morimoto-san?

What kind of boy was Mr. Morimoto who left a diary?

Immediately after the end of the war, I visited my cousin Hidetoshi (81), who had lived with me for about a year.

Takashi Morimoto was born in 1931, when he attended high school at a national school and now at junior high school.

According to his cousin Hidetoshi, Morimoto was so good at writing pictures and sentences.

On the other hand, he is weak and tends to stay home, and died three years after the end of the war.

The diary is written with a soft touch even for casual moments with the family.

Mr. Hidetoshi seems to be particularly impressed and memorable at the tofu shop next door, which appears frequently in his diary, and the fact that his family went to the sea to pick up coal.

Hidetoshi Morimoto

"I was playing around the house, but Takashi often lay down in the back room of the house, and I think he never went out. He had a buzz cut on his head. I remember drawing and drawing on a small desk when I was awake. "

Damage of "Shintokumaru" written in the diary

Many diaries and letters during the war have been lost or disposed of over the years.

According to a local historian who is familiar with the battlefields of Hyogo Prefecture, it is worthwhile to have a diary written by a child who has a volume of nearly a year.

"Commercial ship school" that appears in the diary of the day of the air raid.

This is the current Faculty of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University.

In fact, a ship called "Shintoku Maru" was ambushed offshore on this day, killing six people.

The ship, which is about 100 meters long, was used to transport coal during the war.

Measures were taken to deliberately stranded the hull to prevent it from sinking as a result of the attack.

At the university, there is a photo of Shintoku Maru anchored with the hull tilted.

After being attacked for several days, the diary describes what happened after that.

Wednesday, July 25 Sunny and slightly cloudy

"Two air raids from the morning today. School holidays for the time being. I came down aiming for a merchant ship today.

Monday, July 30 Sunny

"Today's shooting was amazing. Shintokumaru is burning very much. I removed the door glass and shoji because it exploded temporarily / The boat burned. Today is said to be worse for Takasago."

At the end of the war, Akashi City was hit by air raids many times.

Hiroshi Maeda (88) and Yuiko (89), who were of the same generation in Futami-cho, where Morimoto lived.

I remembered the air raid written in my diary.

Hiroshi Maeda and Yuiko

"It was like a bomb when an American plane flew from Awaji Island on the opposite bank and I thought it was shiny. The incendiary fell like fireworks and the house was Many were on fire. I don't know when the enemy plane would come and I think I was always on the alert. "

To my father who lives away "My newspaper"

Mr. Morimoto wrote handwritten newspapers in addition to his diary.

Its name is "My Home Newspaper".

This is a newspaper to tell the story of the family to his father, Yoshio, who went to the war.

No. 24 by the end of the war.

It was published irregularly.

The title is drawn on the upper right of the paper, and the layout is just like a newspaper, such as the column division and the publication date in the upper column.

There are also texts praying for the victory of the war and illustrations of fighters, which makes the content more military than the diary.

November 1945, No. 17

"Dad, how are you after that? / The decisive battle has been cut off, and every day, every day, the strenuous battle at Leyte, the strenuous battle of the kamikaze corps Yankee (USA) has come to an end. With that in mind, my family is doing its best with "ingenuity rather than buying", "I don't want it until I win", and "I don't say shortage until I win". "

By the time the battlefield has become severe and the end of the war is approaching, it can be seen that danger is imminent.

Issued in July 1945, No. 24,

"It seems that the shooting of a small aircraft during this time opened two or three holes in the classroom next to Hideo (* younger brother / second son). But there is nothing for the students. Hideo has become good at biking around this time. Shinji (younger brother / third son) is also fine. "

In the same corner where the school was shot, my brother introduced that he was able to ride a bicycle well.

You can see Mr. Morimoto's desire to reassure his father.

Diaries and newspapers for the younger generation

Valuable diary and newspaper left by Mr. Morimoto.

Efforts are underway to post it on the Internet and make it known to many people.

Koichi Kimura (63), who is the director of the public hall in Kakogawa City, Hyogo Prefecture, is working on the release.

Mr. Kimura has been a teacher at an elementary school in Kakogawa City for many years.

It is said that he met this diary about 35 years ago.

The trigger was my school homework.

At that time, in the 6th grade class I was in charge of, I gave my homework "Searching for things related to war at home", and it is said that Ms. Morimoto brought her diary.

Mr. Kimura instinctively thought, "This is precious."

I made a copy and kept it in a safe place for many years.

"I want you to know the situation and thoughts of one boy before and after the war."

Mr. Kimura has been working on public work since last summer after he retired as a teacher.

Mr. Koichi Kimura

"The public hall where I work is the place where the airfield was located during the war, and we are developing a homepage to let young people know about the war. Especially, I want the younger generation to read it, and it is also used for peace learning. I hope you can do it. "

Diary that changes after the end of the war

After the end of the war on August 15, the diary will have more depictions of families regaining their daily lives.

Thursday, August 16 Sunny and a little cloudy

"I overslept today./Today's newspaper from noon. Mothers went from 1:00 to 5:00 in Ougiyu. I was so happy that I baked three at night but ate it alone. "

August 22, one week after the end of the war.

The father who went to war returns home.

It

is written that the food

"I came to my dad"

is limited, and I am doing my best to entertain.

Wednesday, August 22 Sunny

"My dad came back to where he slept. He carried a large baggage and brought back four blankets, one overlay, thick white dough and rice with sorghum. I cooked and ate the sprinkles and canned rice that my dad gave me as a consolation, and opened the house. "

The diary continues until the end of March 1946, the following year.

Fathers drink and snore and fall asleep, mothers go shopping with their siblings, and their mischievous brothers and sisters behave.

At that time, it was still a period of turmoil after the war.

Still, there is no description of the air raids seen before, and it depicts a smiley everyday life.

What the diary says ...

If possible, I would like to ask Mr. Morimoto to look back on his diary and interview him about the situation at that time and his thoughts on the war.

I was driven by such thoughts, but unfortunately it is not possible.

However, even after more than 75 years, I was able to get a glimpse of the boy's feelings at that time by reading his diary.

The days when a boy of about junior high school now feels a crisis but continues to believe in the victory of the war feels strange from the current sense of the times.

On the other hand, when the war was over, it gradually changed to a peaceful daily record, and I was able to feel the original daily life of the boy.

An era when boys couldn't live like boys.

I felt that the diary strongly appealed to the dire reality.

Reporter of

Osaka base broadcasting station

Takumi Kato

Joined in 2011

After working at

NHK

Osaka station and Kobe station

, experienced the development of Manmon and coverage of the fighter "Shiden Kai" in relation to the war of

Osaka base broadcasting station.