That day, the train was running August 6, 14:06

"I did run the train that day when the city was destroyed. I wish the passengers were well and managed to get home."

August 6th, 76 years ago.

A train heading north to north with people injured by the atomic bomb.

Official sources state that the train will be fully reopened three days after the atomic bomb was dropped, but that day the train was in motion.

It is the truth of the 76th year that emerged from the interviews of the parties concerned.

(Hiroshima Broadcasting Station reporter Kentaro Ishikawa)

The trigger was a memorial monument in the mountains

August 6th, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

Prayer is offered in various parts of Hiroshima prefecture.

As a reporter at the Fukuyama branch office in charge of the eastern part of Hiroshima prefecture, I covered the memorial service held in Shobara city in the northeastern part of the prefecture on August 6th last year.

2 hours to drive from the bureau.

A memorial service was held at this place, about 70 kilometers away from the hypocenter, where local people gathered.

It is said that it has not been interrupted for 75 years.

A memorial monument that stands quietly on the mountainside, carving out the forest.

This place is the site where the people who died in the atomic bomb were cremated.

It is said that injured people were brought by train to the nearby school, which became a temporary relief station, immediately after the atomic bomb was dropped.

I went to rescue by train

As I proceeded with the interview, I found a person who was in charge of nursing at this first aid station.

Asako Oshita is 97 years old.

At that time, I was an Army nurse.

On the morning of the 8th, I boarded a train and entered near the hypocenter and brought back the people who were injured by the atomic bomb to the relief station in Shobara City.

Mr. Oshita is said to have stayed overnight to take care of him.

While some recovered and returned home, 88, or about one-third of the 274 brought in, died without help.

Asako Oshita

"I don't have any idea of ​​myself anymore. I was desperate to help. I don't really have any medicine. I called my family's name, but I died. rice field"

Mr. Oshita, who was a 21-year-old nurse at the time.

The first aid station is like a picture of hell, and hesitates to set foot.

I still vividly remember the last people who couldn't be saved calling their family names.

When did the train run?

Mr. Oshita said that he took a train two days after the bombing and headed for rescue.

The train was a "lifeline" that saved people's lives.

The current JR Geibi Line connected Hiroshima City, the epicenter of the explosion, with the northern part of Hiroshima Prefecture.

When I interviewed the JR West Hiroshima branch office to find out what was happening at that time, he said, "There are almost no records during the war."

Therefore, I decided to use the "Atomic Bomb War Damage Magazine" compiled by Hiroshima City.

There was a description that "On the 9th, the Geibi Line started full operation with the 81st train as the first train."

On the other hand, Mr. Oshita, a nurse who took care of the first aid station, testified that he got on the Geibi Line on the 8th.

When did the train start running?

The "Atomic Bomb War Damage Magazine" and "Atomic Bomb Medical History" describe the relief stations opened on the day of August 6.

As far as I could confirm, it was found that a relief station was set up about 100 km northeast of the prefecture from the hypocenter.

When I plotted it on the map, the relief station in the northeast was exactly the same as along the Geibi line.

A first aid station opened along the Geibi Line on August 6th.

This may mean that the train was moving immediately after the atomic bomb was dropped and the survivors were being carried.

I decided to go further.

I moved the train that day

It's been 3 months since I started interviewing.

I arrived at a man who said he had moved the train on the day of the 6th.

Shogo Kawahara, 95 years old.

At that time, I was the conductor of the Geibi Line.

Mr. Kawahara was exposed to radiation 76 years ago that day when he was walking from Hiroshima Station to the marshalling yard where the train was waiting for his crew.

Mr. Shogo Kawahara

"I was lying down for a while because it was pitch black until the dust that had risen due to the blast came down. When I got up, the buildings around me were almost gone. My clothes were torn, my back was tingling, and my neck was immediately blistering. became"

Mr. Kawahara suffered a serious burn on his back.

I headed to the marshalling yard, holding back the pain.

The freight train had floorboards and doors blown away, but the locomotive was in a movable state.

In the city of Hiroshima, the hands of fire were rising here and there.

The train is dangerous as it is.

I consulted with the engineers who were safe in the air raid shelter and decided to move the train.

Mr. Kawahara who started the freight train.

The road was filled with debris from buildings that had collapsed due to the blast, and people who had lost their way were escaping to the railroad tracks.

I proceeded forward while guiding the locomotive with a hand signal, stopped the train on the way, picked up an injured person, and headed north to north.

Mr. Kawahara responded to the interview remotely from the hospital where he was hospitalized.

In a clear tone, I testify that I moved the train that day.

Mr. Shogo Kawahara

"I certainly moved the train on the 6th. There were debris along the road, so more and more people were injured along the railroad tracks. I feel sorry for my clothes being torn and almost naked. There were a lot of people.

I was sure how far

I would

go home, and if I could get on, I would say I should get on. I hope these people get well and go home. "

For relief day after day at the station

From the 7th, the day after the atomic bomb was dropped, some people were found to have been rescued at a station along the line 30 kilometers north of the hypocenter.

This is Shozo Endo (90).

Shozo Sakai

"When I went to the factory on August 7th with the mobilization of students, half of the total, including female students from Hiroshima, did not go to work. There was an order from me. A

fire broke out in Hiroshima, and I was evacuated and came back here. I decided to go to rescue activities. "

As I was told, when I was waiting at the station near the school, trains arrived one after another.

A person laid down in a passenger car chair or aisle.

A person wrapped in a bandage with holes in his eyes, nose and mouth.

At the age of 14, Sakai made many round trips between the station and the school that became the first aid station, using shutters and door plates as stretchers.

It is said that the school uniform, which has only one piece, got blood and pus, and it became dry and crisp.

Shozo Sakai

"At most, 150 people were on board at a time. I remember that the locals and the students carried it together. I was dedicated to relief activities.

I use it to go to school

.

It was natural for some people to die on the train. When I remember the inside of the train at that time, I was scared and wept. "

Why the memorials are scattered

The Geibi Line that was running immediately after the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6.

It is said that he continued to carry people who were injured by the atomic bomb until the end of August, but the details are unknown.

Many people were carried without their identities, died and cremated.

To mourn those people, memorial monuments are scattered all over the place far from the hypocenter.

Sakai-san was involved in relief activities at a station along the line.

Ten years ago, I built a memorial monument in collaboration with local people to convey the tragedy I witnessed.

Immediately after the atomic bomb was dropped, I don't want to bury the history of a large number of people being carried on the Geibi Line.

Mr. Sakai wants the next generation to know the meaning of the memorial monuments scattered far away from the hypocenter.

Shozo Endo

"I still see the smoke rising when I cremate the body every day in the river near here. I wonder if such an image is necessary to appeal that the atomic bomb should not be forgiven. I

think it would be great if children and young people could take over the fact that peace is important and that war is not good. "

Postscript

In my fourth year as a reporter, every day I interview the A-bomb survivors, I think of a terrible sight, but sometimes people say, "I don't know what I've experienced."

All three people who responded to this interview were in their 90s, hoping to share their experiences.

I was 14 to 21 years old at that time.

He talked in great detail about what was happening at that time, the situation around him, the smell at that time, and his feelings at that time, and I felt once again the strength of the "voice of the parties".

On the other hand, in this interview, it was not uncommon for the introduced or visited people to have already died.

There was also a memorial monument where there was no one to manage it and the history of its construction was unknown.

A-bomb survivors are aging more and more, and local A-bomb survivor groups are being disbanded one after another.

It has been 76 years since the bombing, and the interview is also a struggle against time.

Keeping in mind that every moment is a very valuable opportunity, we will continue to communicate.

Hiroshima Broadcasting Station Reporter

Kentaro Ishikawa