On 6 August 1945, the US dropped the “Little Boy” nuclear bomb on Hirsoshima. Within days, 140,000 Japanese had died at Hiroshima.
So had 12 Americans.
The 12 Americans who died at Hiroshima were POWs. They were all US airmen who had been captured after their aircraft had been shot down.
They were being held POW in Hirsoshima on the day of the bombing. They’d all arrived there within the previous two weeks.
Most of the US POWs killed at Hiroshima died immediately. A few – the number seems to be 2 – initially survived, but died within days of the bombing from radiation sickness.
The fact that US POWs died at Hiroshima wasn’t publicly acknowledged until the 1970s. Even today it’s not a widely known fact.
That’s unfortunate. But one individual – an individual who you might not expect – has ensured those POWs end will be properly remembered.
. . .
Shigeaki Mori is a hibakusha – a survivor of the nuclear bombings of Japan. He was a resident of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. At the time, he was an 8-year-old schoolboy.
Originally Mori attended a school across the street from the Chugoku Military Police HQ in Hiroshima. The Chugoku Military Police HQ was where the US POWs were held captive; it was approximately 820m from ground zero.
Less than a week before the bombing, Mori was transferred to another school about 1.5 miles away from ground zero. That chance occurrence almost certainly saved his life. All US POWs that were not killed outright during the Hiroshima bombing died within a week of radiation sickness.
When the bomb detonated, Mori was crossing a bridge. He was blown from the bridge into the water. He was exposed to radiation then, and afterwards.
However, unlike many in Hiroshima Mori was not fatally injured. Mori survived, and grew to adulthood.
He became a historian.
During the 1970s, Mori learned that 12 US POWs had died in the Hiroshima bombing. As a hibakusha, one might expect Mori to have muttered something like, “Serves them right” – and gone on with his life.
He did not. Mori also learned something else: none of those US POWs had been formally recognized as Hiroshima dead.
Japan maintains a register of those who were killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or who later succumbed to delayed effects from the bombings. This register is managed and maintained by the Mayor of Hiroshima.
Much like the US Vietnam War Memorial, additional names are added as additional individuals are confirmed to have died in the bombing – and as people continue to die from effects related to the bombings. These names are added to the register on the anniversary of the bombing following either documentation of their death during the bombing or their later death from the bombing’s aftereffcts. As of 6 August 2011, the register contained 275,230 names.
Initially, all names on the register were Japanese; the POWs who died at Hiroshima were not listed there. That was the case in the 1970s.
Mori decided that the 12 Americans who had died at Hiroshima due to the bombing deserved the same recognition. Over a period of many years, Mori worked to make that a reality.
The process was a slow one. Today, the registration of persons as Hiroshima dead requires documentation – as well as a request from the family of the deceased. Mori thus had to locate and contact the surviving family of each of the 12 US POWs killed at Hiroshima, then convince them to request their deceased relative be listed on the register.
In 1998, Mori obtained permission and erected a small copper memorial plaque at the remains of the building at which the US POWs had been housed. In 2002, he completed the registration process for 2 of the US POWs killed at Hiroshima; their names were formally entered in the register of Hiroshima dead.
By 2009, Mori had completed the registration process for all 12 US POWs killed at Hiroshima. Their names and photographs are now on file at the Hall of Remembrance, located at the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims.
This year, Mori achieved another of his aims. At his invitation, Susan Archinski – a niece of Airman 3d Class Normand Brissette, who had been shot down and taken prisoner 10 days before the bombing, and who died at Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 – came to Japan. This August, she and Mori visited Hiroshima. I’m certain they each said a prayer for the souls of those US POWs killed at Hiroshima, and for the others who died that day as well.
. . .
Any member of the military comes to terms with the possibility of death, and accepts that possibility. However, each member of the military fears being lost and forgotten. Thanks to Shigeaki Mori – a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing – the 12 US POWs who also died at Hiroshima will never be forgotten.
Rest in peace, men.
And though thoroughly inadequate: Domo arigato, Mori-sama.
. . .
Author’s Notes
1. The following US POWs died at Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 or died of radiation sickness within days afterwards.
Captured crew of USAAF B-24 Lonesome Lady:
- Co-pilot, 2LT Durden W. Looper, 22, of Arkansas
- Bombardier, 2LT James M. Ryan, 20, of New York
- Radioman, SGT Hugh H. Atkinson, 26, of Washington State
- Nose turret, CPL John A. Long, Jr., 27, of Pennsylvania
- Engineer, SGT Buford J. Ellison, 22, of Texas
- Ball turret, SSG Ralph J. Neal, 23, of Kentucky
Captured crew of USAAF B-24 Taloa:
- Pilot, 1LT Joseph E. Dubinsky, 27, of Pennsylvania
- Gunner, SSG Julius Molnar, 20, of Michigan
- Gunner, SSG Charles O. Baumgartner, 30, of Ohio
Captured crew of USN SB2C Helldiver from the USS Ticonderoga:
- Pilot, LT Raymond L. Porter, 24, of Pennsylvania
- Gunner, PO3 Normand R. Brissette, 19, of Massachusetts
Captured crew of USN F6F Hellcat from the USS Randolph:
- ENS John J. Hantschel, 23, of Wisconsin
2. In 2008, Mori located wreckage from the US B-24 Taloa that had escaped Japanese wartime confiscation as scrap metal. With assistance from the Asahi Shimbun Mori located and arranged to send portions of that wreckage to a surviving family member of SSG Charles O. Baumgartner, and to a close living friend of SSG Julius Molnar, as tangible keepsakes. Both of these individuals died at Hiroshima.
As of last report, Mori was still searching for relatives of the remaining Taloa crew members.
3. In addition to the 12 US POW’s killed at Hiroshima, one US soldier was being held POW at Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. He survived the bombing.
This individual was Joe Kieyoomia, a member of the 200th Coastal Artillery Unit, US Army – and a Navajo. It is believed that the concrete walls of his cell provided enough protection to spare him serious injury from both the Nagasaki bomb’s blast and radiation.
Kieyoomia had been taken prisoner in the Philippines in 1942. Before the Nagasaki bombing, he had survived the Bataan Death March; 3 1/2 years of captivity as a POW, including torture (the Japanese initially thought he was a Japanese-American vice Navajo); survived additional torture when he could not help the Japanese break the Navajo Code Talker codes. He then survived both the Nagasaki bombing and being abandoned for 3 days afterwards.
Kieyoomia died in 1997 – at age 77. He was the only US POW who was also a recognized hibakusha.
Sources:
http://www.stripes.com/news/special-reports/world-war-ii-the-final-chapter/wwii-victory-in-japan/after-fight-to-recognize-hiroshima-s-american-victims-historian-meets-one-of-their-relatives-1.360327
http://www.stripes.com/news/three-u-s-pows-added-to-roster-of-hiroshima-deaths-1.93398
http://www.stripes.com/news/hiroshima-historian-returns-fragments-of-shot-down-bomber-to-loved-ones-in-u-s-1.85323
http://www.stripes.com/news/historian-tells-of-americans-pows-killed-at-hiroshima-1.38375
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201205160089
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Kieyoomia
