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A-bomb Artifacts

ID Code 2101-0865
Artifact Name Small plate
Donor Sumiko Tomoda
Receiving Date 2010/05/19
Size (W×H×D) (mm)
Distance from the Hypocenter(m) 1850
Number 1
Location Moto-machi, Hakushima areas
Description Small plates used by family
Donated by Sumiko Tomoda
1,850m from the hypocenter Hakushima-naka-machi
The donor, Sumiko Tomoda (then, 18), experienced the bombing at the Fifth Division headquarters located in Moto-machi (750m from the hypocenter). She was blown away by the blast and trapped under the collapsed building. When she managed to crawl out, she had shards of glass stuck in her face and hands and feet and was covered in blood, but fled from the scene barefoot. Her home in Hakushima was completely razed. Her mother Hide (then, 51), who was at home, evacuated immediately to an air raid shelter and survived, but of the five family members, her father Torakichi (then, 55) and her younger brother Koei (then, 16) lost their lives. Her other younger brother Sadanaru (then, 12) had been mobilized as a student to perform building demolition work, and was never found. These plates were in one of the three air raid shelters at the family home. They were burned by the high heat, melting the glaze and creating bubbles in the plates' surface.

Memoir from Sumiko Tomoda (summary):
My younger brother Sadanaru, who had just started at junior high school, had been mobilized to perform building demolition work, and it seems that he was working in the Dohashi area when the bomb hit. He never came home. My father and mother each searched different areas high and low for him, but they could not find any clue, and he has never been found.
My other younger brother, who was older than him, went alone to my mother’s family home in Tottori for treatment. He came back to Hiroshima about two days before he died. I suppose he wanted to be with his parents. The day after he came back, he went to sleep. His hair had fallen out and I think he had a fever of about 40 degrees. He drank two kettles of water, and passed away on the morning of the next day, August 27.
After that my father was also bedridden. He passed away on October 28.
The remains of my father and my brother were cremated at a mountain in Ushita. It was so sad.
The best thing is to have a peaceful world. I think that is what the people of the world are hoping for.

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