| Description |
Reiko Maruta (then, 13), the donor's sister-in-law, was a second-year student at Yamanaka Girls High School attached to Hiroshima Women's Higher School of Education. She was about 1,200 meters from the hypocenter, performing building demolition work in Zakoba-cho (now, Kokutaiji-machi) when the A-bomb detonated. She was seriously injured and taken to Taibi, Saka-cho, in Aki-gun. On August 8, her father Toshio, mother Hanayo and older brother Tetsuhiko rushed to her side. As she ate the canned mandarin oranges her family had brought her, she murmured, “Delicious” but these would be her last words. She passed away on the morning of August 9. The family stared intensely at her lifeless body even as she was being cremated, hoping that she would somehow return to life. |
