Domo Arigato, Mori-sama
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/three-u-s-pows-added-to-roster-of-hiroshima-deaths-1.93398
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
Category: Blue Skies, Historical, We Remember, Who knows
Good info I had no idea that Americans died due to blast
to the service members that did… Rest Well
—————- Salute—————-
Hondo I think maybe the date should be 1945 ???
My eyes maybe going bye bye
Yep – I certainly missed that typo. It’s fixed now; thanks.
I had no idea, either.
Friendly fire (I know, there’s nothing friendly about it) is a fact of war. And that’s how I see this. Damn Japanese. They now treat as martyrs those they willingly and stupidly sacrificed. The first bomb, sure, maybe we were bluffing or exaggerating. But, after that, the merciless devastation of the second belongs fully to the Japanese.
As much as I sympathize for the people who died in the atomic bombings, as well as LeMay’s firebombing campaign, the responsibility for their deaths is Japan’s.
When somebody tries to wave the bloody shirt of Hiroshima’s memorial wall at me, I tell them to take a trip to Hawaii. There’s this little saltwater inlet on Oahu where you can take a boat ride to go and see another memorial wall. Once you read all 1,177 names on it, look out the window at the water below and see the fuel still leaking from the wreck of the United States Battleship Arizona. Remember that the 1,177 men whose names are etched on that wall were murdered in an unprovoked attack ordered by imperialist assholes in Tokyo, and approved by Hirohito. No American bomb would have ever cratered Japanese dirt if not for that Sunday in December of ’41.
Blaming the Japanese people for what their a.h. govt leadership, both civilian and military did….is like blaming Americans for what that a.h. in the white house is doing…their only crime was in not marching on their govt and kicking ass…..the same crime Americans are now guilty of IMHO!
Agreed. And continuing to focus on “blaming Japan for the war” misses the point of the article entirely.
Yes, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and brought the US into World War II. We defeated them. Both of those facts are completely irrelevant to the point of the above article: to highlight exemplary acts of human decency by a man of exceptional character.
Mori was 4 when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He was 8 when he was himself nearly killed at Hiroshima. I’m going out on a limb here and say it’s a virtual cinch that he lost some relatives during the bombing, if not immediate family.
It would have been damn easy for Mori to have simply ignored the fact that 12 US POWs died at Hiroshima, or considered that “cosmic payback” and gone about his life. However, he did not. Instead, he behaved with uncommon decency – and continued to work to obtain what he considered the proper remembrance for those 12 US POWs for literally decades. Mori did so regardless of the fact that those POWs were at the time of their deaths enemies, and their country had damn near killed him.
The way that the US treated both Japan and Germany after World War II – rebuilding both vice enslaving either, or demanding crushing reparations as had been done after World War I – reflects great credit on the US. But the fact that Japan has become a fast ally of the nation that beat her into submission – and who used nuclear weapons against her – IMO reflects credit on their nation as well.
The same is true of Mori’s action here IMO. My use of the Japanese honorific “sama” vice “san” in the title was intentional; it is an honorific showing extreme respect to a great man.
I freely admit that I do not know that I could have done what Mori did. But for having done it, IMO he deserves our respect.
“Blaming the Japanese people for what their a.h. govt leadership, both civilian and military did….is like blaming Americans for what that a.h. in the white house is doing…”
First of all, I don’t see where oBaMa has, as yet anyway, unilaterally begun a world war. And I don’t recall any history lesson in which I was taught that the US entered WW II before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and Germany declared war on us. Second, to the extent that US presidents are elected, you bet the electorate is responsible for what he does, so long as what he does is done legally. In oBaMa’s case, that’s doubly true since he was twice elected. I get that Emperor worship and propaganda cultivated the Japanese people for war and that they were led to the slaughter by their leadership. I also get that w/o the agreement of the Japanese people, there is no war and no need for the Bombs. What I don’t get is why this Mori’s quest to include the names of 12 American servicemen means much of anything. Do the Japanese also list the names of all the allied servicemen who died of starvation, disease, beatings, and execution in their POW camps? I guess what bothers me is that more and more I see over the years the emphasis being placed on Japan as victim, rather than aggressor. They keep their victimhood alive. We build monuments and tend to move on.
Considered objectively, what the Japanese are doing re: Hiroshima is nothing more than we are doing at the USS Arizona memorial. Specifically, they are remembering and memorializing a grievous past wartime loss, as well as the memory of those killed during that loss.
In the case of Hiroshima, this also serves as a reminder to Japan of the potential consequences of future war – the possible nuclear consequences of which they alone have felt firsthand. It thus serves as a restraining influence on future Japanese military activities and adventurism.
Given Japan’s history between the Meiji Restoration (1868) and the end of World War II, perhaps that’s not such a bad thing.
Okay. That perspective makes good sense to me.
Poignant is an inadequate word for this.
Rest in peace now my brothers. You are no longer unknown and will never be forgotten. God bless you families as well. Thank you Mr. Mori sir, for a larger sense of decency and history than what political correctness may have dictated, Thank you indeed Sir.
Hondo, great article. Interestingly I just finished reading a war novel, “Sentinels of Fire”, about the naval component of the Battle of Okinawa, written by P.T. Deutermann, Captain, Ret, USN. It has been speculated that the ferocity with which the Japanese defended Okinawa, which they considered the first home island invaded by the Allies, was the deciding factor for the American government in using the bombs to prevent the invasion of the main islands.
The book’s focus is on the battle between the the picket destroyers providing early warning to the main invasion fleet and the relentless and deadly Kamikaze attacks attempting to silence them. I can recommend it as a real page-turner for those of you who enjoy fictionalized, yet accurate, historical writing.
http://www.amazon.com/Sentinels-Fire-P-T-Deutermann/dp/125004118X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1439738457&sr=1-1&keywords=sentinels+of+fire
As the son of a WWII Pacific sailor, I’ve often wondered what it must have been like to sit there on a small ship watching a determined and suicidal enemy fly his plane straight at you. Captain Deutermann, a former destroyer captain himself, makes you live the experience. His father, a retired vice admiral, served as a destroyer group commander at Okinawa during the battle.
Also interestingly, Deutermann has also written another roman à clef, “The Ghosts of Bungo Suido”, dealing in a tangential way with American and British POW’s being held near the Hiroshima detonation, although his fictional POW’s are submarine sailors and some make it out alive
http://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Bungo-Suido-P-Deutermann/dp/1491511885
Damn. It’s dusty in here.
A prayer for all the souls, of all nationalities, who died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Great article, thank you for posting. What’s not mentioned is the high number of American POWs elsewhere that were executed as retribution for the bombings shortly afterwards.
Hondo-
Thanks for this.
Domo Arigato, MoriSan.
I wonder how people like Joe can be so strong.
Semper Fi, Soldier
Would that all our enemies, and all of us ourselves, could be so honorable.
Well done Hondo. Visiting ground zero at both sites was unquestionably the most humbling experiences of my life. Yet strategically, both bombs were a necessity to avoid greater civilian casualties IMO.
Domo Arigato, Mori-sama, Did You Realize Twelve Americans Died In Hiroshima From The A-Bomb?
Yeah, he did. Can you even read plain English, Fulker? He acknowledge those 12 POWs in the article he wrote.
Use some comprehension occasionally.
Sir, thanks for posting this. I’ve been to Hiroshima three times to meet with Mr. Mori. In March, we brought Susan and this past August, we brought Mr. Ralph Neal. The Nephew of Ralph Neal, who was on the Lonesome Lady. It’s all part of a documentary I am doing on Ralph Neal, Normand Brissette, and what Mr. Mori has done for the 12 POW’s.
The village of Ikachi hosted us. Ikachi was the site where the Lonesome Lady crashed, and most of the crew were picked up after parachuting out. It was a moving and powerful experience. Mr. Mori and Mr. Neal spent the anniversary of the bombing together, and took part in the paper lantern ceremony that evening.
It was a humbling moment, and we are lucky to be capturing it.
here’s a quick video from the August trip.
thanks again.