The Last Survivors Speak. It’s Time to Listen.
In the United States the atomic bombs signaled military victory. In Japan the remaining survivors have been left to contemplate whether the world has learned anything from their trauma — or whether the world powers are on a collision course to repeat it.
In the United States the atomic bombs signaled military victory. In Japan the remaining survivors have been left to contemplate whether the world has learned anything from their trauma — or whether the world powers are on a collision course to repeat it.
The waiting room of the Red Cross hospital in downtown Hiroshima is always crowded. Nearly every available seat is occupied, often by elderly people waiting for their names to be called. Many of these men and women don’t have typical medical histories, however. They are the surviving victims of the American atomic bomb attack 79 years ago.
Not many Americans have Aug. 6 circled on their calendars, but it’s a day that the Japanese can’t forget. Even now, the hospital continues to treat, on average, 180 survivors — known as hibakusha — of the blasts each day.
