We went to the cafe and 2 young students accompanied by an older lady asked us some questions for a school project. The lady with them was a survivor of the bomb and we chatted for a time and she left us her business card. We discussed what to do next as it was still raining. Meanwhile I went online to look up the lady; Keiko Ogura. It turns out that she is the 'go to' survivor for global TV networks including the BBC and journalists (later I was reading about John Kerry's impending visit and she was quoted in the article).
Keiko unexpectedly came back to join us at our table in the cafe. I bought her a coffee and the 4 of us spent an hour listening to her reminiscences and desciptions of life for survivors.
She was 8 years old in August 1945 and the family had recently moved out of the city centre in order to have room for a shelter from the 'everyday' bombs being dropped by the US. On the day the bomb was dropped her father had a premonition and kept the younger children home from school. Her older brother was in the city helping to clear bomb damage. He saw the B29 drop the bomb but watched the plane veer away so luckily his face was averted and that prevented his eyes from being damaged by the flash (however he did contract cancer later in life probably from the radiation and had died). Keiko's father was behind a sturdy pine tree so was uninjured.
Keiko is marvellous for her age - physically healthy despite being caught in the deathly 'black rain', but she told us how she had suffered psychologically from the whole experience. It was a moving but amazing encounter for us.
Jess and Ryan only had that day to sightsee so went off on their own. The rain cleared up and so Martin and I wandered through the peace park and spent time in the Memorial Hall.
That evening Jess and Ryan took us out for a meal to say thank you for our support and encouragement - they have had a fabulous year in New Zealand.
No comments:
Post a Comment