HIROSHIMA where our hearts were broken
By Alison DaRosa
H
Meeting with a bomb survivor gave us a
went to the school gate – but saw that
whole new perspective.
all of the houses that used to be there had disappeared.”
iroshima was the last stop on our trip. It was where our
Tomiko Matsumoto was 13 years old,
hearts were broken. Most
at school less than a mile from ground
Matsumoto, who was 83 when she met
of us grew up learning that
zero, on the day the bomb fell.
with us, remembers her agony and an-
the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was a necessary evil. It brought about the end of World War II and saved countless American and Japanese lives.
100 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2016
guish: “I was so badly burned that when “There was a strong orange light, then
I put my hands to the back of my neck,
suddenly everything became dark,”
the skin came off. As the sun came up
she recalled as our guide interpreted. “I
the pain became unbearable, but I did
crawled out from under the rubble and
not have the courage to jump in the river