Hiroshima Children
“Children were incinerated instantly or paralysed in their daily routines like the victims of Pompeii, their internal organs boiled and their bones charred into brittle charcoal. All 30 people inside the industrial promotion hall, about 160 metres north-west of the explosion's hypocentre, were killed instantly and the building was gutted by fire.” (Source G)
The Hiroshima atomic bombing was a tragic event within the war that devastated and completely distorted the lives of many. Countless innocent lives were lost, and the result was the total obliteration of a fully functioning city and it’s people. Those living in this city were seen as the enemy in second world war, and the only logical solution for the United States was to destroy it in it’s entirety “The light rays consist of thermal radiation that burns the cities and bodies and nuclear radiation that penetrates the body” ( Source F)
The repercussions were disastrous. All individuals that had no part in the war were the ones that were punished. Families were wiped out, children were orphaned, and genetic mutations and health malfunctions were the result for the majority that survived. During this bombing, a range from five hundred to eight hundred babies were affected. When a human being is exposed to radiation of the magnitude that they were, it negatively modifies them to an extreme, “In the immediate aftermath, a quarter to a third of the population was killed by burns, trauma or radiation, or by a combination of these. The principal delayed effects of radiation concern the development of cancer, especially among those exposed in early childhood compared to adults; the brain damage to the fetus born to mothers exposed to the atomic bomb; and the genetic effects to the children born to the survivors.” (Source F).
The bomb changed all of the children’s lives who were affect for the worse, something that did not have to concern them did, and now they have to deal with the consequences that will not only alter them and their lives, but their children and future generations along with them, “But today, in 2008, new studies done on survivors and their offspring are revealing conclusive DNA genetic changes and malformations. These studies utilize newer modalities to detect DNA injuries. The children of survivors, now adults, are concerned how genetic damage from the bomb may be transmitted to their children through generations.” (Source F)
A baby is already fragile, and when you add an event like an atomic bombing to the equation, there are going to consequences, they are going to experienced unnatural alterations and have to live with these alterations for the entire life that they have yet to start. “Dozens of babies who had been in their mothers' wombs when the bomb exploded were born with microcephaly - abnormally small heads. From around 1950, cases of leukaemia in Hiroshima soared, and from around 1955 thyroid, breast, lung and other cancers increased. Fears persist that the problem will pass down generations.” (Source G)
Katsuji Yoshida, was 13 in 1945. 'There was a big bang and I was thrown 40 metres into a rice field,' he recalled. 'The skin on my arms had peeled off and was hanging down like a torn shirt from my fingertips. We had mud from the paddy all over us, and we pressed leaves on our exposed flesh to make up for missing skin. My right ear was blown off. Two of my ribs were broken and they've never mended, even 60 years later. (Source G) After 60 years the he can still remember the day that the bombing took place, he can still recall the details and how he felt, the image ingrained into his memory. He was forced to use leaves to replace the skin that was stripped from his bones, he can still feel the trauma that was so harshly inflicted on his body, and as so many others like him will, he will be experiencing the physical and emotional pain for the entirety of his life.
It is not fair that people who were not involved in the war were the ones that were so wrongly injured. It is not fair that they have to make up for the tragedy and will forever be reminded about what happened that day. It is not fair that war pains the innocent to the degree that it does, and everyone in the Hiroshima bombing will have to live with the unfairness, as their future generations do along with them.
The Hiroshima atomic bombing was a tragic event within the war that devastated and completely distorted the lives of many. Countless innocent lives were lost, and the result was the total obliteration of a fully functioning city and it’s people. Those living in this city were seen as the enemy in second world war, and the only logical solution for the United States was to destroy it in it’s entirety “The light rays consist of thermal radiation that burns the cities and bodies and nuclear radiation that penetrates the body” ( Source F)
The repercussions were disastrous. All individuals that had no part in the war were the ones that were punished. Families were wiped out, children were orphaned, and genetic mutations and health malfunctions were the result for the majority that survived. During this bombing, a range from five hundred to eight hundred babies were affected. When a human being is exposed to radiation of the magnitude that they were, it negatively modifies them to an extreme, “In the immediate aftermath, a quarter to a third of the population was killed by burns, trauma or radiation, or by a combination of these. The principal delayed effects of radiation concern the development of cancer, especially among those exposed in early childhood compared to adults; the brain damage to the fetus born to mothers exposed to the atomic bomb; and the genetic effects to the children born to the survivors.” (Source F).
The bomb changed all of the children’s lives who were affect for the worse, something that did not have to concern them did, and now they have to deal with the consequences that will not only alter them and their lives, but their children and future generations along with them, “But today, in 2008, new studies done on survivors and their offspring are revealing conclusive DNA genetic changes and malformations. These studies utilize newer modalities to detect DNA injuries. The children of survivors, now adults, are concerned how genetic damage from the bomb may be transmitted to their children through generations.” (Source F)
A baby is already fragile, and when you add an event like an atomic bombing to the equation, there are going to consequences, they are going to experienced unnatural alterations and have to live with these alterations for the entire life that they have yet to start. “Dozens of babies who had been in their mothers' wombs when the bomb exploded were born with microcephaly - abnormally small heads. From around 1950, cases of leukaemia in Hiroshima soared, and from around 1955 thyroid, breast, lung and other cancers increased. Fears persist that the problem will pass down generations.” (Source G)
Katsuji Yoshida, was 13 in 1945. 'There was a big bang and I was thrown 40 metres into a rice field,' he recalled. 'The skin on my arms had peeled off and was hanging down like a torn shirt from my fingertips. We had mud from the paddy all over us, and we pressed leaves on our exposed flesh to make up for missing skin. My right ear was blown off. Two of my ribs were broken and they've never mended, even 60 years later. (Source G) After 60 years the he can still remember the day that the bombing took place, he can still recall the details and how he felt, the image ingrained into his memory. He was forced to use leaves to replace the skin that was stripped from his bones, he can still feel the trauma that was so harshly inflicted on his body, and as so many others like him will, he will be experiencing the physical and emotional pain for the entirety of his life.
It is not fair that people who were not involved in the war were the ones that were so wrongly injured. It is not fair that they have to make up for the tragedy and will forever be reminded about what happened that day. It is not fair that war pains the innocent to the degree that it does, and everyone in the Hiroshima bombing will have to live with the unfairness, as their future generations do along with them.