Two ex-New Zealand servicemen who served in Japan with J-Force, give their memories of visiting Hiroshima not long after the dropping of the atomic bomb in 1945.
Private C.H. Stone of Morrinsville recalls what he saw in March 1946, six months after the bomb was dropped. He travelled to the area by train and recalls the damage was worst around the Hiroshima railway station. He describes at first seeing scattered, burnt trees and some damaged buildings, but the damage was worse the closer he got. When he visited again four months later, rebuilding was well underway. He ends by describing his thoughts on viewing the devastation.
Broadcaster Jim Henderson then interviews the next speaker, Douglas Smith, who was a New Zealand Broadcasting Service member of J-Force and is now on station 2ZB's staff. He visited about a year after the bombing, to cover the first visit of Emperor Hirohito to Hiroshima after the war. [See ID9730 for recordings of the radio coverage of the Emperor's visit.]
He reads Emperor Hirohito's surrender announcement which followed the atomic bombing. He describes the large crowds in Hiroshima who turned out to bow as the Emperor passed by.
They discuss photographs Doug Smith took of concrete buildings that were at 'ground zero' of the bomb and the permanent shadows on the ground formed by the bomb 'flash'. He describes the pink scar tissue on some of the local people who were burnt by the bomb flash.
Jim Henderson then further identifies the first speaker, C.H. Stone, saying he first wrote his memories of Hiroshima in 1955.