Family of US POW applies for entry to register of A-bomb victims

8/3/00

The name of another US pilot who was killed by the atomic bomb will be entered into the kakocho (lit. ledger of the past) He was a prisoner of war held at the Imperial Army's Chugoku Military Police Command Headquarters (Moto-machi, Naka Ward) located 600 meters from the hypocenter. On August 4, Historian Shigeaki Mori (63), who received the application from the family, will process it along with the application of another prisoner of war received the end of last month.

The soldier was First Lieutenant Raymond Porter (then 24 years old), pilot of the bomber Hell Diver. On July 28, 1945, the plane flew attacked the cruiser Tone (Toh-neh) anchored off Nomijima Island in Hiroshima Prefecture. It crashed off Oshima Island in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Porter was taken to the Chugoku Military Police Command and was evidently being held in solitary confinement when he was killed by the bomb.

Through a mutual acquaintance, Mori learned of Ruth Porter, Raymond's sister-in-law, who lives in the state of Wisconsin, in April this year. He sounded her out on the subject of entering Raymond's name in the registry of A-bomb Victims. On August 1, he received the application along with a letter saying, "Thank you for your efforts for world peace."


next back