News

by Fumiyasu Miyano, Staff Writer

On June 14, it was learned that the unclaimed remains of one victim of the atomic bombing stored within the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound, located in Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward, had been returned to surviving family members. The victim’s name is Masao Kimura (in Japanese, 木村正夫), which had been incorrectly indicated on a name list of unclaimed remains as Masao Kimura (木村正男) with a different Chinese character in the given name. Ahead of this year’s 78th commemoration of the atomic bombing, Mr. Kimura’s remains were identified through an inquiry from his surviving family. It was the 1,002nd instance of remains stored in the memorial mound, which houses the remains of about 70,000 victims, being claimed and the first time since the last case in October 2021.

On May 9, Minoru Hataguchi, 77, president of the Hiroshima Society for Praying for the War Victims, which manages the site, handed over Mr. Kimura’s remains to his grandchild, who lives in Hiroshima Prefecture, in front of the memorial mound. According to Mr. Hataguchi, the grandchild wept tears of joy. Mr. Hataguchi said, “His grandchild seemed to be full of emotion. I’m pleased we were able to return him to the bereaved family. Our efforts in caring for his remains were worth it.”

According to the Hiroshima City government, Mr. Kimura was killed in the atomic bombing while engaged in the demolition of buildings to create fire lanes in the city’s downtown area. He was in his 30s and belonged to the Hiroshima District Special Police Force. Further details have not been disclosed upon request of the family.

In August 2022, Mr. Kimura’s great-grandchild checked the list of unclaimed remains stored in the memorial mound whose names were identified. He then contacted the city and inquired as to whether the victim on the list was the great-grandfather who died in the atomic bombing, despite the fact that one character in the name was incorrect. The list contained only the following information, “Masao Kimura (木村正男) (Army Staff).”

Staff at the Research Division of the city government’s Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Department compared the Army’s list from that time, the list of A-bomb victims, and the family register provided by the surviving family. Through that process, the city was able to identify the victim as Mr. Kimura based on the other information that matched—his domicile at birth, age at the time of his death, and location at death.

The city will soon remove Mr. Kimura’s name from the list of unclaimed victims. Of the remains stored in the memorial mound, the bereaved families of 1,624 victims, including Mr. Kimura’s, have been identified to this point in time. A total of 1,002 victims’ remains have been handed over to family members, but the rest of the identified victims’ remains are being stored in the memorial mound upon request from the surviving families.

(Originally published on June 15, 2023)