Documenting Hiroshima of 1945: December 6, Shima Hospital, located directly beneath A-bomb detonation, holds memorial service
Dec. 6, 2024
by Maho Yamamoto, Staff Writer
On December 6, 1945, four months after the atomic bombing, people associated with Shima Hospital (present-day Shima Internist Hospital, in Hiroshima City’s Naka Ward), located directly beneath the detonation of the atomic bomb, held a memorial service on the ruins of the destroyed hospital. There were no survivors among the roughly 80 hospital staff and patients at the hospital when the atomic bomb was dropped.
Kaoru Shima, the hospital director and surgeon who died in 1977 at the age of 79, read a speech of condolence mourning the victims. “With the hospital located at the hypocenter, all souls in the hospital returned to heaven at the moment the atomic bomb detonated,” he said. Kazuhide Shima, 90, Kaoru’s oldest son who lives in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward, inherited from his father the original manuscript of the speech written in brush on Japanese washi paper.
In the afternoon of the day after the atomic bombing, Mr. Shima returned to the site of the hospital from the area of Kozan-cho (in the present-day town of Sera-cho) in Hiroshima Prefecture, where he had been visiting for a surgery, and walked around searching for hospital staff. In the condolence speech, he expressed his feelings of despair. “In the belief that some staff must still be alive, I stood on the smoldering ground and called out their names, but not a single person responded to me,” he said.
Hitoshi Wakai, 47 at the time of the bombing, his wife, Matsuka, 38, who was Mr. Shima’s younger sister, and their second son Hiroshi, 4, also died in the atomic bombing. The couple had operated a pediatric clinic in the neighborhood. In the Chugoku Shimbun edition dated December 2, 1945, Mr. Shima posted a notice announcing a “Joint memorial service for victims of Shima Hospital and the Wakai Pediatric Clinic,” calling on people associated with the hospital and clinic to attend.
After describing his unending sorrow in the speech, saying, “Who is able to look at this tragedy without shedding tears,” he concluded with a description of the resolve of those who survived. “Upon this unprecedented national crisis, we, the people of the nation, must act with courage to endeavor restoring Japan.”
Mr. Shima engaged in relief operations as a physician and also served as a member of the city council. On that same day, a meeting of the city council was held for the first time since Shichiro Kihara assumed the post of Hiroshima City mayor on October 22.
(Originally published on December 6, 2024)
On December 6, 1945, four months after the atomic bombing, people associated with Shima Hospital (present-day Shima Internist Hospital, in Hiroshima City’s Naka Ward), located directly beneath the detonation of the atomic bomb, held a memorial service on the ruins of the destroyed hospital. There were no survivors among the roughly 80 hospital staff and patients at the hospital when the atomic bomb was dropped.
Kaoru Shima, the hospital director and surgeon who died in 1977 at the age of 79, read a speech of condolence mourning the victims. “With the hospital located at the hypocenter, all souls in the hospital returned to heaven at the moment the atomic bomb detonated,” he said. Kazuhide Shima, 90, Kaoru’s oldest son who lives in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward, inherited from his father the original manuscript of the speech written in brush on Japanese washi paper.
In the afternoon of the day after the atomic bombing, Mr. Shima returned to the site of the hospital from the area of Kozan-cho (in the present-day town of Sera-cho) in Hiroshima Prefecture, where he had been visiting for a surgery, and walked around searching for hospital staff. In the condolence speech, he expressed his feelings of despair. “In the belief that some staff must still be alive, I stood on the smoldering ground and called out their names, but not a single person responded to me,” he said.
Hitoshi Wakai, 47 at the time of the bombing, his wife, Matsuka, 38, who was Mr. Shima’s younger sister, and their second son Hiroshi, 4, also died in the atomic bombing. The couple had operated a pediatric clinic in the neighborhood. In the Chugoku Shimbun edition dated December 2, 1945, Mr. Shima posted a notice announcing a “Joint memorial service for victims of Shima Hospital and the Wakai Pediatric Clinic,” calling on people associated with the hospital and clinic to attend.
After describing his unending sorrow in the speech, saying, “Who is able to look at this tragedy without shedding tears,” he concluded with a description of the resolve of those who survived. “Upon this unprecedented national crisis, we, the people of the nation, must act with courage to endeavor restoring Japan.”
Mr. Shima engaged in relief operations as a physician and also served as a member of the city council. On that same day, a meeting of the city council was held for the first time since Shichiro Kihara assumed the post of Hiroshima City mayor on October 22.
(Originally published on December 6, 2024)
