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These are the accounts of those who were there to experience and survived the atomic bomb and their unforgettable stories.

Nobuko Matsuse

Nobuko was only 17 years old at the time the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

It was a normal hot August day when Nobuko Matsuse arrived at work and the alarm-raid went on. The alert was later called off and her boss told her to have lunch early since there might be another alert. The moment Nobuko took out her lunch; she saw a great white flash. The atomic bomb had been dropped over Nagasaki. She fled to the nearest shelter and stayed there until the evening. She stayed the night with her uncle because she was too depressed to go home.

The next morning was she headed home. She stepped over dead bodies and helpless people, surrounded by all of the rubble. It was hard not to look at the bodies on the ground or she would walk into them. It smelled like smoke and burnt flesh everywhere. She walked towards the school still engulfed in smoke. She went to the factory where her brother worked, which was close to the school. However, there was nothing to be seen so she gave up looking for her brother and continued home. It was such an exhausting journey. When she arrived at the train station, she had to wait and board on the second one since the first one was reserved only for the injured. As the hour went by, she finally boarded the second train and when the door opened, to her surprise, it was her father. It was a moment of mixed emotions- her dad was glad to see her, but when her dad told her to go look for her brother, she told him there was no use. Her dad still went alone to go for her brother. At last, she returned home. Then on August 11 th and 12 th, her dad, mom, two sisters and she went to Shiroyama in search for her brother and there they found him along with 40 of his other friends.

SOURCES:

Kamezawa, Miyuki, ed. The Unforgettable Day. Japan: Japan Group for Spreading out “The Unforgettable Day” Over the World. 1992