What Happened To The Bodies At Hiroshima And Nagasaki?

Summary

The video script delves into the harrowing aftermath of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, highlighting the immense human toll and the challenges in determining accurate death counts. It discusses the physical and psychological effects on survivors, the mishandling of remains for medical research, and the long-term health consequences. The script also touches on the cultural and historical significance of memorials and the enduring quest for peace and understanding.

Takeaways

• 💥 The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulted in significant death tolls, with estimates ranging from 110,000 to 210,000 combined, but exact figures are difficult to determine due to population record inaccuracies and chaos post-bombing.
• 🔍 The immediate aftermath saw many people turned to dust and ash, or washed out to sea, making it challenging to count the deceased accurately.
• 🌪️ Uncontrolled fires and debris led to the cremation or burial of many bodies, complicating the identification and counting of victims.
• 📚 The American Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission collected body parts and specimens for study, often anonymizing the victims and causing controversy and distress among the Japanese.
• 🧪 There was a significant lack of proper record-keeping and mislabeling of specimens sent to the U.S., leading to a loss of individual identities and national outrage in Japan.
• 🏥 The first person officially recorded to have died from radiation poisoning was actress Midori Naka, highlighting the long-term health effects of the bombings.
• 🗼 The Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound in Hiroshima holds the ashes of 70,000 unclaimed or unidentified individuals, symbolizing the scale of the tragedy.
• 🌿 Some survivors and their families faced unique and heartbreaking conditions, such as glass growing out of skin and the development of keloids, indicating the lasting physical impact of the bombings.
• 💧 There are accounts of victims dying after drinking water, suggesting that even attempts at relief could be fatal due to severe internal injuries.
• 🔬 The Manhattan Engineer District's report indicated that most immediate deaths were caused by burns and falling debris, rather than radiation alone.
• 🕊️ The Peace Park in Hiroshima, built on the site of a former Buddhist temple used as a crematorium, serves as a reminder of the bombings and the call for peace.

Q & A

What were the estimated death tolls for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

The most cited figures for the combined death tolls of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are between 110,000 and 210,000. However, the exact numbers are uncertain due to chaotic conditions and unreliable population records at the time.

How did the Manhattan Project's Chief Medical Officer, Col. Stafford Warren, describe the challenges in determining the death tolls?

Col. Stafford Warren testified before Congress, stating that population records were unreliable and it was difficult to distinguish between those who had died and those who had fled. He admitted that the figures they provided were more guesses than definitive numbers.

Why were some bodies from the bombings turned into dust and ash?

Scores of people at the epicenter of the blast were instantly turned to dust and ash due to the immense heat and force of the explosions, which scattered them on the wind.

What happened to the bodies of victims who sought relief in the rivers after the bombings?

Victims who went to the rivers to alleviate their burning pain often died there, and their remains were carried out to sea by the water currents.

What was the official number of bodies cremated in Nagasaki according to the records?

Nagasaki's official records listed 40,000 bodies that had been cremated. Col. Warren suggested that an additional 20-30,000 bodies remained unrecovered for various reasons.

How did the process of mass cremations affect the perception of human dignity according to Masako Wada?

Masako Wada recalled the desensitization and numbness that people experienced due to the incessant cremations, questioning the treatment of human beings as if they were burned like garbage.

What was the first cause of death officially listed as radiation poisoning and who was the victim?

The first cause of death officially listed as radiation poisoning was actress Midori Naka, who survived the initial blast but later succumbed to radiation sickness.

How did the American medical professionals' involvement in the aftermath of the bombings affect the survivors and their families?

The American medical professionals' involvement led to the collection and study of body parts and specimens, often without proper identification or consent, which was perceived as a second victimization of the survivors and their families.

What was the role of the American Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in the study of the survivors?

The American Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission was set up to study the survivors, collect body parts for research, and learn more about the effects of radiation sickness, but their practices were controversial and viewed as body-snatching.

When were the remains collected from the bomb victims returned to Japan and what was included in the return?

The remains collected from the bomb victims were returned to Japan in May 1973. The return included around 23,000 items such as photos, pieces of clothing, organs, brains, and eyes preserved in formaldehyde.

What is the significance of the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound and how does it relate to the bombing victims?

The Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound is a 16-ton dome of earth topped by a small pagoda, built on the site of a former Buddhist temple that served as a makeshift crematorium. It contains the ashes of 70,000 people, including those discovered during the cleanup process, symbolizing the collective memory and mourning of the victims.

What were the immediate causes of death for the victims of the atomic bombings according to the 1946 report by the Manhattan Engineer District?

The 1946 report found that only about 7% of immediate deaths were caused by radiation, while 60% of the deaths in Hiroshima were caused by burns and 30% by falling debris. At Nagasaki, burns accounted for an astonishing 95% of the deaths.

What are some of the long-term health effects experienced by the survivors of the atomic bombings?

Long-term health effects experienced by survivors include high instances of illnesses such as cancer and leukemia, as well as other issues like anemia, tumors, thyroid problems, miscarriages, and mental health struggles like survivors' guilt.

How did the shadows etched on sidewalks and pavement around the cities come to be and what do they represent?

The shadows are not the result of people being vaporized but rather places that were protected from the heat and light of the intense blast because the energy was absorbed by the people standing there. The surrounding areas were bleached by the light, leaving the darker spots where people had shielded the ground behind them.

Outlines

00:00

💥 The Lingering Aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings

This paragraph delves into the devastating aftermath of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, highlighting the uncertainty and controversy surrounding the death tolls. It discusses the challenges faced in accurately counting the dead due to population displacement and the obliteration of records. The narrative describes the tragic fates of those turned to dust, those who sought relief in rivers only to be swept out to sea, and the mass cremations that followed. It also touches on the medical mistreatment of victims, where body parts were anonymized, mislabeled, and used for research without consent, reflecting the dual victimization of survivors as both targets of warfare and subjects of medical research.

05:01

🕊️ The Memorialization and Personal Struggles of Atomic Bomb Survivors

This paragraph focuses on the efforts to honor and remember the victims of the atomic bombings, from the establishment of the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound to the Peace Park. It recounts personal stories of survivors and their families, who had to endure the harrowing experience of identifying and cremating their loved ones amidst the chaos. The narrative also corrects misconceptions about the shadows left on sidewalks, explaining the true cause as a result of the intense light and heat of the blast. Furthermore, it details the immediate aftermath, emphasizing the pleas for water by burn victims and the tragic outcomes that ensued, as well as the high mortality rates and types of burns suffered by those in proximity to the epicenter.

10:02

🤕 Long-Term Health Effects and the Psychological Burden on Survivors

The paragraph examines the long-term health effects faced by survivors of the atomic bombings, including high incidences of cancer, leukemia, and other illnesses such as anemia, tumors, and thyroid issues. It also addresses the psychological impact, with some survivors grappling with mental health issues like survivors' guilt and the trauma of witnessing loved ones suffer. The narrative highlights less commonly known conditions, such as skin growing scabs or glass, and the development of keloids that impede daily activities. Additionally, it underscores the importance of mental health care for survivors, as evidenced by the increased risk of suicide and the profound emotional struggles that persisted for decades after the bombings.

Keywords

💡Atomic Bomb

The atomic bomb refers to a weapon that releases energy through nuclear reactions, causing massive destruction. In the video's theme, the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are central to the narrative, illustrating the catastrophic effects of such weapons on human life and the environment. The script mentions the immediate and long-term devastation caused by these bombs, including the death tolls and the lingering health effects on survivors.

💡Death Toll

The death toll represents the number of fatalities resulting from a particular event, in this case, the atomic bombings. The video discusses the uncertainty and estimates surrounding the exact number of people who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, highlighting the difficulty in obtaining accurate figures due to the chaos and destruction.

💡Radiation Poisoning

Radiation poisoning, or radiation sickness, is a condition caused by the absorption of high levels of radiation, leading to acute health effects. The script provides the example of actress Midori Naka, who became the first person officially listed as dying from radiation poisoning, illustrating the severe health consequences of the atomic bombings.

💡Cremation

Cremation is the process of burning a corpse to ashes. The video describes mass cremations that took place after the bombings, with bodies being burned in an attempt to manage the overwhelming number of dead. This term is closely tied to the theme of the video, as it reflects the scale of the tragedy and the desperate measures taken in its aftermath.

💡Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project was the U.S. research and development project during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. The video references the project's Chief Medical Officer, Col. Stafford Warren, who testified about the challenges in determining the death toll, underscoring the Manhattan Project's role in the bombings.

💡Specimens

In the context of the video, specimens refer to the body parts and remains collected for scientific study after the bombings. The script discusses how these specimens were used for medical research, raising ethical concerns about the treatment of the victims and the respect for human dignity.

💡Survivors

Survivors are individuals who lived through a catastrophic event. The video focuses on the experiences and health issues of those who survived the atomic bombings, including the physical and psychological effects they faced in the aftermath, such as burns, radiation sickness, and survivor's guilt.

💡Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related conditions in populations. The script mentions an epidemiological study that examined the suicide risk among survivors, emphasizing the importance of mental health care in addition to physical care for those affected by the bombings.

💡Memorial Mound

The Memorial Mound, as described in the script, is a site created to honor those who died in the bombings. It serves as a physical reminder of the tragedy and a place of reflection for the victims and their families, embodying the theme of commemoration and remembrance.

💡Flash Burns

Flash burns are a type of burn caused by the intense heat and light from an explosion, such as those from the atomic bombs. The video explains how flash burns were different from flame burns and could cause severe damage even at a distance from the epicenter, illustrating the wide-reaching effects of the bombings.

💡Mental Health

Mental health refers to the psychological well-being of an individual. The script discusses the importance of mental health care for survivors, who may experience trauma, guilt, and other psychological issues as a result of their experiences during and after the bombings.

Highlights

The death tolls of the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki are often cited between 110,000 and 210,000, with scientific estimates ranging from 90,000 to 120,000 for Hiroshima and 60,000 to 70,000 for Nagasaki.

Population records were unreliable post-bombing, leading to uncertainty in the exact number of casualties.

Many victims were instantly turned to dust and ash, or their remains were washed out to sea, complicating body counts.

Col. Stafford Warren testified to Congress about the difficulty in providing definitive death toll figures due to the chaos.

Nagasaki's official records listed 40,000 bodies cremated, with an estimated additional 20-30,000 bodies unaccounted for.

Mass cremations took place in vacant lots, desensitizing locals to the scale of death.

The first person officially listed to have died from radiation poisoning was actress Midori Naka.

American medical professionals collected and studied body parts and specimens from victims, leading to ethical concerns and mislabeling.

The American Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission faced criticism for their handling of victims' remains and data.

Japan received the return of around 23,000 items including organs and body parts in 1973, sparking further study.

Health studies of survivors revealed high rates of cancer, leukemia, and other illnesses, along with psychological impacts.

The Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound in Hiroshima holds the ashes of 70,000 unclaimed or unidentified victims.

Survivors and their families faced unique health conditions, such as glass growing from the skin and keloid scars.

Mental health care was identified as crucial for survivors, with studies showing increased suicide risk.

The Manhattan Engineer District report detailed the causes of death, with burns and falling debris being the primary factors.

The report also differentiated between flash burns and flame burns, explaining the severity and progression of injuries.

Shadows etched on sidewalks are not shadows of vaporized people but areas protected from the blast, with everything else bleached.

Survivors' accounts often mention the desperate need for water and the tragic outcomes of those who drank it.

Drinking water could lead to more blood loss in severely wounded individuals, potentially hastening death.

Transcripts

Unknown deaths, bodies turned into  specimens, and water being a death  

sentence. The bodies at Hiroshima and Nagasaki  went through so much more than you think.

There are a ton of numbers that are thrown  out there when it comes to the death tolls  

of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "A short time ago, an American airplane  

dropped one bomb on Hiroshima and  destroyed its usefulness to the enemy."

The most oft-cited are between 110,000  

and 210,000 for the two cities combined. Science  says the Hiroshima bombing claimed between  

90,000 and 120,000 lives, while Nagasaki  suffered between 60,000 and 70,000 deaths.

In 1946, the Manhattan Project's Chief  Medical Officer, Col. Stafford Warren,  

testified before Congress and explained that  population records were iffy. No one knew  

who had died or simply fled in the chaos.  He summed up his investigation like this:

"I am embarrassed by the fact [...]  that we could not come back with any  

definitive figures that I would be  able to say were more than a guess."

In her book, Suffering Made Real: American Science  and the Survivors at Hiroshima, University of  

Pennsylvania sociologist Susan Lindee writes that,  when it came time to count how many had died,  

many were simply gone. Scores of people who were  at the epicenter of the blast had been instantly  

turned to dust and ash and scattered on the wind.  Others had headed to the rivers to try to stop  

the burning and the pain, and when they died  there, their remains were carried out to sea.

When Col. Warren gave his statement to Congress in  1946, he said that there was only one concrete-ish  

number that he could attest to after months of  study. Nagasaki's official records listed 40,000  

bodies that had been cremated. Warren suggested  that another 20-30,000 bodies had been unrecovered  

for various reasons, with many cremated by the  uncontrolled, raging fires that swept through the  

city in the aftermath of the blast. Others were  permanently buried by debris and destruction.

Masako Wada was still a toddler when  the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki,  

and recalled that beside their home was  a vacant lot used for mass cremations.  

In an article published by the Union  of Concerned Scientists, she recalled,

"The corpses were cremated day and night.  [My mother] became desensitized to the  

smell and the sheer number of people  in front of her eyes. She said that  

everybody became numb to what was  happening. What is human dignity?"

"Should human beings be treated like that? We  are not created to be burned like garbage."

Bones and ash littered cremation sites  for weeks after the burning stopped.

There were those who died instantly, and  there were also those who languished in  

brief agony. These included actress Midori Naka,  

the first person to have her cause of death  officially listed as radiation poisoning.

Naka — who was rescued from the remains  of a destroyed building — survived the  

initial blast on August 6. By August 16,  she was in the hospital with open sores,  

hair loss, and a rapidly dropping white  blood count. On August 24, she was dead.

Naka became the first of many  radiation victims autopsied by  

the Japanese government in an attempt  to learn more about radiation sickness  

and hopefully treat survivors.  But here's where it gets worse.

American medical professionals  showed up at the end of September,  

and although the two nations initially  worked together, all the material became  

mixed up. Body parts and glass jars of "wet  specimens" were collected and sent back to  

the U.S., but names were changed to case  numbers, organs were sliced and studied,  

identities disappeared when shipments were  mislabeled and shuffled. By the early 1950s,  

no one could tell if the specimens had come  from the same person. The American Atomic Bomb  

Casualty Commission, set up to study survivors,  continued to collect body parts for years.

"We were used as guinea pig twice. First as a  target. Second as object of medical research."

The American Atomic Bomb Casualty  Commission were viewed as body-snatchers,  

with one man — Association of  Atomic Victims founder Kiyoshi  

Kikkawa — calling the organization  a "corpse-production facility."

"You now have an American scientific institution,  

which is funded by the Atomic Energy Commission,  which is operating in a foreign country."

It wasn't until 1955 that the Armed Forces  Institute of Pathology was opened, with the  

goal of consolidating the remains collected  from the bomb victims. Record-keeping was iffy  

at best. Japan was outraged and started  calling for the remains to be returned.

That didn't happen until May, 1973, when Japan  received seven massive crates filled with photos,  

pieces of clothing, even organs, brains, and eyes  preserved in formaldehyde. All told, there were  

around 23,000 such items returned. University  of Pennsylvania's Susan Lindee writes that,

"The body parts appeared in Japan as both  national property and crucial scientific data.  

Japanese pathologists were just as eager to study,  slice, and display these pieces of human bodies.”

"Among the findings over the years:  thyroid cancer and leukemia are the  

first to strike. Solid cancers  come 10 to 30 years later."

In 1946, an unnamed man appealed to the mayor  of Hiroshima asking for the construction of a  

space that would be used to honor those who  died in the bombing. This became the Atomic  

Bomb Memorial Mound, a 16-ton dome  of earth topped by a small pagoda.

It stands on the site of a former Buddhist temple  that served as a makeshift crematorium in the  

aftermath of the bombs. Today, the ashes of 70,000  people rest within the mound's underground vault,  

along with the remains of many who were  discovered in the months of cleanup that  

followed. That includes the remains of 12 American  soldiers who had been shot down over Japan,  

taken to Hiroshima for questioning, and  were being held there when the bomb dropped.

"Where the bomb fell is a Peace Park."

The City of Hiroshima says that all of those  70,000 people were unclaimed, most often because  

entire families perished. Others are unidentified,  although DNA testing has led to the identification  

of some of the remains. Occasionally, more people  are interred there: In 2004, 85 sets of remains  

were discovered on Ninoshima Island, and were  given a final resting place in the Memorial Mound.

Even as scores of people flocked to the  cities to care for the dead and the dying,  

some families were left to their own devices  when it came to seeing their loved ones die,  

then giving them a proper final resting place.

Yoshiro Yamawaki was 11 years old when he survived  the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, and told Time:

"One incident I will never  forget is cremating my father."

He and his brothers found their  father dead at a nearby factory,  

and, laying his nearly unrecognizable  body down, they attempted a cremation.

"You have many nightmares about that."

After the fire had gone out, he  wasn't entirely cremated. In an  

attempt to give his spirit peace,  the brothers decided to observe  

an old funeral tradition where bone  was passed around with chopsticks:

"As soon as our chopsticks touched the surface,  however, the skull cracked open like plaster  

and his half cremated brain spilled out.  My brothers and I screamed and ran away,  

leaving our father behind. We abandoned  him, in the worst state possible."

Some of the most infamous images of the  aftermath of the dropping of the atomic  

bomb are the shadows etched on sidewalks  and pavement around the cities. They're  

often said to be the shadows created as people  were vaporized in their last moments on earth.

But, according to Dr. Michael Hartshorne of the  National Museum of Nuclear Science and History  

and the University of New Mexico School of  Medicine, they’re something else entirely.  

The dark spots are places that were protected from  the heat and light of the intense blast because it  

was absorbed by the people who had been standing  there. It isn't the darkened "shadows" that were  

changed by the bomb; it was everything else around  it, which was bleached in the light of the blast.

Hartshorne says that there were probably a  lot more of the horrific images created in the  

aftermath of the blast, as everybody absorbed  the energy of the blast and shielded whatever  

was behind them. But most were destroyed in the  following shockwaves, fires, and heat blasts.  

"The skeleton of a single building  bears witness to what happened here."

Accounts of the immediate aftermath of the  dropping of the atomic bomb are as varied  

as the lives of those who tell them. Still,  read enough of them, and something stands out:  

stories of people crying out for water,  and dying after taking just a sip.

"People were burned. Suffering and ask –  you know, begging for a drink of water."

Rikuko Sasaki told of seeing people  go to the rivers on Mount Hijiyama,  

holding out their hands and asking for water.  Someone told her that if they were given any,  

they would die. Her neighbor died anyway.

Inosuke Hayasaki told of walking away from  Nagasaki and passing countless burn victims,  

all pleading for water. Knowing many  had only a brief time left to live,  

he started bringing water to the victims from  a nearby rice paddy. Among them was his friend,  

Yamada. In an interview with Time, he remembered,

"I placed my hand on his chest. His skin slid  right off, exposing his flesh. I was mortified.  

'Water [...]' he murmured. I wrang the water  over his mouth. Five minutes later, he was dead."

He lived with the burden of not knowing if, in his  attempt at mercy, he had killed him. Did he? No,  

not necessarily. According to Dr. Hiroo  Dohy of the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital  

and Atomic Bomb Survivors Hospital ,  drinking water could lead to more blood  

loss in severely wounded people. But at  that point, they were likely dying anyway.

In 1946, the Manhattan Engineer District compiled  a report of all that was known about the aftermath  

of the atomic bomb. They determined that in  the case of immediate deaths, only about 7%  

were caused by radiation. In fact, casualties from  radiation were restricted to the immediate blast  

radius, while severe burns caused mass casualties  as far away from the epicenter as 2.6 miles.

The report found that there  was a shocking 93% mortality  

rate for those who were within 1,000  feet of the epicenter of the bomb,  

and that didn't drop below 50% until they started  looking at casualties at around 5,000 feet.

They also estimated that 60% of the deaths from  Hiroshima were caused by burns, with 30% caused by  

falling debris. At Nagasaki, however, that jumped  to a whopping 95% of deaths caused by burns.

They clarified further that there  were two different kinds of burns:  

flash burns and flame burns. Flame burns  were caused by fire. Flash burns were much  

more devious, starting as reddened skin  and worsening over the next few hours.

The exposure of a flash burn is  a few thousandths of a second,  

and although any kind of shielding would  prevent them, even some kinds of clothing,  

these were the burns that charred telephone poles,  destroyed granite surfaces, and boiled roof tiles.

Various organizations have tracked the health of  survivors since the atomic bombs were dropped,  

and their findings have been dismal. Science  reports high instances of illnesses like  

cancer and leukemia, with survivors suffering  from a myriad of other issues like anemia,  

tumors, thyroid issues, and miscarriages —  along with struggles like survivors' guilt.

While those are generally well-known, there  are less frequent but no less heartbreaking  

conditions that some survivors and their families  have faced. Yasujiro Tanaka told Time that not  

only did he lose most of his hearing, but  his skin continues to grow random scabs.

His sister's kidney issues make  dialysis a thrice-weekly process,  

and about ten years after the bombing,  

glass began growing out of his mother's skin  where it had been embedded by the blast.

Fujio Torikoshi lives with a thick scar called  a keloid on his neck, and he's not alone. Some  

survivors have developed so much scar tissue  that they struggle to perform basic tasks.

A study published in the journal Epidemiology  and Psychiatric Sciences looked at suicide risk  

among survivors, and determined that  mental health care was as important as  

physical care. Sachiko Matsuo's father died  horribly in the aftermath of the bomb. And  

it was 50 years before he appeared to  her in her dreams. She told Time that,

"He was wearing a kimono and smiling, ever so  slightly. Although we did not exchange words,  

I knew at that moment that he was safe in heaven."