The Bombing of Nagasaki August 9, 1945

WHEN EAST MEETS WEST

Commentary by Hank F. Miller Jr.

The Blast Center: At 11:02 a.m. August 9, 1945

Photo: The bombing of Nagasaki

At 490 meters in midair above Urakami Catholic Cathedral located in central Nagasaki the bomb exploded. The death toll right after the explosion was estimated to be about 70,000 perished in the Urakami Cathedral area.

The following is a story told by Mrs.Hatsuko Makisaka, who was 19 years old at the time of the bombing.

She was a student at Nagasaki Kassui Girls School. Located in Nishiyama. She was mobilized as a student worker at Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Company. She lived separately from her family at the schools dorm. Her mother and sister lived in Korea, and her father lived in Shanghai, China. She was assigned to the Superintendent’s office along with five other girls. At the Katsu-ura plant they were manufacturing torpedoes.

Even when the air-raid alarm sounded they were supposed to keep on working until the enemy planes showed up over head.

At the moment of the bombing she was at work at her desk.

She saw a tremendous flash and flames in a large circular shaped cloud that rose