Beyond War - Hiraoka-san
Hiraoka-san grew up in Hiroshima. As you know, Hiroshima was one of the two cities on which the atomic bomb was dropped. I was fortunate enough to hear about her experience during World War 2 (WW2). These images and interviews are part of my WW2 survivor series, which currently focuses on survivors from Japan. Before I introduce these stories, I want to mention that I am in no way especially educated about this topic. I of course learned the history in school, and I learned a little more in New Orleans’ WW2 museum. In both cases I heard about detailed operational objectives, fighting tactics, and significant military moments. I heard a little about what life was like for a soldier, but I never heard any direct stories from civilians. In the case of any war, most involved are (unfortunately) civilians, and I wanted to learn more about what it was like for regular people. That began my project of speaking with Japanese survivors.
As I talked to a few people who lived through the war, it was abundantly clear that none of them agreed to go to war, nor were they happy that the war started. They wanted to live peaceful lives with their families just like everyone else. It is easy to generalize people as a group, and assume the cruelty and anger was a group decision. I even caught myself saying “Japan went to war.” However, it was the decision of only a few leaders. Most ordinary people were living under the constant fear of being killed by either “enemies” in the war or worse, being killed by their own government in retaliation for speaking out. War is a lose-lose game for people who are trying to live everyday lives with their loved ones. One recurring theme I heard in these interviews with survivors was that we must do our utmost to diffuse a situation before going into a war. Once it starts, it is very hard to stop. A lot of people on all sides lose their lives without being given a choice. We cannot take our peace for granted. Peace is something we the people need to protect at any cost.
Now let’s hear her story. :)
The war in Japan started when Hiraoka-san was in middle school. She and her family lived in Hiroshima. Her dad was a doctor, and because of that she was fortunate enough to not experience the food shortage many others were suffering through. She does not remember exactly how she heard that the war started but she said she remembers that she didn’t understand why Japan was going to war with America when there was no way for Japan to win.
Soon after the war started, her studying in school ended. She said she was able to study until the 6th grade. Kids were divided into 3 different groups: Heiki Sho (ordnance factory), Ifuku Sho (clothing factory), and Ryomatsu sho (grain and fodder factory), and they went to work creating their assigned items. (As an interesting aside, her husband - who she met and married later - was working in a place called Ujina in Hiroshima where the Canadian military was stationed. She said he learned English from them while they were working in the same area. This is unrelated to her story but I didn’t even know that Canadian soldiers were stationed in Japan.)
Hiroshima wasn’t the target of any major attacks throughout almost the entire war (until the very famous attack at the end), but nonetheless children were moved to the countryside to avoid potential danger. Hiraoka-san and her mom left, and her dad stayed in the city of Hiroshima to help the wounded. She recalls that it wasn’t too horrible as she had relatives in the countryside, however, not being able to study was difficult for her, and she missed her school.
She said she doesn’t remember much of her daily life during the war, and she also said she rarely talked to her husband about the war. What she remembered was how it ended. She saw a lot of college-aged kids forced to fly off in attack airplanes without enough fuel to come back. Were they proud to be on that airplane? Or were they afraid? What about their parents knowing their sons were never coming back?
Her dad was still working in Hiroshima the day the atomic bomb was dropped. Her mom had traveled from the countryside to the city to visit him. She remembers that her mom took the train. Her younger sister was also in Hiroshima, and her older sister was away from the city for work. She said she remembers hearing about the bombs. In the matter of seconds, her dad and mom were gone, leaving three children behind. Her younger sister died 10 days later from radiation. If her mom had taken the later train into Hiroshima, she would have survived and they could have had several more decades together. Hiraoka-san spoke about this day very calmly, and said maybe it was fate.
Soon after the bombs, she heard the war was over. She recalls that she was excited that the war was over, but doesn’t remember being happy. She said she was just thinking about the people that passed.
She went back to Hiroshima (the timeline wasn’t clear) and saw a field with nothing except for the metal frames of some buildings. She said when she looked at the field, she was wondering about her parents.
After the war, her life resumed, and she went back to school. She said she was happy that she could study again and learn new things.
Throughout the interview, Hiraoka-san had a very positive calmness. She is now over 90 years old. She said she hadn’t thought about the war much anymore until the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out. She didn’t seem to have any blame for anyone fighting on the front line. Maybe that’s because almost everyone in war is there to survive the day. They do what they have to to survive and go back to their family. Throughout the interview, I was thinking about my daughter and what it would be like for her to be separated from us, hoping that she can see us again soon, only to realize that both parents vanished and that she now needed to survive on her own. There is no win for anyone, including front line soldiers, during the war. Hiraoka-san did not chose to be separated from parents, or to lose them. Likewise, her parents did not choose to leave kids at their relative’s house. What can any one person do if the government decides to go to war against our will? And what can anyone do especially if the government will retaliate brutally against anyone speaking out against that decision? Leaders decide the fate of their people, and people are the ones that pay the cost.
After the interview, the certainty that we need to do absolutely everything we can to avoid starting a war stayed with me very strongly.
