A boy's old picture reminds Japanese of war memories linked to A-bombings

August 30, 2019

A boy's old picture reminds Japanese of war memories linked to A-bombings

The vintage monochrome picture, taken by a U.S. Marines photographer in 1945, depicts a Japanese boy standing at attention at a temporary cremation site believed to be in Nagasaki just after the A-bombing of the city.
The boy, who was barefoot, appeared to be about 10 years old, according to Joe O'Donnell, the photographer. The photo also shows an infant held on his back with cords. The baby's head was bent back as if the infant were fast asleep, but the American man soon realized that the baby had already been dead.
The photo had been well known among concerned people in Japan as a piece showing the tragedy of war, but it drew public attention early in 2018, when Pope Francis instructed the Roman Catholic Church to distribute copies of the picture to concerned quarters as the World Peace Day card for the year.
The picture has drawn attention again this year, as the Pope plans to visit Japan in November, hoping to meet church and other related people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two cities devastated with the use of the world's first atomic bombs toward the end of the Pacific War.
The dark picture, entitled "Cremation Site, Nagasaki, 1945," was one of the photos O'Donnell took with his private camera on October 6 or 7, 1945, according to his remarks in an interview in 1999. He had arrived at Nagasaki with U.S. Marines units about two weeks before. The date of the photo taken was about two months after the A-bombing of the city of August 9, which claimed an estimated 74,000 lives.
O'Donnell, who died in 2007 at the age of 85, could not remember exactly where he took the picture. Researchers from various fields, including ordinary citizens, have tried to figure out where the photo was taken and actually who was the boy in the  picture, but no clear answer has been shown as yet.
One time, some researches emerged that the picture had been taken outside of Nagasaki, not in the city, while other ones suspected that the boy and the dead baby had nothing to do with the A-bombing, referring to old documents that some temporary cremation sites had been set up around Nagasaki following the outbreak of an epidemic in the summer of 1945.
A book, published by a photographic history researcher in 2013, focused on  edemas seen on the legs of the boy which can be taken as a symptom of the exposure to radiation. Similar edemas are also said to be seen on the baby's body.
The book's author also made a traceability study of the places in and around Nagasaki where the photo might have been taken.
The photo card, distributed for the World Peace Day last year, had the Pope's message, "the Fruits of War," printed on its back along with his signature.
As remarks and views about the vintage picture remain to be sorted out, a local physician has come up with an analysis that green spots as a sign of exposure to radiation can be seen in the eyes of the boy. according to a recent TV report.
The Pope will visit Japan, the world's sole A-bombed country, for four days from November 23 as the first Vatican leader to do so in 38 years.
His visit to Japan, coupled with the reemergence of the decades-old picture, is expected to give a strong impetus to efforts for global peace in the current turbulent years.