In August 1945, the US president, Harry Truman, ordered a nuclear attack against Japan:on the 6th they launched Little Boy about Hiroshima and the 9th Fat Man over Nagasaki. It is estimated that by the end of 1945, the bombs had killed more than 160,000 people in Hiroshima and about 80,000 in Nagasaki, although only half died on the days of the bombings. Among the victims, 15 to 20% died from injuries or illnesses attributed to radiation poisoning. To date, people are still dying of leukemia or other cancers attributed to exposure to radiation released by the bombs. In both cities, the vast majority of deaths were civilians.
Nuclear explosion over Nagasaki
In September 1945, after the surrender of Japan was signed aboard the USS Missouri On September 2, the US Army sent photographer Joe O'Donnell to document the damage caused by the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For seven months he traveled through western Japan photographing death, human pain and suffering, and the devastation of cities. I think almost all of us have seen some of those terrible photographs, but this one has something different…
In the photo, a boy is standing at attention with his little brother strapped to his back. In the words of O'Donnell…
I was passing by and I saw a boy about ten years old with a baby strapped to his back. In those days in Japan it was a common sight on the streets of children with their little brothers tied to their backs, but there was something different about this child. He was like waiting for some order or his turn. He was barefoot and the expression on his face was very hard. His little brother's head was tilted to one side, as if asleep. The boy remained like that for more than five minutes. […] Men dressed in white and wearing masks approached him and untied the straps that held the baby. At that moment I realized that he was dead. They took him and deposited him on a funeral pyre where the bodies were burned. The boy stood there, not moving, looking at the flames. He was biting his lower lip so hard it drew blood. The boy turned around and quietly left
Being the boy who took his brother to the crematorium, it is logical to think that he had also lost his parents. Despite the sadness and pain, suppressed by the force with which he bites his lip, he knew that he had a duty... and he fulfilled it. This image could well reflect the spirit of a defeated nation, but not humiliated.