My Grandmother and August 6th

                 by Valerie M. Fravel

 

August 6th, 1945. "It was a beautiful sunny morning outside that day." Chieko Matsuura was only twenty years old, and lived with her grandmother, mother, husband, little boy (Shinichiro), three cousins, aunt, aunt's mother-in-law. Shin-chan was only nineteen months old.

 

Chieko, her mother and little boy were all alone the night that just passed. Her husband, a professor of the University of Hiroshima, was 15 miles away with some students. They were at the Toyo company for students' labor. "The next morning I felt relieved since we hadn't been bombed. It is hard to imagine your life may be taken and there is nothing you can do. I was very scared the night before; now it is another day I am a little at ease" she thought.

 

"It was around eight o'clock that same morning when Chieko's little boy pointed to his stomach. "So I fixed him some rice balls. When he finished eating, he said to me, 'Mommy, more. ' I said to him, 'Let's go outside to enjoy the weather,' I carried him on my back outside. While we were walking, I noticed an American airplane, and I pointed it out to my little boy, although he didn't understand why it was there he did know that it was an airplane. "  

 

"After we walked back inside, I was trying to stay calm after seeing the U.S. airplane. I had no idea what was to come of it, I figured I should try to steel myself as much as possible; I brushed my hair with fast, hard strokes. Then the warning sirens started going off! I had no time to prepare for protection for my boy and me. My mother was living with us. She had been sitting in a chair reading a bible when the sirens went off, but I had no time to prepare for her protection, either. Before I knew it I was trapped under debris and couldn't get away. I could hear my little boy screaming, 'Mommy. I'm hurt!' At that time I knew that I had to hurry and free myself so that I could get to my son. He cried out for me three times, each time getting softer. I was getting hot from the air, and began to give up hope, but I thought of my cousin who had been visiting us that morning.

 

He was a fifteen-year-old cadet, and I guess it was just a miracle he was there that day. I yelled out for him; a few seconds later he came and freed me. As I dusted myself off I saw I was bleeding a lot. I told him I had to find my mother and son and we began searching under the debris in every room possible, but some rooms in the house were now burning quickly. We soon found my mother and the fire was moving fast towards us. My aunt and aunt's mother-in-law were trapped under debris, moving out of the house dreadfully, I had to leave my son without being found. Soon m hair was burning. We had to crawl on our hands and knees because we were so week. As I was crawling on the ground outside, the hot air caught my hair on fire again so rolled on the ground to put it out and people around helped me. It was like an ocean of fire; everything around was burning. All but one of the houses were melted; they were nothing more than piles of bodies and debris. I can remember only one cement house that survived the bomb. I saw many people around dead as I crawled slowly away. They had been working at the fruit and vegetable stands that day. It was hideous, you couldn't tell who was man or woman. Their skin was just hanging from their bodies. People's heads were torn off of them. Everyone's clothes were torn and burned. Babies were sitting beside their dead mothers crying. 

"My mother, cousin, and I kept on crawling until we reached a designated area where we were given first aid, we were both covered in blood. I guess you can tell by now that the U.S. defeated us.

 

"It took a while for my family and me to get ourselves back on our feet. We had a lot of replacing to do. We didn't have a home for about two months. We had to live in a place with hundreds of other people. Once my husband came back a few days after the war, I had to tell him the dreadful news about our child. He was so upset about our son that he said it was my fault out child died. Day after day I listened to him tell me what a bad mother I was, and how I could have prevented our son from getting killed. Things were never the same between my husband and me after our child's death. For a whole year I listened to him blame me; there were days all I did was cry. There was never a day after he came back that I was happy. A year had passed when I walked up to my mother one day and told her that I didn't want to live that kind of life any more. In Japan you have to have your parent's consent, so my mother allowed me to get a divorce. It was in April of 1946 that we were divorced.

 

"I wanted to start my life all over again. In 1947, I moved to Yokohama, and met another man and we fell in love and I got pregnant but h received orders to return home and never came back. I had the child and it was another boy.

 

"In 1950 I met Ray Fravel who was an American soldier. Back then people married Americans so that they could come to the U.S. to be free. When Ray and I were dating, he asked me if I was using his to come to the U.S. Of course, my answer was no. In 1951 we got married at the American Consul office at Yokohama. I went with him to Springfield, Missouri. Today we have six grown children of our own. Considering my past experiences I am very happy today; although there are still days when I get back-flashes and think of August 6th, 1945. I'm now working on writing a book about my life."

 

I wrote about my grandmother because I want people to see the great effect that one person's life can have on another.

 

#55 Parkway Vol.6 No. 4 August 1992

See the related story of Chieko Fravel

 

 

祖母と8月6日

 

                     バレリー・M・フラベル

 

 

1945年8月6日。「その日、太陽のまぶしい朝でした。」松浦チエコは20歳、祖母、母親、夫、子供(真一郎)、3人の従兄妹、叔母、叔母の義母と一緒に住んでいました。真ちゃんは1歳半になったばかりでした。

 

前の晩は、チエコと母親と子供の3人だけでした。夫(広島文理大教官)は動員学徒の引率で20キロ離れた東洋工業にいました。「翌朝、爆撃がなくてほっとしました。死ぬかもしれないと思うと恐ろしく、何もできませんでした。前の晩はとても怖かったけど、夜も明けたし、これで安心。」と思いました。

 

その同じ朝8時ごろ、真一がお腹に手を当てました。「それで、おにぎりを作りました。食べ終わると、『もっと』といいます。私は『外はいい天気だから出かけよう』と、背負って外に出ました。歩いていると、アメリカの飛行機が見え、子供に指さしました。飛行機はわかりましたが、なぜそこにいるかはわからないようでした。」

 

「飛行機を見た後、家に戻って、落ち着こうとしました。何が起ころうとしているのかわかりませんでした。覚悟を決めなければと思いました。素早く髪をといだところで、警報が鳴り始めました。身を守る準備をする時間などありませんでした。一緒に住んでいた母は椅子に座って聖書を読んでいましたが、母を守る準備をする時間もありませんでした。あっという間に、私はがれきの下敷きになり、抜け出すことができません。子供の叫び声が聞こえます。「かあちゃん、いたい!」すぐに子供のところに行かなくてはと思いました。私を呼ぶ声は3回聞こえましたが、段々と弱くなりました。周囲の空気も熱くなり、もう終わりと思い始めたとき、その朝、従弟が家に来ていたことを思い出しました。

 

従弟は15歳の陸軍幼年学校生で、あの日あの場にいたことは奇跡だと思いました。従弟を大声で呼ぶと、すぐにやってきて助けだしてくれました。ホコリを払いながら血が流れているのに気付きました。母親と子供を探さなくてはと、二人で部屋があったと思われるところをひとつづつ探し始めました。まもなく母は見つかりましたが、火は私たちに向かってきてます。叔母と叔母の姑もがれきに埋もれましたが、かろうじて抜け出していました。子供は見つからないまま去らなければなりませんでした。私の髪が燃えていました。這って進むのがやっとでした。すると、また熱風が来て、髪に火が付きます。地面を転がって火を消し、周りの人も助けてくれました。まるで火の海、周囲の人たちにも火が燃え移っています。家という家が焼け落ち、死体とがれきの山と化しています。一つだけ、コンクリートの家が残っていたのを覚えています。ゆっくりと這って逃げていく間に、たくさんの人が死んでいるのを見ました。八百屋で働いでいた人たち。男か女かもわかりません。皮膚が体から垂れ下がっています。人の頭が転がっています。服は裂け、焼け焦げています。死んだ母親のそばで赤ちゃんが座って泣いています。

 

母と従弟と私は這い続け、やっと救護所につきました。二人とも血だらけです。それはアメリカの攻撃でした。

  

「立ち直るにはしばらくかかりました。すべてが代用品で過ごさなければなりませんでした。2か月ほど家はなく、何百人という人と一緒に過ごしました。戦争が終わって数日して夫が帰ってきましたが、子供の悲しい知らせを伝えなければなりませんでした。夫は怒って私のせいだと言います。私が悪い、守ることができたはず、と私を責めました。子供が亡くなった後は夫と私の間はうまくいきませんでした。一年の間責められ続け、泣いてばかりの日々でした。夫が帰ってからというもの、一日として幸せな日はありませんでした。1年経ったある日、私は母のところに行き、これ以上こういう生活をしたくないと告げました。日本では親の承諾がいります。それで母は私の離婚を許してくれました。私たちが離婚したのは1946年4月のことです。

 

人生をもう一度やり直したいと思いました。1947年、横浜に引っ越し、アメリカ兵と知り合い、恋に落ち、妊娠しましたが、彼は帰国命令が出て、そのまま戻ってきませんでした。私はまた男の子を授かりました。

 

1950年アメリカ兵のレイ・フラベルと知り合いました。そのころアメリカ人と結婚して、自由になるためにアメリカに行く人がいました。デートしているとき、レイはアメリカに行くために自分を利用しているのかと聞きました。もちろん、私の答えは「ノー」でした。1951年私たちは横浜のアメリカ領事館で結婚し、ミズーリのスプリングフィールドに彼と共に行きました。今日6人の孫がいます。時々あの8月6日のことが思い出すことはありますが、昔のことを思えば、今はとても幸せです。

 

一人の人生がほかの人の人生に与える大きな影響というのを知ってもらいたくて、祖母のことを書きました。