Telegram from Hiroshima
This desperate account is realy worth reading, from a website for the Swiss medical doctor Marcel Junod, who worked for the Red Cross in 1945:
The [U.S.] Allied High Command decreed a black-out on the events and the zone was forbidden to foreigners. Swamped by the need to register and bring urgent assistance to the prisoners of war a priority protection task Marcel Junod obtained permission to send to Hiroshima, on the 29th of August, a Swiss businessman resident in Japan, asking him to report on the situation. The following day, August 30th, he received a cable telling him of the extent of the catastrophe:
“SUZUKI FOR JUNOD STOP VISITED HIROSHIMA THIRTIETH CONDITIONS APPALLING STOP CITY WIPED OUT EIGHTY PERCENT ALL HOSPITALS DESTROYED OR SERIOUSLY DAMAGED INSPECTED TWO EMERGENCY HOSPITALS CONDITIONS BEYOND DESCRIPTION STOP EFFECT OF BOMB MYSTERIOUSLY SERIOUS STOP MANY VICTIMS APPARENTLY RECOVERING SUDDENLY SUFFER FATAL RELAPSE DUE TO DECOMPOSITION OF WHITE BLOOD CELLS AND OTHER INTERNAL INJURIES NOW DYING IN GREAT NUMBERS STOP ESTIMATED STILL OVER ONEHUNDREDTHOUSAND WOUNDED IN EMERGENCY HOSPITALS LOCATED SURROUNDINGS SADLY LACKING BANDAGING MATERIALS MEDICINES STOP PLEASE SOLEMNLY APPEAL TO ALLIED HIGH COMMAND CONSIDER IMMEDIATE AIRDROP RELIEFACTION OVER CENTRE CITY STOP REQUIRED SUBSTANTIAL QUANTITIES BANDAGES SURGICAL PADS OINTMENTS FOR BURNS SULFAMIDES ALSO BLOODPLASMA AND TRANSFUSION EQUIPMENT STOP IMMEDIATE ACTION HIGHLY DESIRABLE ALSO DESPATCH MEDICAL INVESTIGATING COMMISSION STOP"
Dr. Junod was able to send medical supplies to Hiroshima. This exhibit at the Peace Museum shows some supplies that he was able to send.
The [U.S.] Allied High Command decreed a black-out on the events and the zone was forbidden to foreigners. Swamped by the need to register and bring urgent assistance to the prisoners of war a priority protection task Marcel Junod obtained permission to send to Hiroshima, on the 29th of August, a Swiss businessman resident in Japan, asking him to report on the situation. The following day, August 30th, he received a cable telling him of the extent of the catastrophe:
“SUZUKI FOR JUNOD STOP VISITED HIROSHIMA THIRTIETH CONDITIONS APPALLING STOP CITY WIPED OUT EIGHTY PERCENT ALL HOSPITALS DESTROYED OR SERIOUSLY DAMAGED INSPECTED TWO EMERGENCY HOSPITALS CONDITIONS BEYOND DESCRIPTION STOP EFFECT OF BOMB MYSTERIOUSLY SERIOUS STOP MANY VICTIMS APPARENTLY RECOVERING SUDDENLY SUFFER FATAL RELAPSE DUE TO DECOMPOSITION OF WHITE BLOOD CELLS AND OTHER INTERNAL INJURIES NOW DYING IN GREAT NUMBERS STOP ESTIMATED STILL OVER ONEHUNDREDTHOUSAND WOUNDED IN EMERGENCY HOSPITALS LOCATED SURROUNDINGS SADLY LACKING BANDAGING MATERIALS MEDICINES STOP PLEASE SOLEMNLY APPEAL TO ALLIED HIGH COMMAND CONSIDER IMMEDIATE AIRDROP RELIEFACTION OVER CENTRE CITY STOP REQUIRED SUBSTANTIAL QUANTITIES BANDAGES SURGICAL PADS OINTMENTS FOR BURNS SULFAMIDES ALSO BLOODPLASMA AND TRANSFUSION EQUIPMENT STOP IMMEDIATE ACTION HIGHLY DESIRABLE ALSO DESPATCH MEDICAL INVESTIGATING COMMISSION STOP"
Dr. Junod was able to send medical supplies to Hiroshima. This exhibit at the Peace Museum shows some supplies that he was able to send.
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