We were honoured to receive a visit in parliament this week from a survivor of one of the most horrific events of the 20th century, the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. Setsuko Thurlow, aged 84, generously gave us her time this week, to recount the events of that fateful day on the 6th of August, 1945. Hers is a truly harrowing story.
Setsuko was thirteen when the US dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima in Japan. On that day, she had been told to report to the local defence offices with her class mates where they would be taught how to decode military messages.
She arrived early. Her immediate impression after the bomb dropped was of confusion. All of a sudden the building collapsed around her and the world was twilight where previously it had been light. Someone shouted to her to get out but she could not stand up.
Setsuko crawled outside the building and could not believe what she saw. Where previously there had been well-known landmarks and a large city, there was simply nothing. The building behind her burst into flames and she carried on crawling away from it. There were thousands of dead bodies, blackened and burnt, and a sea of people desperate for water. There were no utensils for her to gather water for assistance and Setsuko told of how tore her shirt to wet it and press to their mouths as often this was their dying wish. She saw one man literally burst open from the stomach with his intestines pouring out, others had eye balls hanging out of their sockets and many were literally holding their own bodies together.
She was told to make her way to higher ground where survivors were gathering and there, she spent the rest of the day administering to the dying. She noted how, in the event of an attack such as this, there can be no organised response from the various services as they too are hit. She had been fortunate that the defence offices were on the outskirts – the city centre, where she lived, had been completely destroyed.
Remarkably, Setsuko’s parents had survived. Her father had taken the day off work to go fishing and saw the mushroom cloud rising from the city. Her sister also initially survived but, as with thousands of others, both she and her child succumbed to radiation sickness in the weeks that followed. They soon learned to identify the tell-tale signs of a purple spot as an indication of impending death on those who otherwise looked relatively healthy.
Setsuko remains very angry about what she views as the systematic and orchestrated removal of the horror of Hiroshima and the attempts to sanitise what really happened. She believes this has opened the door to the nuclear industry we have today. She spoke of the people who were maimed by burning and how they were shunned by society, something which further increased their mental anguish and pain. She saw many babies born with deformities and they too were often shunned.
Her passion and life's work became clear when she said with force "I have a moral duty to relay to the world what I saw." All of us felt humbled to be in the presence of someone who was prepared to relive the loss of their world and everything in it over and over again to tell her story and convey her message.
I was honoured to chair this meeting when Caroline Lucas was unable to attend as she was speaking in the chamber. I gave the vote of thanks, although it was difficult to keep my emotions in check. As I looked around the room during the event, I could see that Setsuko’s story had had a profound effect on everyone in attendance.
I chatted with Setsuko at the end to explain how strongly Scotland feels about the renewal of Trident. It's fair to say this experience was one of the most moving I have had since becoming elected. How Satsuko has overcome such adversity and shown such bravery is truly humbling and the experience of listening to her story is one that will stay with me for a very long time.
You can hear more from Setsuko by following this link -http://www.bbc.co.uk/…/1…/i-was-there-hiroshima-bombing-1945
