Tragic Situation in the Quarantine Station

" Boats filled with ghastly looking victims began arriving at the quarantine station. Their faces were burned black, their eyes were popped out of their heads, their lips were black and swollen, their clothes were burned, and most were nearly naked. Their hands were swollen up like thick gloves with the skin dangling from them." Hideko Umemiya (Former Army Marine Medical Corps, office staff) 45 Quarantine Station seen from third pier Courtesy / Ninoshima Gakuen 46 Windows broken by the blast Photo / Shunkichi Kikuchi Courtesy / Tokuko Kikuchi October 17, 1945, Ninoshima Quarantine Station

"We went without sleep, circling with flashlights among the victims. About this time we discovered a mysterious phenomenon. People who had only burns and injuries when they arrived were suddenly bleeding from their gums and purple spots were appearing on their faces, arms, legs, their whole bodies." Toshio Yoshihara (Former Army Marine Medical Corps, private first class) 　47 　Microscope for examination of blood 48 Surgical instruments "Dr. Kataoka and I worked for three days and three nights in the operating room with no sleep and almost no rest. For the most part, we were amputating arms and legs. In the morning of the fourth day, we ran out of anesthetic and medical supplies. We had begun with enough for 5,000 people. We still had 150 patients waiting for operations but only enough surgical thread for three.) Konosuke Nishimura (Former Army Marine Medical Corps, army doctor and captain)

"The war ended on August 15. When our patients heard the news, they looked neither sad nor relieved, but tears flowed from their crushed eyes. No one said a word. What was it for? Why did these people have to be injured? I cannot possibly express in words the profound regret implicit in that moment." Yoshitaka Kohara (Former Army Marine Medical Corps, sergeant) 49 Victim burned by heat ray Photo / Masami Onuka August 7, 1945, Ninoshima Quarantine Station 51 Victim burned by heat ray Photo / Masami Onuka August 7, 1945, Ninoshima Quarantine Station 52 Victim burned by heat ray Photo / Masami Onuka August 7, 1945, Ninoshima Quarantine Station 50 Victim burned by heat ray Courtesy / International Committee of the Red Cross August 1945, place unknown 53 Victims burned by heat ray Photo / Army Marine Headquarters Donor / Keisuke Misono August 7-20, 1945, Ninoshima Quarantine Station "Some of the bodies began to decompose. The ones with burns were already full of maggots and gave off an especially powerful odor. We covered our faces with towels, put them on stretchers, and threw them into a trench near the Horse Quarantine Station. Smoke from burning human bodies was in the air day after day, and the smell of burning flesh covered the whole island." Harumi Kasae (Former Army Marine Training Division, 10th Training Unit, special cadet)

The Closing of the Emergency Field Hospital, then the Quarantine Station

The emergency field hospital was open from August 6 to 25. During that time, an estimated 10,000 patients were received into the Ninoshima Quarantine Station. Eyewitnesses state that bodies were also transported from Ujina, Kanawajima Island, and Koi for disposal on Ninoshima, but no accurate numbers are available. The quarantine station was a military facility. It was not designed for the long-term care of patients. Beginning about August 12, survivors were transferred to Itsukaichi, Hatsukaichi, Miyajima Island, Otake, and other towns and villages around the periphery of Hiroshima. On August 25, over 500 patients remained on Ninoshima. Then Hiroshima Prefectural employees transported them to other hospitals and the emergency hospital was closed. The Ninoshima Quarantine Station had been a military facility since the Sino-Japanese War, but in 1946 it came under the Repatriates Relief Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Later it became Ujina Quarantine Station, then the Hiroshima Quarantine Station, continuing to perform quarantine tasks under the Ministry of Health and Welfare. In 1958, the buildings were deemed unusably deteriorated, and the quarantine station, too, was closed.

54 I received some ashes from an unknown junior high student and treated them as the remains of my own child Drawing and text / Tomiko Miyaji September 15, 1945, Hiroshima City Hall "I heard that he was taken to Ninoshima. I went to the island. No trace of anyone. I went to City Hall and searched through the ledger of victims who had been on Ninoshima. That ledger had only one entry that read, "First-year, Second Hiroshima Prefectural Junior, name unknown." I thought it might be my child, so I took a small handful of ashes out of the box and wrapped them in a dirty handkerchief. When I think that this spine might be too big for a child, I can't help but cry." Excerpt from explanation in drawing

Ninoshima and the Atomic Bombing Island of Final Rest 　Military City Hiroshima and the Ninoshima Quarantine Station 　Atomic Bombing 　Relief Activities Immediately after the Bombing 　Ninoshima Overflowing with Injured 　Anguished Voices Calling for Water; Family Members Searching for Loved Ones 　Sending off the Dead 　The Closing of the Emergency Field Hospital, then the Quarantine Station 　A-bomb Orphans 　Ninoshima of the Sleeping Dead 　Conclusion 　Return to TOP