2
This photograph was taken by an American photojournalist,/Joe O’Donnell,/in Nagasaki in 1945. He spoke to a Japanese interviewer about this picture:
“I saw a boy about 10 years old/walking by. He was carrying a baby/on his back. In those days in Japan,/we often saw children/playing with their little brothers or sisters on their backs,/but this boy was clearly different. I could see/that he had come to this place/for a serious reason. He was wearing no shoes. His face was hard. The little head was tipped back/as if the baby were fast asleep.
“The boy stood there/for 5 or 10 minutes. The men in white masks walked over to him/and quietly began to take off the rope/that was holding the baby. That is when I saw/that the baby was already dead. The men held the body by the hands and feet/and placed it on the fire.
“The boy stood there straight/without moving,/watching the flames. He was biting his lower lip so hard/that it shone with blood. The flame burned low/like the sun going down. The boy turned around/and walked silently away.”
Years later,/O’Donnell said:/“Children and their mothers/did not deserve to die to win a war.”
This photograph was taken by an American photojournalist,/Joe O’Donnell,/in Nagasaki in 1945. He spoke to a Japanese interviewer about this picture:
“I saw a boy about 10 years old/walking by. He was carrying a baby/on his back. In those days in Japan,/we often saw children/playing with their little brothers or sisters on their backs,/but this boy was clearly different. I could see/that he had come to this place/for a serious reason. He was wearing no shoes. His face was hard. The little head was tipped back/as if the baby were fast asleep.
“The boy stood there/for 5 or 10 minutes. The men in white masks walked over to him/and quietly began to take off the rope/that was holding the baby. That is when I saw/that the baby was already dead. The men held the body by the hands and feet/and placed it on the fire.
“The boy stood there straight/without moving,/watching the flames. He was biting his lower lip so hard/that it shone with blood. The flame burned low/like the sun going down. The boy turned around/and walked silently away.”
Years later,/O’Donnell said:/“Children and their mothers/did not deserve to die to win a war.”