4 Hiroshima Second Middle School A-bomb Memorial Monument
(Hiroshima Prefecture Hiroshima Second Middle School, Today:
Hiroshima Prefecture Hiroshima Kannon Senior High School)
Date of completion: August 6,1961
Established by Bereaved Family Committee, Hiroshima Prefecture Hiroshima Second Middle School
Shape
Natural rock with "ireihi" (monument for the dead) engraved in large letters on the front and the names of the students and employees who died engraved on the back (height: 1m, width: 4m).
Motive for the erection
To mourn and repose the souls of the students and employees who died in war and through the atomic bomb.
Epigraph
"By inscribing the dear names of the 352 former employees and students of Hiroshima Second Middle School who died in war and by the atomic bomb we want to maintain their memory and repose their souls in eternity. (August 6, 1964, Bereaved Families)"
Noteworthy characteristics
1. Victims of Hiroshima Second Middle School
At the time of the bombing, students and staff were working on building demolition at Nakajima-honmachi, 600 meters from the hypocenter. When the bomb dropped, they were lined up and receiving instructions at the Honkawa riverside. Most died instantly and were so thoroughly burned that their remains could not be identified or collected.
Through a survey by a newspaper company conducted in 1999, 306 persons could be identified to have died in the atomic bombing.
2. Epitaph next to the monument
A monument with an epitaph was erected on August 6 1953 next to the monument. It says: "As we think of your faces and deeds, there are no words. We can only weep" (by Sadae Furuta, a former principal of the school).
