International: FROM HIROSHIMA: A REPORT AND A QUESTION

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Finally we reach the entrance of the park. A large proportion of the populace has taken refuge there, but even the trees of the park are on fire in several places. Paths and bridges are blocked by fallen trees and are almost impassable. It is now quite dark. At the far corner of the park we at last come upon our colleagues. Father Schiffer is lying on the ground deadly pale. He has a deep cut behind the ear and has lost so much blood that we fear for his life. Father Superior has suffered a deep wound on the leg.

They tell us of their experiences. They were in their rooms at the Parish House when came the intense light and immediately thereafter the sound of breaking windows, walls and furniture. The Church and all buildings in the vicinity collapsed at once. Soon fires which had begun some distance away were raging ever closer. It was high time to flee.

Mr. Fukai, the secretary of the Mission, was completely out of his mind. He did not want to leave the house and explained that he did not want to survive the destruction of his fatherland. Completely uninjured, he was forcefully carried away. The way they had meant to flee was no longer open and so they made for Asano Park. Fukai refused to go further, and remained behind. He has not been heard of since.

Charity amid Disaster. The transportation of our wounded is difficult. Were we to carry them on the shaky litters in the dark, they would suffer unbearable pain and lose dangerously large quantities of blood. Our rescuing angel in this difficult situation is a Japanese Protestant pastor. He has brought up a boat and offers to take our wounded upstream to a place where progress is easier.

We land on a sandspit which juts out from the shore. It is full of wounded. They scream for aid, for they are afraid of drowning as the river will rise with the oncoming tide. They themselves are too weak to move. However, we must press on.

A group of soldiers come along the road and their officer notices that we speak a foreign language. He at once draws his sword, screams at us, and threatens to cut us down. Father Laures Jr. seizes his arm and explains that we are German. He thought that we might well be Americans who had parachuted down. Rumors of parachutists are being bandied about the city.

It has become midnight. We determine to remove Father Schiffer first to the outskirts of the city. Despite all precautions, our progress is stumbling. One of the bearers falls and carries the litter with him. Father Schiffer becomes half unconscious from the fall, and vomits.

At the outskirts of the city, we put down the litter and turn back to fetch Father Superior. Most of the ruins are by now burned out. One of us remarks that the pungent smell reminds him of burned corpses.

About half past four in the morning, we finally arrive at the Novitiate. Our rescue expedition had taken almost twelve hours. Normally, one could go to the city and back in two hours.

In the Ashes. I get two hours' sleep on the floor. Then I say a Mass in gratiarum actionem. It is the 7th of August, the anniversary of the restitution of our Society. Then we take off again. The bright day now reveals the frightful picture which last night's darkness had partly concealed.