Aid Station at Nippon Kangyo Ginko

Patient in makeshift hospital at Nippon Kangyo Ginko (Bank for Encouragement of Industry) in Hondori District, 1050 feet (320 meters) from the hypocenter. After the fires subsided, any structure still standing, mostly reinforced concrete, was turned into a hospital. The first American unit to enter Hiroshima after the surrender found the hospitals still in operation. The patients suffered from a lack of trained personnel, equipment, medicine, and bandages. Most did not get food or a tatami mat to rest on unless their family members were ambulatory. All the aid stations were overwhelmed with wounded and burned. There were so many dead that impromptu crematoria were set up all over the city. The aid stations remained in operation until October 1945. During World War II, Nippon Kangyo Bank was the lead management underwriter of war bonds for the Japanese government.