| Original caption: “Navy photographer pictures suffering and ruins that resulted from the atomic bomb blast in Hiroshima, Japan. Blast victims live in a fly-infested hospital in a bank building.” Victims are treated in the Kangyo Ginko bank. Hiroshima, Japan. September 8, 1945. Nippon Kangyo Ginko (“Bank for Encouragement of Industry”) in the Hondori District was 1,050 feet (320 meters) from the hypocenter. After the fires subsided, any structure still standing, mostly reinforced concrete, was converted into a hospital—the 1st American unit to enter Hiroshima after the surrender found the hospitals still operational. 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. Initially established in 1905, the Former Hiroshima Branch of the Bank of Japan was a classic European-style building built of steel-reinforced concrete and equipped with armored shutters on its windows. The blast gutted the entire top floor, where the armored shutters were left open. However, the shutters on the 1st and 2nd floors remained closed, saving the interior from destruction. Of the remaining hibaku (“explosion-affected”) buildings, it is said to be the most well-preserved. On August 8, just 2 days after the bomb, the bank reopened for withdrawals and provided spaces where the temporary branches of other financial institutions could operate. With permission from the Bank of Japan, the building was registered by Hiroshima City as an official hibaku building in 1993. It was then designated as an Important Cultural Property in July 2000. Open to the public for free, the former bank now serves as a historical learning space and a venue for cultural and art events. United States Navy Lieutenant Wayne F. Miller (September 19, 1918 – May 22, 2013) was among the 1st Western photographers to document the destruction at Hiroshima. He later said, “Another war scene. I didn’t suffer any great impact, saying, ‘Oh, my God.’ Nothing like that. The place had been bombed, destroyed. I had seen other things not unlike that. As I understand it, this atomic bomb was kind of like a large incendiary bomb. It didn’t dig a hole in the ground; it just exploded above the ground, blowing things apart and burning everything up. Well, Tokyo and Yokohama suffered equal, maybe comparable damage, and I understand that there may have been an even greater loss of life in Tokyo than there was in Hiroshima during the war. So you’re dealing with destruction, which is hard to comprehend. Hiroshima didn’t stand out. Anyway, I didn’t react to it. [The flies] could be blood, but I think it’s just flies. It was September 1, and the air was humid. It was a great fly season. You can see this older woman lying there, and somebody has brought her a letter of some sort. I think somebody’s even interpreted some of those words on there. So she’s just lying alone, and I have no idea how they got there or what it was about.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii1475.jpg |
| Image Size | 794.69 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2352 x 2442 |
| Photographer | Wayne Miller |
| Photographer Title | United States Navy |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | September 12, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Hiroshima |
| State or Province | Hiroshima |
| Country | Japan |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NWDNS-80-G-473741 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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