70 years after Hiroshima

'The flash came, I saw the bone on my fingers, just like looking at an X-ray': Hiroshima survivors' devastating memories

On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, killing at least 70,000 people in an instant and changing the course of history.

Those lucky to survive witnessed horrific scenes and experienced terrible injuries. Thousands went on to die from radiation sickness.

Almost 70 years later, only a handful of eyewitnesses remain, who were just school children when the bomb struck.

Now in their 70s and 80s, the survivors have given a unique insight into what happened on that day for a new ITV documentary, The Day They Dropped The Bomb, some of them speaking for the first time on British television.

Tetsushi Yonezawa, is one of only 14 people to live after being within 750m of the hypocentre of the explosion,

Now 80, Tetsushi recalled how he was an 11-year-old, packed on a tram with his mother when the bomb hit.

All other passengers on the tram died but Tetsushi and his mother survived because they were wedged in by other travellers whose bodies protected them from the blast.

He said: 'My mother and I were surrounded by people so we were uninjured. I knocked my head and got shards of glass in my hair but at that time I didn't notice them.'

Takashi Tanemori, 76, was a seven-year-old who was running around and playing with his friends when his life changed forever.

He remembered how he went to school as usual that day and was playing hide and seek, taking his turn to find his pals who were hiding.

He said: 'I was just counting the numbers from one, two, three. And when I came to about seven, then flash in the sky. I never saw such pure white.

'When the flash came I saw the bone on my fingers. Just like looking at XRay. The sound almost split my skull, and that sound, so loud. And, then I don't remember what did happen for quite some time.'

Takashi said he awoke in pitch black darkness. 'You cannot see your own hand,' he recalled. 'And I tried to move but I could not. Then, I begin to smell the heat. And, then, I hear the one classmate Tano, my best friend.

'He said, "Takashi, Takashi. It's hot, hot. Come help me. Rescue me," he cries out. And I say, "Tano, I can't move."'

Most of Takashi's classmates were killed but he was eventually pulled from the burning wreck of his school building by a soldier and reunited with his father.

Like Takashi, Shigeko Sasamori, now 83, remembers every moment as if it was yesterday, especially spying the, now infamous plan, the Enola Gay in the sky, never guessing its pilot's intent.

She said: ' I look up the sky and I saw the aeroplane. That day Hiroshima was such a beautiful blue sky, no cloud and, the aeroplane is shiny, silver and looks like a picture.'

She was just 13 at the time, a schoolgirl working with classmates to make firebreaks when the bomb fell.

Shigeko regained consciousness only to find herself on the street surrounded by horrific scenes.

'The first thing I saw was in front of my eye. People moving very slowly. Skin come off, burned, some people bleeding so much. Just horrible looking.

'When first I saw myself I look like a monster. Big eye, and sticking nose, no eyebrows and pinky face, and my lips also were also up and down, open. Can you imagine? I looked like a monster.'

Setsuko Thurlow, who was also 13, and at high school, recalls similar horrors, particularly the sheer force of the bomb when it struck.

'My body was thrown up into the air. That's the end of my recollection,' he said.

'Because of the tornado-like blast… all the buildings were being levelled. When I regained consciousness I found myself under the collapsed building in total darkness and total silence.

'And I thought this is it, "I am going to die".'

He said he and the other survivors who were, 'burned and blackened and swollen' tried to make their way to safety. He recalls how he saw people with body parts missing and ' flesh and skin hanging from their bones.'

He said: 'When the darkness fell, we just sat on the hill feeling stunned from witnessing the massive death and suffering. Without feeling anything, we just watched the entire city burn.'

Despite being just 14 years old, Yoshie Oka had to carry on working after the bomb struck as she had been given a vital military job -- she was responsible for a switchboard relaying messages to regional army bases.

Such responsibility at a young age was not unusual at the time as many students had been conscripted to work in the army as the Japanese death toll rose during the Second World War.

Yoshie had been working in a bunker in the army communications centre when she received the news that American bombers were approaching the city.

She said: 'I thought: "What? They are already over Hiroshima?" Just at that moment… the air raid siren went off.

'I was working right by the window and an incredible light came in. It was glittering and bright white.'

She stumbled to the door of the bunker and climbed out, stunned to discover her city in ruins.

'There was a soldier on the ground suffering from burns. I thought, "There's someone on the ground!" and ran towards him,' she recalled. 'He noticed me and said, half groaning: "We've been hit by a new type of bomb!"

She then rushed back to her post in the communications bunker to send this terrible news to the rest of the world.

Finding one working phone, she reached an officer in a regional headquarters.

She said: 'I told him "the whole of Hiroshima has been annihilated". The person at the other end said: "I don't understand what you are saying. What do you mean, annihilated?"

'As I thought about how I could possibly make him understand, I remembered what the solder on the embankment said so I said to him: "We've been hit by a new type of bomb!"

This new type of bomb was a nuclear - developed in the U.S. in the Allies' race against the Germans to develop a weapon harnessing atomic energy.

The Hiroshima bomb, known as 'Little Boy' devastated an area of five square miles and killed around 70,000 instantly. The final death toll was calculated at 135,000.

Three days later, a second, bigger atomic bomb known as 'Fat man' was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, the final death toll there was estimated to be around 64,000.

As well as hearing from the survivors, the ITV documentary, made by award-winning film-maker Leslie Woodhead, also shares the story of the flight crew of the Enola Gay plane which dropped the bomb.

Among the contributors are Russell Gackenbach, the navigator of the follow up aircraft; George Elsey - the man who broke the news to President Truman that the bomb had been dropped and the only surviving member of Truman's administration; and key scientists of the Manhattan Project which created the bomb - Lilli Hornig and Bob Krohn.

It also reflects on the debate around the morality of using atom bombs that continues today.

For the survivors, there is no doubt that atomic bombs should stay consigned to history and they have devoted their lives to promoting peace.

Takashi believes sharing this message is why his life was spared when so many others weren't.

He said: 'I knew my life - the mission - shall I use the big term my, earthly life mission? It's to share the peace. Promoting the peace through forgiveness. Without forgiveness, human hearts are gonna wither or destroy.'

Shigeko agrees that despite everything she saw and everyone she lost, she also doesn't feel hate or bitterness over what happened.

She said: 'People said I'm sorry that we bombed. I say, please don't say sorry, you didn't do it. That feeling -put into never happen again. That's more important to me.'