World War II | Teen Ink

World War II

December 10, 2018
By leo-cappellari BRONZE, Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey
leo-cappellari BRONZE, Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

I woke up like any other morning, innocent. It was the first day of August, 1945  in Hiroshima, Japan. I got up from bed and remembered it was Monday and I had school so I ate what was left in the house, it wasn't much because of how there's a war going on against America and Japan right now. While I was walking to school this morning I noticed an enormous ship in the bay, it looked like it just came from a battle and they had lost, it had holes in the side and the men aboard looked exhausted. I got a glimpse of a man getting off the ship while I walked by, his uniform covered in blood and stains, it almost looked like it hadn't been washed since day one. Once I arrived at school I went into my first-period class which happened to be math, my worst class.

“Hello professor.” Everyone greeted,

“Hello Class, today we will be working on equations and formulas, now take out the homework from yesterday.”

I haven't done my homework, and I know that he was definitely not going to be happy about that. That's when I heard an atrociously loud sound, it was the anti-plane alarm going off.

“Don't panic,” exclaims the professor, “get in line and start heading towards the basement.”

The anti-plane alarms go off so often to such little things, I know the people running them are keeping us safe, but even the smallest things trigger the alarm. At least, that's what I thought until I heard a plane fly over the school, people were frightened and some even started crying. The staff went around getting the children near the windows and put them as close to the middle as possible. The windows started to shake and more kids started crying, it was almost like they knew they were going to die. After what seemed to be an hour, the staff finally said it was safe to get up and go home, and that school was canceled for the day. By the time I got my backpack and items my parents were outside waiting for me.

“Are you ok?” asked my dad,

“Yeah why wouldn't I be, no bombs went off near us, I was only frightened.”

“As long as you're alive and safe, that's all that matters.”

On the walk home all I could think of was why America would be so scared of a country that can barely hold itself together, could we really attack them? There wasn't enough food at my house for everyone to get a full ration, Japan doesn't even have enough money to help its citizens. Going to bed unsatisfied was something I have gotten used to by now, considering my family isn't the priority here in Hiroshima. The next couple of days almost felt like the same days, going to school, having a plane fly over the school, and repeat.

It's now August 6, and I'm walking to school when I see Japanese planes land on a battleship in the bay. Halfway down the street a lady stops me to tell me there was no school today because of a report on what America was going to do this night. I started walking home when I wondered what she meant by what America was going to do tonight. Since there was no school I went to town and stayed to talk with my friends. By the time I got home, it was late afternoon and I had chores to do around the house.

“Hey mom, could I just sleep in and do my chores tomorrow?”

“As long as you do your chores, I don't care.”

Since I was tired, I went directly to bed, not even eating dinner. But I was woken up by anti-plane sirens, my curiosity made me look out the window to see if there were actually planes or if it was actually just another false alarm.

“Quick, shut the window and close the curtains!” I heard someone scream.

Just before I closed the curtains I saw a B-29 Enola gay, a bomber plane, I wondered if it was headed for us, and what it was carrying inside. I heard gunshots from the bay, it was probably the navy, but they know that no matter what they did at this point. I got under my bed scared to death. Then, I heard the shrieking of something coming down from the sky.



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