EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT - 3

The transportation of our own wounded is difficult. It is
not possible to dress their wounds properly in the darkness,
and they bleed again upon slight motion. As we carry
them on the shaky litters in the dark over fallen trees of the
park, they suffer unbearable pain as the result of the movement,
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 up stream to a place where progress is easier.
First, we lower the litter containing Father Schiffer into
the boat and two of us accompany him. We plan to bring
the boat back for the Father Superior. The boat returns
about one-half hour later and the pastor requests that several
of us help in the rescue of two children whom he had
seen in the river. We rescue them. They have severe burns.
Soon they suffer chills and die in the park.
The Father Superior is conveyed in the boat in the same
manner as Father Schiffer. The theology student and myself
accompany him. Father Cieslik considers himself strong
enough to make his way on foot to Nagatsuke with the
rest of us, but Father Kleinsorge cannot walk so far and
we leave him behind and promise to come for him and the
housekeeper tomorrow. From the other side of the stream
comes the whinny of horses who are threatened by the fire.
We land on a sand spit which juts out from the shore. It is
full of wounded who have taken refuge there. They scream
for aid for they are afraid of drowning as the river may rise
with the sea, and cover the sand spit. They themselves are
too weak to move. However, we must press on and finally
we reach the spot where the group containing Father
Schiffer is waiting.
Here a rescue party had brought a large case of fresh rice
cakes but there is no one to distribute them to the numerous
wounded that lie all about. We distribute them to those
that are nearby and also help ourselves. The wounded call
for water and we come to the aid of a few. Cries for help
are heard from a distance, but we cannot approach the ru-

ins from which they come. A group of soldiers comes along
the road and their officer notices that we speak a strange
language. He at once draws his sword, screamingly demands
who we are and threatens to cut us down. Father
Laures, Jr., seizes his arm and explains that we are German.
We finally quiet him down. He thought that we might
well be Americans who had parachuted down. Rumors of
parachutists were being bandied about the city. The Father
Superior who was clothed only in a shirt and trousers, complains
of feeling freezing cold, despite the warm summer
night and the heat of the burning city. The one man among
us who possesses a coat gives it to him and, in addition, I
give him my own shirt. To me, it seems more comfortable
to be without a shirt in the heat.
In the meantime, it has become midnight. Since there are
not enough of us to man both litters with four strong bearers,
we determine to remove Father Schiffer first to the
outskirts of the city. From there, another group of bearers
is to take over to Nagatsuke; the others are to turn back in
order to rescue the Father Superior. I am one of the bearers.
The theology student goes in front to warn us of the
numerous wires, beams and fragments of ruins which block
the way and which are impossible to see in the dark. Despite
all precautions, our progress is stumbling and our
feet get tangled in the wire. Father Kruer falls and carries
the litter with him. Father Schiffer becomes half unconscious
from the fall and vomits. We pass an injured man
who sits all alone among the hot ruins and whom I had
seen previously on the way down.
On the Misasa Bridge, we meet Father Tappe and Father
Luhmer, who have come to meet us from Nagatsuke. They
had dug a family out of the ruins of their collapsed house
some fifty meters off the road. The father of the family was
already dead. They had dragged out two girls and placed
them by the side of the road. Their mother was still trapped
under some beams. They had planned to complete the rescue
and then to press on to meet us. At the outskirts of the
city, we put down the litter and leave two men to wait until
those who are to come from Nagatsuke appear. The rest
of us turn back to fetch the Father Superior.
Most of the ruins have now burned down. The darkness
kindly hides the many forms that lie on the ground. Only
occasionally in our quick progress do we hear calls for
help. One of us remarks that the remarkable burned smell
reminds him of incinerated corpses. The upright, squatting
form which we had passed by previously is still there.
Transportation on the litter, which has been constructed
out of boards, must be very painful to the Father Superior,
whose entire back is full of fragments of glass. In a narrow
passage at the edge of town, a car forces us to the edge of
the road. The litter bearers on the left side fall into a two
meter deep ditch which they could not see in the darkness.
Father Superior hides his pain with a dry joke, but the litter
which is now no longer in one piece cannot be carried fur-

ther. We decide to wait until Kinjo can bring a hand cart
from Nagatsuke. He soon comes back with one that he has
requisitioned from a collapsed house. We place Father
Superior on the cart and wheel him the rest of the way,
avoiding as much as possible the deeper pits in the road.
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 back and forth to
the city in two hours. Our two wounded were now, for the
first time, properly dressed. I get two hours sleep on the
floor; some one else has taken my own bed. Then I read a
Mass in gratiarum actionem, it is the 7th of August, the
anniversary of the foundation of our society. Then we bestir
ourselves to bring Father Kleinsorge and other acquaintances
out of the city.