“Atomic Echoes; Untold Stories from World War II” is an insightful documentary co-produced by Victoria Kelly and Karin Tanabe. The film exposes the stories of two communities; the “Hibakusha”, the name given to the estimated 650,000 Japanese survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and the “Atomic Veterans”, the soldiers who landed in the immediate aftermath of the bombings.
Victoria and Kelly have been friends since 2017. They are both authors and share an editor. During a random conversation about the film Oppenheimer, they discovered they both had relatives who were impacted by events “underneath the mushroom cloud.” They had to push very hard to move the documentary from concept to release in just one year to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the bombings. (Most documentaries take 3-4 years to produce.)
They share the challenges of securing personal interviews with those impacted, especially on the American side. Very few WWII “Atomic Veterans” still survive and some still could not bring themselves to discuss their experiences.
Victoria’s grandfather was a WWII medic who was one of the first American soldiers to go into Nagasaki after the bombing. A through line in the film involves a Japanese “Good Luck” flag that had been in her grandfather’s possession. Many of these flags were taken by US soldiers as war souvenirs. Karin and Victoria were able to trace the flag back to the original Japanese family that owned the flag.
Her grandfather’s experience has led Victoria to become involved in the cause of “Atomic Veterans”. The term applies to military members from the 1940’s – 1960’s who were exposed to radiation from either the bombing sites or nuclear testing. Many are still struggling to receive assistance dealing with health issues related to their exposure to radiation.
“Atomic Echoes” may be viewed on PBS stations nationwide or at pbs.org.