This image of 1945 During World War II, A Japanese boy stood in front of a cremation pyre and waited for his turn to cremate his dead little brother. Joe O’Donnell, The American photographer who clicked this picture said, that the child was biting his lips so hard to prevent crying that blood was dripping down the corner of his mouth. When The guard asked, “Give me the load you carry on your back”, Child replied, IT IS NOT A CARGO, HE’S MY BROTHER’. In Japan even today, this image is used as a symbol of strength. So painful yet so inspiring.
Joe O’Donnell, the man who took the iconic photo below at Nagasaki, was sent by the U.S. military to chronicle the damage inflicted on Japanese soil by air raids of fire and atomic bombs. For a period of seven months starting September 1945, he traveled across Western Japan documenting the devastation, revealing the plight of the bomb victims – the dead, the wounded, the homeless and the orphaned. The human suffering he witnessed was etched both on his negatives and his heart.
In the photo, the boy stands erect, having done his duty by bringing his dead brother to a cremation ground. Standing at attention was an obvious military influence. Looking at the boy who carries his younger sibling on his back, keeps a stiff upper lip, tries so hard to be brave is heart-breaking. He has epitomized the spirit of a defeated nation.
Years later Joe O’Donnell spoke to a Japanese interviewer about this picture:
“I saw a boy about ten years old walking by. He was carrying a baby on his back. In those days in Japan, we often saw children playing with their little brothers or sisters on their backs, but this boy was clearly different. I could see that he had come to this place for a serious reason. He was wearing no shoes. His face was hard. The little head was tipped back as if the baby were fast asleep. The boy stood there for five or ten minutes”.
“The men in white masks walked over to him and quietly began to take off the rope that was holding the baby. That is when I saw that the baby was already dead. The men held the body by the hands and feet and placed it on the fire. The boy stood there straight without moving, watching the flames. He was biting his lower lip so hard that it shone with blood. The flame burned low like the sun going down. The boy turned around and walked silently away”.
