Stan Jones

Scars of Nagasaki

It was sad to see hundreds of Japanese women, children and elders with little pieces of hair left on their heads due to the radiation exposure. There was not much you could do for them and they were so hopeless. This is something I will never forget.

Pvt. Stan Jones “Scho-Hallem,” U.S. Marine Corps

The U.S. Marines Corps gave Jones discipline and a sense of purpose. “We would run until you dropped from fatigue … throw hand grenades into windows for three days straight. We trained day after day.” Jones Family Collection

More than the charred remains of an industrial city, Stan Jones, a Tulalip Indian, remembers the children of Nagasaki. He can still see them scavenging for scraps in garbage cans in the wake of an atomic blast that unleashed a tornado of debris, heat and fire. The destruction was so great, there was no place to die with dignity.

Top: The plutonium-filled weapon known as “Fat Man” detonated over Nagasaki at 11:02 a.m. on August 9, 1945, killing an estimated 60,000 people. This picture of Ground Zero captures the aftermath of the blast. Joe O’Donnell

Bottom: In September 1945, the people of Nagasaki “were no longer the enemy,” Jones remembers. “They were people in need of help—desperate, starving and dying.” Joe O’Donnell

Jones Family Collection