Riderwood Retirement Community Resident Takako Mundel in Silver Spring, MD, Miraculously Survived the August 9, 1945 Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki, Japan; Today She Remembers the Horror and Cherishes LIfe

SILVER SPRING, MD (July 20, 2011) – Nearly 100,000 people were estimated to have been killed when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945. Riderwood retirement community resident Takako Mundel, who lived in Nagasaki at the time, miraculously survived the bombing. Today – 66 years later -- she remembers the horror as it if were yesterday.

Mundel grew up in Nagasaki. She lived there with her mother, father, three sisters, and two brothers for 19 years. She had been attending a women’s college that had been founded by an American woman. But as the war turned against Japan, the authorities closed the college in 1944 and the students were conscripted to work where needed. Mundel and her friends were sent to work in a local torpedo factory. A week before the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Mundel’s parents, who were ill, were evacuated to another city.

Mundel recalls that the air raid siren sounded at 6:30 am on August 9. She was not feeling well and decided not to report for work, even though she might be punished. At 10:30 am, the air raid siren was heard again.

Mundel remembers how she felt when the atomic bomb hit the city. “Unbearable hot – like an earthquake – glass shattered in the room – glass covered me,” she said

She was barefoot, following the Japanese tradition of leaving shoes on the threshold when entering a room. She couldn’t walk without cutting her feet. “I needed to find shoes. I went outside to the gate – saw a huge cloud that looked like a mushroom,” she said. “I thought, ‘What is that?’”

She rushed to her uncle’s house nearby. He was uninjured. Mundel thinks she and her uncle may have been spared because their houses were located behind a hillside. She knew that many neighbors died or were severely injured by the radiation.

Occupation forces soon moved in after the atomic bombing and took over her school and people’s homes. A year later, she was able to return to school and complete her college education. But life was very difficult. There was little food available. She continued to live in Nagasaki and worked for the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission.

She met an American citizen who worked for the United States State Department and was a professor of industrial engineering at Purdue University. For the next three years, he traveled between the United States and Japan. They later married and moved to the United States, where he was recruited by President Kennedy to work in the White House.

Mundel finds comfort in knowing Nagasaki was rebuilt after the war, albeit dramatically changed. New temples were built, as well as new churches due to a reported increase in the presence of Christianity. Some of the rubble was left as a memorial, such as a one-legged torri gate and an arch near ground zero. New structures were also raised as memorials, such as the Atomic Bomb Museum.

Mundel lost her innocence on August 9, 1945. Today, she remembers what her hometown of Nagasaki was before the atomic bombing. And she cherishes life, perhaps, like no one else.

ABOUT RIDERWOOD:
Riderwood, which has nearly 3,000 residents, is the nation’s largest continuing care retirement community. It sits on 120 acres that stretch across Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties. Riderwood (www.RiderwoodVillage.us ) offers extensive wellness and prevention programs, balance assessment and fall prevention programs, and Fitness and Aquatics Centers. Also, there are more than 200 resident-inspired and resident-led clubs, committees and interest groups in these categories: art; cards; computers and technology; dance; faith-based and interfaith; film, fitness and sports; games; gardening; lifelong learning; music; literature, philanthropy. Riderwood is managed by Erickson Living.
Riderwood is located at 3140 Gracefield Road, Silver Spring, MD 20904. Tel: 301-572-8399.

Mel Tansill
Public Affairs Manager
Riderwood
3140 Gracefield Road
Silver Spring, MD 20904
Tel: 410-241-7614
EMail: Mel.Tansill@Erickson.com

This release was published on openPR.