This article is the continuation of the previous entry. The old man, who looked over 80, asked us, "Do you know how these holes were made?", indicating several holes on the bridge structure. "An F6F Hellcat shot ordinary people who were walking on this bridge in 1945", he continued. It might be a pilot's pastime on the way back from an operation of attacking somewhere. There was no military-related facility around. The color of the red bridge might be catchy.
My mother's original house is located at a distance of 20km from there over the hill. They earned their living through the cultivation of citrus fruits on terraced fields, and their house was one of the most unobtrusive houses. One day in early summer in 1945, an F6F hellcat emerged abruptly and shot houses in a rural area. My 3 months old cousin was sleeping on the veranda then and was nearly shot by the bullet which hit the wall 30cm above her. She was not killed luckily, but my grandfather told me that he had seen clearly the pilot smiling. That was not a war, but a lawless slaughter. The old man's story reminded me of my late grandfather's story.
The U.S. took aim at innocent people like this. Incontrovertible evidence of the cruelties of the U.S. remains even in such a tiny place.
前の記事の続きである。
８０歳を越える老人はしっかりとした言葉で続けた。ここにある穴はなぜついたのかわかりますか？グラマン社製の戦闘機F6F Hellcatがこの橋を渡る人を攻撃したのです。どこかを攻めた帰りに弾が余っていたので撃ったのでしょう。歩いている人を面白半分で狙ったのかもしれません。軍関連の施設はなにもないところなのに、狙われるとは不思議。赤い色が目立ったのだろうか？と。
ここから山を越えて約２０ｋｍのところに母方の実家がある。段々畑で柑橘を育てる農家である。当時生後数ヶ月の従姉妹が縁側で寝かされているときにやはりHellcatに狙われ、頭の上３０ｃｍくらいのところに銃弾が飛んできた。幸い命に影響は無かったが、戦闘で余った弾を帰り道で使ったのだろう。祖父は撃ってくるパイロットの顔が見えたという。
こうやってアメリカ人は無抵抗の一般人を狙った。動かしがたい証拠がこんな小さな町にも残っていた。
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