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The First Hand Account of Melvin L. Routt While I was a prisoner of war in Fukuoka
#17 I worked in the coalmine mine. I had my 3rd toe taken off
because of an old injury. They gave me shoes too little and my toe turned
black and blue. They would not give me a larger pair, or let me cut the
shoe so they removed the toe. They gave me no anesthetic. They sent me
back to the coalmine. There was snow on the ground. I was bare-footed with
that foot. When I got back to camp it was full of coal dust and all the
stitches were out and couldn’t be put in again. Then they just wrapped
it and put me on camp work unloading boxcars bare-footed. I had a bad case
of Diarrhea and fell down and passed out. When I came too I was in the
hospital with pneumonia by the time I got out my foot was well enough to
be sent back to work near the water just 17 1/2 miles from where the 2nd
bomb was dropped. I don't know just how far inland the bomb went, but we
saw two planes fly over and leave and then come back again. Then we saw
the blast. We could feel it.
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