RAF vet to auction A-bomb roof tile

LONDON (Kyodo) A broken roof tile from a temple in Hiroshima, heavily burned in the 1945 atomic bombing of the city, will be auctioned Saturday by a former British airman.

Artifact: A heavily burned roof tile section from a temple in Hiroshima to be auctioned in England is seen along with a certificate and other related items in this photo provided by Thos. Mawer & Son Ltd. KYODO PHOTO

Atomic-bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki have expressed their displeasure, saying that selling an atomic-bomb artifact is inappropriate.

Thos. Mawer & Son Ltd., an auction company located in the city of Lincoln in eastern England, said the tile fragment is a rare item difficult to set a price on, and it is expected to draw attention from World War II memorabilia collectors and historians worldwide.

"An atomic-bomb artifact holds agony and messages of tens of thousands of victims who were indiscriminately murdered. I think it should be exhibited in a museum to be seen by many people even if it is to be auctioned," said Sakue Shimohira, a 74-year-old atomic-bomb survivor and adviser to a group of relatives of bomb victims in Nagasaki.

Kazushi Kaneko, 83, director general of the Hiroshima Council of A-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, also criticized the auction.

"It's a valuable asset for atomic-bomb survivors and cannot be priced," Kaneko said.

The 81-year-old former Royal Air Force serviceman said he decided to sell the tile, which has been sitting in his closet for years, because he thought someone would be interested in it, and because of his advanced age.

He said he visited Sairenji Temple close to ground zero in Hiroshima in 1952 while he was stationed in Hong Kong and received the tile from the chief priest.

The certificate for the tile, handwritten by the priest, says, "This roof tile, found in the property of the Sairenji temple, was exposed to 6,000 C heat ray for about one-tenth of a second when the atomic bomb exploded and its surface was deformed by the heat."

However, someone linked to the temple said he has never heard that the chief priest at that time gave away any tiles.

The tile will be auctioned along with a picture postcard that shows a bombed portion of Hiroshima and other items.

Akihiro Takahashi, 77, former head of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, said the tile "is not something you should sell or buy."

"If you want to give it to someone, you should do so for free, especially if it's something you didn't pay for," he said.