Enoki (hackberry tree)

Last week Jolon went with his class to see a hackberry tree which had been burned in the A-bomb. Before going they studied about how after the bomb people thought the trees might not grow back for a long time, if ever. At the site of one of the military hospitals there was a big Mommy hackberry tree, and to people's surprise, it survived or at least what his class is calling the "baby tree" is flourishing. We knew his class was going but didn't know where the tree was. One evening we were cycling down the river and Jolon suddenly said, "back there is where the enoki is." It was hot, we were riding fast, all of the river banks look basically the same and Jan and I were both sure that he didn't know what he was talking about. Plus we'd ridden by that part of the river for years and thought it we knew it pretty well. But we discussed it and decided to give Jolon the benefit of the doubt. We cycled back a little ways and sure enough Jolon pointed to a little sign, we took a short path to a monument and to the enoki tree that survived and learned about the history of the military hospital. Even though the building itself was obliterated in the bomb, people came to that area for help afterwards, temporary shelters were put up, and hundreds of people were cared for there.