Artistic Science

sixpenceee:

THE BROTHERS AT NAGASAKI

Probably one of the most intense picture I have ever posted. Extremely depressing content.

The photograph above was taken by US Marines photographer Joe O’Donnell shortly after the bombing of Nagasaki. He saw things beyond imagining, and the experience left him with depression in his later years. Yet according to O’Donnell’s son, the image above affected him more than any other.

The younger child in the picture is dead. The older boy is his brother, and he’d carried his sibling on his back to a crematory. The older boy stayed and watched his brother burn yet refused to cry. He bit his lip so hard it bled.

The boy had just lost everything to the most destructive force known to mankind. Yet, barefoot, he’d carried his sibling’s body to ensure he was honored properly. It’s a story of the extremes of sadness and bravery—and the photograph captures both.

(Source: sixpenceee, via sixpenceee)