The nation was in the throes of another metal collection effort. In its insatiable hunger for scrap metal to manufacture armaments, the government no longer paid for contributions as it had in the massive drives of 1939 and 1941. The latest appeal, beginning in March, clamored for donations, particularly of iron. As Hiroshima emerged from a moss-damp winter into a willow-green spring, priests unscrewed temple bells from their mountings, city workers dismantled streetlights, and mailmen detached mailboxes from their posts. The large cone-shaped bronze bell that Katsuji had generously donated to
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