ABSTRACT
The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) had assigned the national laboratory the task of locating hibakusha throughout the United States (US). No data on hibakusha residing in the United States had been kept by either branch of the Atomic Bomb Casualties Commission (ABCC). From the viewpoint of the ABCC, the number of hibakusha who had returned to the United States and thus eluded their medical screening was considered insignificant. Some US hibakusha had visited Japan and, while there, had been given physical examinations by the ABCC. Yamada was a logical choice as the person to conduct the survey of the American hibakusha because of his experience in conducting such surveys in Japan. The AEC was not yet aware of the existence of atomic bomb survivors in the United States, and Yamada did not initiate any project related to the American hibakusha. On the mainland, the hibakusha's ordeal begins with the struggle to be recognized as an American by other Americans.
