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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Navy
  • Unit of Service: B Medical Company, 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Marine Division; USS Thomas Jefferson (APA 30)
  • Location of Service: Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Boston, Massachusetts; New York; Tinian (Northern Mariana Islands); Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands); Japan
  • Highest Rank: Lieutenant Commander

View full service history

"My mission was to go to see the wounded Japanese, to meet and talk with their physicians, and to ask what the Marine Corps could do to help them." (Memoir, page 10)

In August 1945, Lieutenant Commander Charles Summers Stevenson was stationed on Saipan, and positioned to take part in the imminent invasion of Japan. Instead, within weeks, he became the first physician to enter the city of Nagasaki after the atomic bombing. On September 24, 1945, he embarked on a “mission of mercy” to investigate the condition of the wounded Japanese; he toured an elementary school that had been repurposed as a hospital and spoke with the Japanese physicians serving there. Observing the vast destruction of the city and patients with no chance of recovery left him feeling utterly hopeless and helpless. Though he kept quiet about his experiences for many years after the war, in the 1980s, he began speaking out about the horrors of nuclear warfare, joining antinuclear groups such as Physicians for Social Responsibility.

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[ Photo Album ]

More Resources

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[ Officer's Qualification Report ]
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[ Officier's Qualification Questionnaire ]
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[ Personal Experiences With Treating Victims of an Nuclear Explosion by Charles S. Stevenson, M.D. ]
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[ My Experiences With the Bombing of Nagasaki with Japanese translation in pencil ]
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[ Personal Experiences With Treating Victims of a Nuclear Explosion by Charles S. Stevenson, M.D. with note to his daughter ]
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[ My Experiences With the Bombing of Nagasaki ]

Show more resources (13)

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[ Introductory and Explanatory Statement to the Documentary Movie "Mission of Mercy" by Charles S. Stevenson, M.D. ]
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[ Handwritten memoir, "World War II Memoirs, of Charles S. Stevenson, Senior, M.D. 1940-46" ]
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[ Letter from Rudy [9/15/1946] ]
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[ Letter from Harue Komaki [3/5/1947] ]
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[ Letter from Keiko Komaki [3/5/1947] ]
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[ Letter from Jeff Baker to Hitoshi Motoshima, mayor of Nagasaki [8/18/1986] ]
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[ Letter from Jack Lemmon to Jeff Baker [10/5/1988] ]
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[ Page from a diary ]
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[ Veteran's unit patch ]
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[ Photo folio (empty) with printed Japanese text ]
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[ Postcard [blank]: Kumamoto-Jo Castle in Japan ]
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[ Morning on Chuzenjiko [Lake], Nikko, Japan ]
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[ Kozuke-jima, Chuzenji Lake, Nikko, Japan ]

About this Item

Title

  • Charles Summers Stevenson Collection

Names

  • Stevenson, Charles Summers
  • Stevenson, Frances

State of Birth

  • MD

Home State

  • DC

Headings

  • -  Stevenson, Charles Summers
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Navy.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Navy
    • Unit of Service: B Medical Company, 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Marine Division; USS Thomas Jefferson (APA 30)
    • Location of Service: Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Boston, Massachusetts; New York; Tinian (Northern Mariana Islands); Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands); Japan
    • Highest Rank: Lieutenant Commander
    • Dates of Service: 1943-1946
    • Military Status: Veteran
    • Service History Note: The veteran was one of the first American physicians to enter Nagasaki, Japan, after the Atomic Bomb was dropped.

Materials

  • Manuscript: Correspondence [5 items] -- Mixed (handwritten and typewritten documents) (collected 1946 - 1988)
  • Artifact: Artifact [5 items] -- Postcard (collected unknown)
  • Manuscript: Printed matter [4 items] -- Typewritten document (collected 1945 - 1998)
  • Manuscript: Military papers (orders, personnel/201 files, etc) [5 items] -- Typewritten document (collected 1943 - 1946)
  • Photograph: Duplicate [4 items] -- Photograph (collected unknown)
  • Manuscript: Clippings [13 items] -- Typewritten document (collected 1982 - 1983)
  • Photograph: Photographic print [96 items] -- Photograph (collected 1945)
  • Photograph: Negatives [10 items] -- Photograph (collected 1944)
  • Manuscript: Diaries and journals [1 item] -- Handwritten document (collected 07/1943)
  • Manuscript: Memoirs [6 items] -- Mixed (handwritten and typewritten documents) (collected 1982 - 1989)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/69366

Cite as

  • Charles Summers Stevenson Collection (AFC/2001/001/69366), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Stevenson, Charles Summers, and Frances Stevenson. Charles Summers Stevenson Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.69366/.

APA citation style:

Stevenson, C. S. & Stevenson, F. (1943) Charles Summers Stevenson Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.69366/.

MLA citation style:

Stevenson, Charles Summers, and Frances Stevenson. Charles Summers Stevenson Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.69366/>.