There was a Russian church in Hengdaohezi that had a thick forest fashioned in the shape of a garden.
We evacuated into that forest successfully in between the waves of attacks. At the moment the commanding officer gave us his order, saying, "Get on the truck!," there was one soldier calling my name, "Your are Mr. Isamu Yoshida!" He was among the corpses piled up on one another on the stone steps of the church. I quickly looked back, but his face was all covered with mud and I could not even tell who he was.
At that moment, another command came, "Get on the truck right now!" With the painful reluctance, all I could do was to say, "Hang on !"
After I made it back to Japan, I have not seen anybody who has come to tell me, " That soldier was I."
August 15, 1945