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Surviving Hiroshima
A Young Woman’s Story
A uniquely human story of a young Russian girl and her family who endured a lifetime of struggle, with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima representing an end as well as a new beginning.
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Reader Reviews
“For an insightful perspective and a rare glimpse of WWII history, the war’s effect on survivors’ families and children, and the hellish story and aftermath of the August 1945 Hiroshima bombing, this is an essential book that you won’t put down.”
– Robert Simeral
Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
“Surviving Hiroshima is an unforgettable human drama and a moving memory of Kaleria Palchikoff Drago who at 24 years of age was living with her family in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped on 6 August 1945. Her personal accounts of that experience and afterwards for her, her family and their Japanese neighbors and friends are riveting, inspirational and often sad. As her son and author Anthony Drago writes, ‘It’s a story of hope and perseverance that others may model when life turns against them.’“
– Robert Ord
Lieutenant General, U.S. Army (Ret.) – Former Commander of U.S. Army Pacific
“An absolutely fascinating and deftly crafted true life biography that reads with all the drama of a well penned novel, “Surviving Hiroshima: A Young Woman’s Story” is a riveting read from beginning to end. While especially and unreservedly recommended for both community and college/university library WWII Biographies and Historical Japan Biographies collections.”
– James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief, Midwest Book Review
“The co-authors seamlessly interweave an intimate and historically accurate account. Drago’s family presents characters deserving of recognition for their determined attitudes in the face of drastic circumstances. Wellman’s writing and war expertise illuminate forces the family is up against. Eyewitness statements paint the effects of the bomb in gruesome relief.”
– Mari Carlson
The US Review of Books
Young Kaleria with her classmates in Japan. 
Kaleria in kimono, 1936. 
Kaleria loved spending time with her two younger brothers, Nikolay and David. They can be seen here, in 1936, feeding pigeons on Nagarekawa Street which was close to their family home. 
Kaleria’s father, Sergei, was an instructor of foreign languages at the Imperial Japanese Army Cadet School in Hiroshima from 1937 to 1945. 
Kaleria’s father, Sergei, taught violin and piano at the Hiroshima Jogakuin School. 
Kaleria’s brother, David Palchikoff, in the U.S. Army. 
A few months after the bombing of Hiroshima, Kaleria and her family moved to Tokyo where she took a job with the United States Armed Forces’ Strategic Bombing Survey because of her first-hand experience. 
Kaleria worked in the same building as General Douglas MacArthur (seen 2nd from left). 
Kaleria and Paul Drago in Tokyo, 1946. 
Kaleria and her brother, Nick, reunited in Los Angeles. 
On January 19th, 1949, Kaleria and George Caron met in New York City to appear on the Mutual Radio Station together. George was the tail gunner of the B-29 Enola Gay – the same plane that bombed Hiroshima just a few years earlier. 
Kaleria, her son, Tony and his wife, Kathy at the Hiroshima Jogakuin School 100th reunion. 
Kathy and Tony Drago present Sergei’s violin to the school.