Dear Reader, Love Anthony Drago

Dear Reader...

My name is Anthony Drago, the co-author of Surviving Hiroshima A Young Women’s Story. I never dreamed that I would ever be able to have a book with my name as author. You see, I was a police officer for thirty years and busy raising a family, but always in the back of my mind, wanted to write a book about my mother, Kaleria Palchikoff.

Everyone thinks their mother is special (and they should!) but my mother had an experience that was unique and horrifying. She, along with my grandparents and a brother, survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. My family was not Japanese; they were Russian nobility. When the Russian Civil War broke out, my grandfather, Sergei, was a captain in the White Russian Army. Under constant attack from Bolshevik troops, they escaped Russia when grandfather and his colleagues hijacked a ship that took them to Japan. They lived peacefully for years, but that changed when World War Two broke out. The war ended with my family’s home being vaporized in an atomic holocaust, but by sheer luck, they survived.

Mother told me stories of our Russian heritage, her multi-cultural youth in Hiroshima, the fear the war created, the unbelievable destructive force of the atomic bomb and the horror of the aftermath. For three decades I wanted to tell her story. I didn’t have a clue on how to get it done, but I knew I had to get it done…for my family and the world. The story was just too important.

At numerous times during my career I contacted people and organizations, attempting to drum up interest in my story. I was under the impression that it would be easy to find someone out there that would have the same drive that I had to get this done. I was wrong and I was disappointed so many times. That was until I was introduced to Douglas Wellman.

I met Doug in an unusual way. About three years ago, I had an idea to call an author friend of mine who had just published a book of her own. I told her that I need advice on how to get help in writing a book. She put me in touch of her publisher and that’s when things started happening. I was introduced to Doug and the project started soon after.

This story is about my mother’s survival of war’s most powerful weapon, the Atomic Bomb, her life in a foreign land and being stateless. All she had was her family, music, education and faith. But that was enough to pick herself up when everything around her was destroyed....and to go on.

Enjoy the Book!

Anthony Drago

About the Book

From Russian nobility, the Palchikoffs barely escaped death at the hands of Bolshevik revolutionaries until Kaleria’s father, a White Russian officer, hijacked a ship to take them to safety in Hiroshima. Safety was short lived. Her father, a talented musician, established a new life for the family, but the outbreak of World War II created a cloud of suspicion that led to his imprisonment and years of deprivation for his family.

Then, on August 6, 1945, 22-year-old Kaleria was doing pre-breakfast chores when a blinding flash lit the sky over Hiroshima, Japan. A moment later, everything went black as the house collapsed on her and her family. Their world, and everyone else’s changed as the first atomic bomb was detonated over a city.

After the bombing, trapped in the center of previously unimagined devastation, Kaleria summoned her strength to come to the aid of bomb victims, treating the never-before seen effects of radiation. Fluent in English, Kaleria was soon recruited to work with General Douglas MacArthur’s occupation forces.

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About the Author

Anthony “Tony” Drago was born in Camden, New Jersey and spent much of his early childhood at his paternal grandparents Italian grocery store. From a young age, his mother, Kaleria Palchikoff Drago, would tell him the captivating story of her journey from Russia to Japan and then to the United States. It created Tony’s foundation for his love of history—especially his family’s history—bringing him to write this book.

After retiring in 2006, Tony doubled down on his passions—flying his airplane, restoring his classic car, and traveling the world with his wife, Kathy. Tony and Kathy have been married for forty-five years. They have three adult children and enjoy spending their days on the beach in their hometown of Carmel, California with their eight grandchildren and dogs, Tug and Maggie. For more information about Kaleria and the book, visit http://www.survivinghiroshima.com.