For decades, Hiroyasu Tagawa had no intentions of breaking his silence about the terrible experience he had as a child, having lived through the U.S. atomic bombing of his hometown of Nagasaki.
He didn't want to relive his memories of Aug. 9, 1945, and its aftermath. He even avoided uttering the words "atomic bomb."
A sixth-grader at the time, Tagawa spent years regretting his decision to bring his father — who had suffered severe burns to his feet due to a chemical spill caused by the blast — to a makeshift first aid station.