Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors on the horrors of an atomic attack
Survivors of the atomic attacks in Japan have shared their experiences of the devastating attacks in powerful testimony and how those two bombs changed their lives forever.
Hiroshi Harada still remembers how his leg sank into one of the bodies blocking a narrow street in the city as he fled the spreading fires after the bomb was dropped.
He also recalls stepping back in horror after a young girl grabbed him to ask for water and he noticed a chunk of flesh from her hand had stuck to his leg.
The 75-year-old said:
Hiroshima survivors often refrain from talking about their experiences even with their own children, some from a feeling that the past is too horrific.
Makiko Kato, an 85-year-old who was hit by the explosion just 1.2 km (0.8 miles) away from ground zero at Hiroshima, is one of those survivors.
She has led her life without ever telling her children or grandchildren what she went through.
Speaking at a home for elderly atomic bomb survivors in the city, the 85-year-old said: "Recently I have begun to think I need to tell them (her children) because, at this age, there's no guarantee that I'll be able to live to see tomorrow."
Fumiaki Kajiya, 76, is a former school teacher who took up painting to teach children about his experiences of the bombing.
He lost his sister to the atomic blast. Their parents had moved her to a rural area to keep her safe, but just before the bombing, they brought her back to the city, succumbing to her pleas to stay with the family.
While the rest of his family managed to survive, the memories of the trauma and the sight of his mother weeping for hours on end in front of a buddhist altar every August 6th, led him to become a strong anti-nuclear advocate.
The bombings at Hiroshima and Nakaski helped stop the war but ruined two cities and left generations of Japanese suffering the physical and psychological effects of radiation poisoning.
Cancer and other related illnesses claimed a further tens of thousands of lives and survivors faced being outcasts in Japanese society.