Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 2008—Visitors gaze at paper lanterns and candles at the Atomic Bomb Dome in Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima. Wednesday marked the 63rd anniversary of the U.S. bombing of the city and the nearly instant death of more than a hundred thousand people.

Just three days after the Hiroshima blast, the U.S. dropped another atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing approximately 70,000 and hastening the end of World War II.

Capt. Robert Lewis, co-pilot of the U.S. plane that carried the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, has said of the event: "As the bomb fell over Hiroshima and exploded, we saw an entire city disappear. I wrote in my log the words: 'My God, what have we done?'''

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