It's been 72 years since the USA dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan killing at least 200-thousand people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Every year cities around the world commemorate the event and remember the innocent lives lost.
Victoria's Rudi Hoenson was 22 yrs old, and working in a POW camp nearby in Nagasaki when the bomb dubbed "Fat Boy" was dropped.
While the use of nuclear arms is widely perceived as hastening the end of the Second World war -- Hoensen says the devastation was horrific and affected largely women and children near Nagasaki. Yet he doesn't remember any apology:
"Not one person said we're sorry we did that, they didn't say we didn't know you were there it was almost as if the Americans were ashamed of what happened."
Wednesday night in Victoria the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony was held in Esquimalt's Gorge Park. It started at 6:30 and culminated with a traditional release of lanterns as a prayer for peace.