69 years ago at 8:15 in the morning, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

On Wednesday Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and others attended a ceremony to remember those who died in the attack.

Abe said Japan should do its part to help rid the world of nuclear weapons.

(SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER, SHINZO ABE, SAYING:

"We, Japanese, are history's sole victims of a nuclear attack during war and we have the certain responsibility to bring about a world without nuclear weapons."

Destruction from the bomb was massive- shock waves, radiation and heat rays took the lives of some 140,000 people... nearly half of the town's population.

The lingering memories of that fateful day still affect even younger generations.

This little girl said she hopes one day there won't be nuclear weapons.

Three days after the attack on Hiroshima, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb Nagasaki. Japan surrendered to Allied forc