A fellow veteran said, “I spent three years of my life killing people.” As a former Marine, I have to say the same. It’s completely irrelevant who it was who pulled the trigger, who it was who dropped the bomb. We all did it. That was what we were there for. We were there to kill and destroy. … I wish with all my heart that this were a time of repentance for our country – a time when we could recognize what we did. But we don’t want to face the horror of it. We’re too “good.” 

Paul Pappas was one of the US Marines who entered Nagasaki after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city.