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NPR asked a question this morning.

NPR

We want to know the image that first forced you -- as a child -- to think about the possibility of nuclear annihilation. Mushroom cloud? Bomb shelter? Chernobyl? Post your memory in comments below. Make sure your settings allow us to contact you through private messages.

Here is my reply.
Video of the pattern of a woman's kimono, burned onto her back like a photograph. Mom and Dad met at Oakridge, TN. Fat Man and Little Boy were spoken of lovingly in our house, as though they were my older brothers who died in the war. So, when, in the late '60s we watched together a documentary on Hiroshima and Nagasaci, my father, who never showed emotion, began to cry. I said, "seeing that, if you could do it over, would you do it again?" He and mom went into a patriotic speech of affirmation. I didn't argue about civilian, rather than military targets or the fact that Japan was bankrupt and dying. I just shook my head and walked away.