We had no idea what nuclear war was all about

Bill Meyrick has no hatred, only pity, for the Japanese who had to endure the most feared experience of all ? nuclear war.
The quietly spoken builder from Masterton is now 80, but remembers vividly the scenes he and his mates from the J-Force were confronted with in 1946 when reaching the shores of Japan, several months after the atomic bombs had dropped halting the Second World War.
"Watching the television lately and seeing all the coverage of anniversaries has brought it all back," he said.
Today marks the 60th anniversary of VJ day, Victory over Japan.
It's the day Japan agreed to unconditional surrender following the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and three days later on Nagasaki.
It also marks to the day 59 years ago, that the young 20-year-old Bill, fresh from the dairy fields of Matamata, boarded the old troop ship Chitral in Wellington and headed to Japan to help the Japanese get their lives back together.
He has tales to tell that historians dream of, and his private photo collection of Japan attempting to recover from nuclear devastation is captivating, if not sombre.
Bill Meyrick celebrated his 21st birthday seeing and experiencing things most people only have nightmares about.
His mates made sure he had a beer or two to celebrate his special day.
"Their comradeship made it possible to endure," he recalls.
He worked at a repatriation centre in Otake, a little under a day's drive from Hiroshima.
"There was a big port, Kure, and ships would come in with around two to three Japanese soldiers on board having been collected up from around the Pacific. Some poor sods had been found on islands not realising the war was ended. Many were in bad condition, starving and full of disease. Everyone got a drenching of DDT before settled into barracks. We'd try to find their families."
He especially remembers the Koreans as a sad bunch, many of whom had been used as slaves by the Japanese.
"They became priority to get them home to their country."
He collected and took photos of daily life and of the nuclear devastation at Hiroshima. Twisted steel screwed into a ball, that once was a four-storey building, a burnt-out tram literally stopped and welded to its tracks, the burnt bones of a church being the only building left standing for miles, and staring people, shocked out of their existence in what was once one of Japan's most prosperous cities, Hiroshima.
While there are many images of the nuclear holocaust in Japan, Bill's photos reveal and unfold, a personal memory of his year in Japan. They include a collection of postcards of the city before the bomb.
"I only saw the destruction and I wanted to know what life had been like before the bomb," he said.
Bill was one of the 12,000 fresh-faced New Zealanders who went to Japan immediately after World War II as part of the allied occupation force. He had joined the merchant navy early on in he war, but was considered an "essential service" to New Zealand on a Waikato dairy farm.
"It was an exciting prospect to be part of the J Force. We were all teenagers or young men in our early 20s and it seemed like an adventure. We had no idea what nuclear war was all about, and certainly nothing about the dangers of radiation."
Bill says since the war he has lost many friends to cancer and counts himself lucky to be still fit and healthy considering what he was probably exposed to during his time in Japan.
He came home to his parents in Masterton in 1947, married Rona, and together they raised 10 children. He has gone to many reunions of the J Force over the years but has never returned to Japan.
"I wanted to see my comrades but not Japan."
He was born in Carterton and as a 14-year-old moved with his family to Waiouru.
He enjoyed farm work and worked in many parts of New Zealand.
After his time in Japan he worked briefly at the Waingawa freezing works, but then began his lifetime work as a builder.
Still fit and burly, he says he's not retired yet, although admits to having had a few weeks off recently.
His wife died 11 years ago and his eldest son, Graham tragically died in an accident at Tinui, when he was just 22.
"It's been a good life and my nine other children have gone forth and produced many children. My 70th birthday celebration was a huge affair and I didn't know anything about it till the day."
Asked if he talked about his Japanese experience to his family, he said he had done sometimes.
"You really needed to be there to understand what we saw".