Remembering Australia's roles in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki

While Australia was not privy to the secret plans, Australians had key roles before and after the devastation.

Australian veteran Ron Shepheard, now 95, was in Hiroshima in the aftermath of the atomic bomb. Source: Universal History Archive/Getty/SBS

Veteran 95-year-old Ron Shepheard was with the first Australian soldiers to arrive at ground zero with the British Commonwealth Occupying Forces, fresh from celebrating the end of the war.

During the Japanese surrender in August 1945, Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett sneaked into Hiroshima, saw the horrific aftermath, and broke the story of the century, headlined “The Atomic Plague” in the British newspaper the Daily Express.