Same here. My Dad went on to become part of the occupation forces in Japan. Had we decided to invade rather than drop the bomb, I might very well have never been born.
We owe so much to that generation, in more ways than we can possibly count.
My Dad too. He was one of the first into Japan.
My dad was also part of the occupation forces. The only time he ever told me anything about the 3 wars he fought in was when I asked him about the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. This was probably in around 1967 when he told me that he had been on a troop ship for 80 days, zig-zagging across the Pacific, on their way to invade Japan. His exact words were "they dropped the bomb, the war was over, and that was allright with your father." I've never forgotten him saying that. I doubt that there was a man on that ship that wanted to march up the beaches of Japan.
I have an Arisaka, Type 99, 7.7 mm bolt action "Last Ditch" rifle here in my closet that was a souvenir of war that he received as a part of the occupation force.
My dad had survived bombing missions in Europe and had volunteered to go to the Pacific. He was already doing missions over Japan from Okinawa when the bomb dropped. For an invasion he would have been doing round the clock bombing missions over Japan and the likelihood of surviving that would have pretty low. So some civilians in that fanatic regime died to end a war they started and supported to the death; our fathers and their subsequent generations survived. That’s the price Japan paid for their fanatic cruelty — too bad.