As an 18-year-old soldier in the U.S. Army, Neil Van Steenbergen found a piece of wood with kanji characters in a part of Nagasaki that escaped the destruction of the city's atomic bombing in 1945 and took it home as a souvenir.

To his horror, he recently learned that it is actually an “ihai” mortuary tablet to enshrine a deceased person.

Van Steenbergen, now 92 and a resident of Oregon in the United States, felt pangs of regret after his massage therapist, who is a Japanese and lives in Oregon, informed Van Steenbergen of the ihai's significance for the bereaved family back in Japan.

The therapist, Kana Moll, 52, contacted The Asahi Shimbun so that Van Steenbergen could write and explain the situation.

He wrote: “To that family; I am deeply sorry for taking your Buddhist mortuary tablet. I deprived you of something that is very important to you. It was an ignorant and inexcusable action on my part. I apologize.”

Van Steenbergen made clear he is anxious to make amends for his thoughtlessness all those decades ago.

He was called up for military service in spring 1945 as World War II was entering its final phase.

In his words, “I joined the U.S. Army infantry training to learn how to kill people who were different from me.”

The war against Japan ended after the surrender of Italy and Germany when Van Steenbergen was aboard a ship heading to Japan. He disembarked either in late August or early September and was assigned to the Nagasaki military government "to work with Japanese citizens and local authorities to help in the transition from war to a peaceful society and community.”

He spent over a year in Japan.

Among his duties was advising on sanitary issues in jails and helping in the first postwar general election to be held in Japan.

After several months in Nagasaki, Van Steenbergen found himself walking in a “typical residential Japanese neighborhood.” As it was shielded by a hill from the blast zone, none of the houses in the area was physically damaged by the atomic bomb.

Van Steenbergen wrote, “As I walked, I saw what turned out to be the Buddhist mortuary tablet, although I had no idea that it was a Buddhist mortuary tablet. It was sitting next to a home on the sidewalk. I picked it up and looked at it, carefully inspecting it and wondering what it was.”

He recalled it was “maybe one or two hills and valleys from the blast and to the right of the blast zone (harbor at my back).”

He struggled with whether to keep the wooden tablet, deciding in the end that he would.

His letter continued: “After a while, I said to myself, ‘This is special. I wonder if it’s OK for me to take?’ And I picked it up and carefully carried it with me. Somehow it did not feel right and I still took it. I wish that I had listened to the voice or doubt of my mind and heart and left it. Certainly, if I had knew what it was it would still be there."

He added, "The fact that I was a young 18-year-old does not excuse my action of taking the memorial tablet 73 years ago.”

The nine kanji characters on the front side of the tablet bears the Buddhist name for the deceased in the afterlife. The person's name in real life, written in four characters on the back, probably was pronounced “Nobuko Nomura.”

She was 27 years old when she died on Nov. 28 in the 20th year of the Showa Era (19261989), or 1945, a little more than three months after the atomic bombing.

Van Steenbergen became a high school teacher after he returned to the United States and got involved in human rights activities when he retired.

He still recalls the scenery of Nagasaki with its ruined buildings and fallen trees looking like matchsticks while strolling around ground zero.

He felt, while strolling through the ruined city that silence controlled the atmosphere.

He wrote, “I was horrified by the destruction and sad and upset that the U.S. had used the bomb. I am totally opposed to war and to nuclear weapons. I have articles published in magazines and newspapers about my position. I have given multiple speeches to groups and organizations."

He vowed to continue to oppose nuclear weapons "until the day I die.”

In Oregon, Van Steenbergen asked Moll what the wooden tablet was, and she told him.

He still communicates by mail with people he met and became attached to in Nagasaki all those years ago, and the beauty of the city remains deeply etched in his memory.

Van Steenbergen wanted to return the ihai to the bereaved family and apologize, but he did not know how to go about it. So, he enlisted Moll's help.

As his health is failing, he hoped that having an article written about his quest would help in locating the family in Nagasaki and rectifying his error.

Anybody with information on this issue is asked to contact Moll via e-mail (nagasakinvs@gmail.com). Any help will be appreciated.