Sunday marked 70 years since the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing at least 70,000 people. A ceremony was held in the exact location where the bomb struck.

When that bomb went off, a Long Island native was in Okinawa, fighting in World War II.

On Sunday, Meyer Rothstein quietly marked the day at his Merrick home. He also celebrated his 100th birthday.

Rothstein says he still remembers details from the war, like the taste of the packaged food and the constant rain. He says he and his fellow soldiers dug foxholes to sleep in at night for protection. Through it all, he remained optimistic.

"It really was like a dangerous thing with bombs dropping all over the place, but somehow we accepted it as if it was part of a day's pay, and that's how it was," he says.

Rothstein's wife, Dorothy, also recalls the time they spent apart in the war and the letters they wrote each other before they were finally reunited.