Captain Orval Amdahl returned to his Minnesota home in 1945, bringing a Japanese sword that he’d been offered as a military souvenir of the war. The devastation he witnessed in Nagasaki just one month after the atomic explosion stayed with him when he rejoined his family, and he began a weekly ritual of polishing the sword and wondering about its origin. Years later in a conversation with a researcher about his experience in Nagasaki, Orval displayed the sword and shared his wish to return it to its owner. The researcher (this book’s author) contacted a Japanese friend who identified the sword’s owner’s family, leading to an exchange of letters between Orval and Tadahiro Motomura, the owner’s son. In 2013, 68 years after the end of World War II, Orval gave the sword to Tadahiro Motomura in a ceremony at a St. Paul auditorium, with the words “I return this sword to you in peace—peace with honor.” End notes provide additional background to the sword’s story and include a message from Mr. Motomura.