Koji Kikushima, 73, will never forget the last meal his family ate together.

After being called away for work, his father had returned to the family home in the Asakusa area.

His mother had cooked beans she bought on the black market, a rare feast for the family in those days.

The date was March 9, 1945.

Just hours later, shortly after midnight, the U.S. bombers were flying overhead.

Kikushima, now a resident of suburban Nishi-Tokyo, his parents, two sisters and a brother headed for the Kototoibashi bridge that crosses the Sumidagawa river.

Before long, they were caught up in the throngs of people coming from both sides of the bridge, trying to escape the flames and heat.

On Thursday, standing next to a monument erected for the victims in Sumida Park at the foot of the bridge-the very place he lost his family 60 years ago-Kikushima recalls carrying his 8-year-old sister, the family's youngest, in his arms and telling his parents and other siblings, ``I'll go ahead.''

He crossed the bridge, he says, and looked back to see it ablaze.

People engulfed in flames fell screaming into the river.

When dawn broke, bodies littered the bridge and the river, he says.

Those of his family were never recovered.

``I want to pass on the experiences of that day to the next generation. That is my mission,'' he said.(IHT/Asahi: March 11,2005)