 On 15 September, as "Van Valkenburgh" steamed into Nagasaki harbor, every available vantage point topside was occupied by men silently taking in the incredible devastation wrought by the atomic bomb dropped on the city over a month before.During her week there, "Van Valkenburgh" stood by as Allied prisoners of war were taken on board the hospital ship which lay moored at the port's principal dock.For the next six weeks, "Van Valkenburgh" remained in Japanese waters, carrying out two courier trips to Wakayama, Honshū, Japan, on the Inland Sea.