LOWELL, Mass. — The Lowell native who was a prisoner of war in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped is about to have his story told, nearly 70 years later.

Billerica resident Barry Frechette’s documentary on U.S. Navy Airman Normand Brissette has been funded through the website Kickstarter, exceeding its goal of $17,000 with $21,588 raised.

Brissette was one of 12 American POWs in Hiroshima when the bomb dropped.

Though 10 of the 12 died instantly from the blast, Brissette and one of his comrades lived on for 13 more days before dying from radiation sickness.

Now Frechette is working to make Brissette’s story known to the masses.

“I think there was a reason why he was able to live through it and pass this story on to somebody else,” Frechette said.

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Contributions to fund completion of the film came in from 153 backers, who Frechette said included friends, colleagues and members of Brissette’s family, as well as strangers from both the U.S. and Japan.

“This whole thing is so humbling. I feel very lucky to be doing it,” Frechette said.

Frechette’s planning to use the money to make another trip to Japan, to conduct a second interview with Shigeaki Mori, whose story intersects powerfully with Brissette’s.

Mori was just 8 when the bombing rocked his city.

He spent the decades after that tracking down the 12 American POWs who died in the bombing, including Brissette, and working to get their names added to the official list of victims of the bombing, alongside tens of thousands of Japanese.

While in Japan, Frechette said he is also hoping to get in touch with a historian in Hiroshima to add context to the film.

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If timing and funding allow, he’d also like to get back to Hiroshima in September for the 70th anniversary of the bombing, to walk with Mori through the ceremonies.

That milestone, he said, is an important bookend in the stories of Brissette and Mori.

“He worked all those years to get those 12 to be remembered just like every other Japanese casualty and that’s a big deal,” Frechette.

“When they bring out the register in the book, there are 12 American names, and they wouldn’t be there unless it was for him. It’s a lot of work that he’s gone through to get there.”

If filming continues on schedule, Frechette, who has a day job at an advertising agency, said he plans to have the documentary completed by late next year.

Frechette said he believes the story resonated with people enough to compel them to donate because of both Brissette’s sacrifice and Mori’s commitment to making a stranger’s story known.

“To me, it’s about people being human,” Frechette said. “There’s a humanity to all of this that is nice. It’s nice to focus on someone trying to do right and show respect even in the most terrible situation.”

Frechette first heard about the story from Tony Archinski, a Dracut selectmen whose wife is Brissette’s niece. For Archinski, seeing the film project progress has been the culmination of years of research he did on Brissette’s time in the military.

“It’s been an incredible journey for me because I just started out trying to produce a memorial book just for my wife’s family,” Archinski said. “I think it’s a great sense of accomplishment for me. I’m at the point now where my phase of the project is pretty much complete. I’m looking forward to helping Barry tell the story so that it can be part of history.”


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