On display at the Museum of World War II in Boston are items carried by Theodore Van Kirk, navigator aboard the Enola Gay, on the mission to Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. The museum is also displaying an original copy of the operations order for dropping the atomic bomb that day.

BOSTON — It’s just a few cryptic notations on a badly yellowed sheet of paper, but it changed the course of world history.

An original copy of the operations order for dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, is on display at the Museum of World War II as the 70th anniversary of the attack is marked Thursday. It is being featured there along with other related artifacts.

The Hiroshima bombing and its aftermath ultimately claimed about 140,000 lives, helping to draw to a close the deadliest conflict in history and, for better or worse, usher in the atomic age.

“To me, it’s a glimpse into what went on that day,” says Kenneth Rendell, founder of the private museum located in the Boston suburb of Natick. “The average person does not realize what one of these missions would be like. I think it just humanizes everything.”

The simple, careworn document bears little indication of the importance of the mission. There’s no direct mention of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the bomb, or of the infamous bomb itself, code-named “Little Boy.”

Under a section meant to describe what types of bombs the plane would be carrying, the order bears just one word: “special.” The Enola Gay is listed only by its identification number, 82, and the last name of its pilot, Paul Tibbets.

The operations order is a basic sequence of events for crew members on the nine planes involved in the bombing, from when to attend prayer services, rise from bed, eat meals, attend briefings and finally take flight for Japan.

The museum, which Rendell established in 1999, also has a copy of a similarly nondescript order for the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki three days later on Aug. 9. That blast and its aftermath claimed another 80,000 lives, prompting Japan to surrender days later on Aug. 15.

Rendell, who has amassed a considerable trove of World War II related artifacts for his museum, says he purchased the operations orders over two decades ago from the family of Jacob Beser, a radar and electronics specialist who was the only man to have flown both bombing missions.

This image provided by the Museum of World War II Boston shows the operations order for Hiroshima, dated Aug. 5, 1945. According to the museum, this operations order was carried on the Enola Gay in the flight log of Jacob Beser, the radar and electronics specialist. The original copy of the operations order for dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima is on display at the private museum in the Boston suburbs as the deadly attack marks its 70th anniversary. (Museum of World War II Boston via AP)