Japanese man survives two atomic bombs

Tsutomu Yamaguchi was present in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the US dropped the nuclear bombs, but miraculously survived.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi in his old age. Photo: NPR.

The atomic bomb has only been used twice in history, the first time on August 6, 1945, in Hiroshima and the second time two days later on Nagasaki, Japan, killing hundreds of thousands of people. A Japanese man was present in both cities on the day the bombs exploded, but survived both, earning him the nickname "Lucky Yamaghuchi," according to War History.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi was not supposed to be in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb Little Boy was dropped on the city. In fact, he was on his way out. Three months earlier, Mitsubishi had sent Yamaguchi on a business trip to the city. After completing his work, he was scheduled to return to Nagasaki on August 6.

On that fateful day, Yamaguchi made his final appearance at the Mitsubishi Corporation's Hiroshima branch. Before arriving, he heard the sound of planes overhead and recognized an American B-29 bomber. The plane dropped a small object and flew away at 8:15 a.m.

A huge explosion followed. Yamaguchi instinctively jumped into a nearby stream, but the shockwave knocked him out of his hiding place. He was thrown into a potato field and knocked unconscious, while the aftershocks continued to take their toll. Little Boy’s mushroom cloud grew over Hiroshima. Yamaguchi was less than 3 kilometers from the blast site. He suffered burns to his face and forearms, lost his right ear, and both eardrums were ruptured, but he survived.

Having survived the horrific blast, Yamaguchi went to the destroyed office building, trying to piece together what had happened. He found two colleagues who had also survived the blast. When they discovered that trains were still running out of the city, they walked through the ruins of Hiroshima to the train station to return to Nagasaki.

After returning home, despite being burned, bandaged and hearing-impaired, Yamaguchi went to the Mitsubishi plant in Nagasaki on August 9. When he recounted the events in Hiroshima, his supervisor thought Yamaguchi was crazy, his story too unbelievable for people who had never seen a nuclear weapon explode.

Hiroshima city after the bombing. Photo: War in Context.

While they were talking, the US dropped a second nuclear bomb, Fat Man, on Nagasaki. Just like Yamaguchi had witnessed in Hiroshima, what appeared to be a small dot in the sky suddenly exploded into a brilliant white light. Yamaguchi fell to the floor as the bomb blew out all the windows of the building.

He believed that the aftershocks of the Hiroshima explosion reached Nagasaki. In fact, Nagasaki was hit by a new bomb, more powerful than Little Boy. Once again, this lucky man escaped death.

Yamaguchi immediately sought refuge. His family was in danger, he found them hiding in the rubble of his home. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. The three of them went to the shelter, where they were directly exposed to the radiation from Fat Man. Yamaguchi lost his hair, his wounds in Hiroshima became infected and gangrenous, and he vomited, but he survived.

Yamaguchi's life gradually returned to normal. He lived in seclusion, working with the US military during their stay in Japan. Yamaguchi was part of a group of "hibakusha", atomic bomb survivors who received financial and medical support for their condition. However, Yamaguchi only applied for hibakusha status for the first Hiroshima blast.

As Yamaguchi grew older, he began to suffer health problems from the radiation and felt the government should know about his unique story. In January 2009, Yamaguchi applied for recognition as a double hibakusha. He was recognized by Japan two months later, becoming the only person in history to have survived two nuclear attacks.

A year after being recognized as a double survivor, on January 4, 2010, Yamaguchi died of stomach cancer at the age of 93.

According to VNE