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, first on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and then two days later on Nagasaki, Japan, killing hundreds of thousands of people. One Japanese man was 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 Little Boy nuclear bomb was dropped on the city. In fact, he was on his way out of Hiroshima. Three months earlier, the Mitsubishi Corporation 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 he arrived, 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.

Immediately afterward, a huge explosion occurred. 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 of the bomb continued to have an impact. Little Boy's mushroom cloud grew over Hiroshima. Yamaguchi was less than 3 kilometers from the site of the explosion. He suffered burns to his face and forearms, lost his right ear, and had both eardrums ruptured, but 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 found 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 told his supervisor what had happened in Hiroshima, he 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 United States dropped a second nuclear bomb, Fat Man, on Nagasaki. Just like what 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, and he found them hiding in the rubble of his house. 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 while they were stationed in Japan. Yamaguchi was part of a group of "hibakusha", survivors of the atomic bombings, who received financial and medical support for their condition. However, Yamaguchi only applied for hibakusha status for the first explosion in Hiroshima.

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 survive 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