As incredible as it may seem, there is a person who is survived not to one but to two atomic bombs: that of Hiroshima and that of Nagasakidropped by the US Air Force in August 1945 at the end of World War II. We’re talking about Tsutomu Yamaguchi (1916-2010), a Japanese engineer who at the age of 29 was in both cities on the respective days they were bombed, managing to escape on both occasions. The man, who died of stomach cancer in 2010 at the age of 93 years oldspent the rest of his life telling this story to the new generationshoping to be able to convey the deep horror of war and for the construction of such devastating nuclear weapons. But why was Yamaguchi in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in that distant August of 1945?
Tsutomu Yamaguchi and the atomic bomb on Hiroshima: how he survived
Tsutomu Yamaguchi was a Japanese engineer from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. That August 6, 1945, almost thirty years old, he was in Hiroshima on a business trip and would never have expected an attack of those proportions on the city: at 8.14 the bomber B-29 detonated”Little Boy“, the first atomic bomb ever used on civilians.
At the time of the explosion Yamaguchi was approximately 3 km away but the power of the explosion was such that throw him out of the tram on which he was located. Fortunately, according to what is told in his biography, he had the readiness to throw himself into a nearby canal, protecting his face with his hands. This allowed him to reduce the amount of damage, although he still remained temporarily blinded, had serious damage to the eardrum of the left ear and he found himself burns in various parts of the body. The following morning, wound but not life threateninghe decided to immediately take a train home: as luck would have it, his hometown was his own Nagasaki.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi and the atomic bomb on Nagasaki
Returning to Nagasaki, Yamaguchi was convinced that the worst was over. He recovered quickly and two days later he was already at work: the August 9th in fact he was in the office talking to his boss about how lucky he was to survive such a tragic event. What he didn’t expect was that he would have to relive that drama that same day. In fact, at 11:02 the United States dropped the second nuclear weapon in its arsenal, Fat Man, on Nagasaki, causing tens of thousands of deaths and devastation in this case too.
Ironically, Yamaguchi was also at approx 3 km from the bomb and the explosion destroyed the windows of the building, throwing him to the ground. As happened in Hiroshima, he was seriously injured but still alive, also thanks to the sturdy structure of the building and the hilly landscape: the combination of these two factors seems to have slightly dampened the power of the weapon, allowing Yamaguchi to survive. These were the words of the ex-engineer a few years later:
I thought the mushroom cloud had followed me from Hiroshima. I cannot understand why the world cannot understand the agony of nuclear bombs. How can they continue to develop these weapons?
The only confirmed survivor of two nuclear explosions
After surviving the two explosions and recovering from both his burns and radiation poisoning, Yamaguchi took up service as naval engineer in the city port and told his story to almost no one. This, at least, until 2005 when his son – also a Nagasaki survivor – he died of cancer at the age of 59: the event deeply shocked him, convincing him to open up in the hope that his words could be an inspiration for future generations.
My double radiation exposure is now an official government document. He will be able to tell the new generations the horrible story of the atomic bombings even after my death.
The Japanese have a word for survivors of one of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima or Nagasaki: hibakusha. Yamaguchi was actually a nijū hibakushathat is, he survived both bombings. Actually Yamaguchi he was not the only one saved from both explosions: according to some reports they existed at least 160 other people in his same situation, even if none of them would have lived long enough to allow the Government to “confirm” their story, leaving the engineer with the sad record of sole survivor of two nuclear explosions.
