BC Cook
THERE are people who have won the lottery more than once. There are those who have been struck by lightning multiple times. But so far, Tsutomu Yamaguchi is the only person officially recognized as having survived both atomic bomb blasts during the Second World War.
His extraordinary story began in 1916 when he was born in Nagasaki, a historic Japanese city known for its centuries-long role in international trade. For many years, Nagasaki was the only port of access to the country, so it prospered and developed a thriving international community.
In the 1930s, Yamaguchi got work at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries where he designed oil tankers. With a firm grasp on the shipping and petroleum industries, he thought it would be unwise for Japan to go to war with any modern, industrialized nation, especially the United States.
He continued to work for Mitsubishi through the war years and witnessed the destruction of Japan’s naval fleet and commercial fleet. Toward the end, not wanting to face the misery of a defeated nation, he contemplated honor killing his family in the event Japan was occupied.
Then the impossible happened.
On August 6, 1945, Yamaguchi was wrapping up a business trip to Hiroshima with two colleagues. He forgot some papers and returned to the office, telling his friends to proceed to the train station and they would head back to Nagasaki together. He heard the sound of airplanes and looked up to see the B-29 drop something. A few seconds later he was blown over, deaf and blinded. He was less than two miles from the detonation.
With severe burns over large parts of his body, a dazed and stunned Yamaguchi made his way to a bomb shelter, where he was given first aid. He later returned to the train station where he met his friends, who had also miraculously survived.
By August 9, Yamaguchi was back in his hometown of Nagasaki and in spite of being heavily bandaged, reported to work where he recounted the horrific experience to his supervisor. He described the unworldly blast and its immediate effects, he detailed the shocked people stumbling through the burning debris, more shocked people in the bomb shelter who did not know if their loved ones were alive. His boss told him it was impossible. There was no way a single bomb could have done all of that.
As he expressed skepticism with Yamaguchi’s story, an American B-29 flew over the city. They were less than two miles from the detonation. Yamaguchi relived the nightmare. The blast, the fires, the bewildered people stumbling through a charred and ruined landscape, the bomb shelter, the futility, the waste.
After the war, Yamaguchi married and had three children. The Japanese government officially confirmed that he had lived through both atomic bombings and though others claim this status, he is the only person validated as such. Late in life, he took up the cause of nuclear disarmament and passed away in 2010 at the age of 93. Both he and his wife died from cancer that could be traced back to their injuries of 1945.
Yamaguchi was an ordinary man who experienced something extraordinary. Let us hope that his distinction of living through two atomic blasts remains his alone.
BC Cook, PhD lived on Saipan and has taught history for over 30 years. He is a Director and historian at Sealark Exploration
