The Man Who Survived Two Atomic Bombs

The Man Who Survived Two Atomic Bombs

Some 260,000 people survived the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, but Japanese engineer Tsutomu Yamaguchi was one of the very few who endured the horror of both blasts and lived to the tell the tale 

Tsutomu Yamaguchi was preparing to leave Hiroshima when the atomic bomb fell. The 29-year-old naval engineer was on a three-month-long business trip for his employer, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and August 6, 1945, was supposed to be his last day in the city. He and his colleagues had spent the summer working long hours on the design for a new oil tanker, and he was looking forward to finally returning home to his wife, Hisako, and their infant son, Katsutoshi.

At around 8:15 am, Tsutomu was going to his workplace when he noticed the B-29 in the sky of Hiroshima. An object attached to a parachute dropped from the bomber, and then a flashlight was seen rushing towards the city. Tsutomu described it as a “magnesium flare”. The next thing he remembered was jumping in a ditch to save his life. A sudden ear-crashing boom shook the grounds of the city, throwing Tsutomu in the air like a ball. According to the science writer Sam Kean,

“He dove to the ground and covered his eyes and plugged his ears with his thumbs.”

Due to the devastating noise and shockwave, he lost his consciousness. After waking up, the world he saw was no more the same. Everything was dark due to a cloud of ash all over him. He felt his skin peeling off of his body and his forearms burnt. Both of his eardrums were ruptured. He told the British newspaper, The Times,

“I think I fainted for a while. When I opened my eyes, everything was dark, and I couldn’t see much. It was like the start of a film at the cinema before the picture has begun when the blank frames are just flashing up without any sound.”

The dust and debris were seen all around, masking the sunlight.

Tsutomu then walked towards the Mitsubishi Headquarters, seeing that it wasn’t there. The bomb had destroyed every bit of it. He then found his coworkers Akira Iwanaga and Kuniyoshi Sato, who had also survived the blast. The three of them spent the night under a shelter, and on the 7th of August, they headed towards the train station, which was somehow still working. What they came across during their journey to the train station was astonishing. The fire still flickered at some places, buildings and bridges were shattered to the ground, and unrecognizable dead bodies were lying everywhere. The scene was so horrible that Tsutomu had to swim through bundles of burnt corpses to cross the river at one point. When he reached the train station, he immediately took a train and came to Nagasaki, his hometown, on 8th August.

The 2nd Atomic Bomb Hit Nagaski 

Tsutomu was not aware that the destruction was not yet over. Reaching Nagasaki, he got his burns treated at a hospital. His burnt face and body made him unrecognizable to his family. He narrates an incident where his mother calls him a “ghost”. On 9th August, although miserable, he reported to his office at Mitsubishi’s Nagasaki office. The company demanded a report on the event of Hiroshima. Tsutomu described everything he had seen, but the superiors did not believe him calling him ‘mad’. It was around 11 am when another colossal explosion blew the city of Nagasaki, just like that of Hiroshima. Tsutomu dropped to the floor before the windows shattered into microscopic pieces over their heads. 35000–40,000 people died immediately, while tens of thousands died later due to dangerous gamma radiation. But Tsutomu survived this attack, too, along with his wife and five-month-old son. This bomb was even more powerful than the previous one. Tsutomu’s hair fell out, and his wounds turned gangrenous; with that, he also frequently vomited.

Tsutomu and his wife gave birth to two daughters. They were healthy at birth but faced basic health issues in their late teens. His son, Kasutoshi, lived till 58, when he died of cancer. His wife also died of cancer, probably caused by the bomb radiation. He lived to the age of 93 and died of stomach cancer in 2010.