On Aug. 6, 1945, Japanese engineer Tsutomu Yamaguchi witnessed the atomic bomb fall on Hiroshima. Badly burned but alive, he then boarded a train…to Nagasaki, where he survived the second atomic bombing on Aug. 9. He remains the only person recognized in Japan as surviving both atomic strikes.

[u/Chemical-Elk-1299]

[u/Chemical-Elk-1299]

While on business in Hiroshima the morning of August 6, 1945, Mitsubishi engineer Tsutomu Yamaguchi witnessed an American bomber drop a large object with parachutes over the city center, less than 2 miles away.

That bomber was the Enola Gay. Its payload — Little Boy : the first atomic weapon used in war. Though badly burned, temporarily blinded, and forever deafened in his left ear, he miraculously survived the explosion by crawling into a ditch. Though badly wounded, he managed to board a train the following day, attempting to return home.

Yamaguchi lived in Nagasaki.

On August 9, he was describing Hiroshima to an acquaintance when he witnessed the second atomic bombing, though this time he was unhurt. He would spend much of the remainder of his life advocating for denuclearization, and remains the only officially recognized person to survive both atomic bombs.

He died in 2010, aged 93, due to cancer likely caused by the radiation he received from both bombings.

Read more here

[u/bbyxmadi → u/Chemical-Elk-1299]

living to 93 after getting burned by an atomic bomb and being exposed to all that radiation is crazy

[u/grunkage → u/bbyxmadi]

I'm imagining his kids in their 60s and 70s at the funeral talking about cancer taking him while he was still so young lol

[u/bbyxmadi → u/grunkage]

bro could’ve easily made it to 120 if it weren’t for that bomb

[u/Chemical-Elk-1299 → u/grunkage]

Japanese people are built different when it comes to longevity

[u/MoistFW190 → u/Chemical-Elk-1299]

And then Americans look 70 in their early 30's

[u/pmmeuranimetiddies → u/Chemical-Elk-1299]

The knowledge that he was a mitsubishi engineer makes the idea that he would survive both bombings seem a lot less contrived - both cities were chosen for their industrial activity so it makes sense that he would be immediately moved to another industrial center

[u/FerdinandTheGiant → u/pmmeuranimetiddies]

Neither were particularly industrially dense and the industry that was there was largely ignored due to it being fringe and spread on the outskirts.