Last Survivor of Atomic Bombs Passes

[Kirk Freeman]

Not just one atomic bomb, but Yamaguchi survived BOTH atomic bombs dropped on Japan.

***********************************************************

Mr. Yamaguchi, as a 29-year-old engineer for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, was on a business trip in Hiroshima when the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945. He was getting off a streetcar when the “Little Boy” device detonated above Hiroshima.
Mr. Yamaguchi said he was less than 2 miles away from ground zero. His eardrums were ruptured and his upper torso was burned by the blast, which destroyed most of the city’s buildings and killed 80,000 people.
Mr. Yamaguchi spent the night in a Hiroshima bomb shelter and returned to his hometown of Nagasaki the following day, according to interviews he gave over the years. The second bomb, known as “Fat Man,” was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, killing 70,000 people there.
Mr. Yamaguchi was in his Nagasaki office, telling his boss about the Hiroshima blast, when “suddenly the same white light filled the room,” he said in an interview last March with The Independent newspaper.
“I thought the mushroom cloud had followed me from Hiroshima,” he said.
“I could have died on either of those days,” Mr. Yamaguchi said in an August interview with the Mainichi Daily News. “Everything that follows is a bonus.”
​

Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Survivor of 2 Atomic Blasts, Dies at 93 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

What a great story for the kids: "it takes more than a couple of nuclear weapons to slow down your dad. Now go clean your rooms!"

 

[Seancass]

I've always wondered if his story was true. If so, it's just more proof we humans arn't as tough as we used to be!

 

[Disposable Heart]

Ohana-Sayonara, Yamaguchi-sama!

 

[rambone]

That's a hell of a story. He is the last known survivor, and he is the one who was present in both cities during both blasts. Crazy.

 

[Disposable Heart]

Should have bought a lotto ticket!

 

[printcraft]

I want to posthumously nominate him for freakin Bad Day of the Century award winner! HOLY COW!

 

[ReSSurrected]

What do you bet that when he saw the second one go off he said, "You gotta be F'in kiddin' me...."

 

[Scutter01]

I thought being in two tornadoes in one day was a bad day.

 

[Tactical Dave]

What's really spooky is the power of the Nukes noe compared to then....

Yeah if you survive 2 nuke strikes you should get some kind of award and be given some nice island to live on....

 

[melensdad]

Not just one atomic bomb, but Yamaguchi survived BOTH atomic bombs dropped on Japan.

My dad was in the Navy in WWII. He was in the Pacific theater. His ship, the USS Mullaney (sp?) was attacked several times by Zeros. Dad went to Japan on vacation and went through the Atomic Bomb war memorial at Ground Zero. Came out and told my mom and sister that we should have dropped another one.

Dad never forgave the Japanese for what they did to his ship and shipmates.

Honor Roll

Killed in Action
B. M. Wood, Machinist, USNR
R .M. Jordan, S2c USNR
J. R. Brett, PhM2c USNR
C. Kirkpatrick, F2c, USN-I
W. R. Bond, GM1c, USN
J. Mesalam, S2c USNR
W. W. Burrow, GM2c, USNR
A. W. Nichols, Cox, USNR
L. W. Carow, GM3c, USN
R. R. Oates, EM3c, USNR
R. A. Casmero, S1c, USNR
B. T. O'Neill, F2c, USNR
H. E. Geiss, S1c (QM), USNR
O, D, Poling, S2c, USNR
J. T. Helms, F1c, USNR
J. P. Richie, S1c, USNR
D. J. Hess, SK2c, USNR
E. R. Riojas, Jr., S1c USNR
C. J. Holbrook, S1c, USNR
R. N. Sexton, S2c, USNR
K. D. House, FC2c, USNR


Missing in Action
V. F. Barker, S1c, USN
V. LaConte, F2c(BE), USNR
S. A. Bowerman, Cox, USNR
A. D. Palanza, F2c. USN
H. E. Coffman, F2c,(BE), USNR
J. P. Quinn, CEM USN
T. L. Farley, S2c, USNR
V. H. Torbet, MoMM3c, USNR
E. L. Kuligowski, S1c, USNR