Last Survivor of BOTH atomic bombs dropped in Japan dies

[Melensdad]

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


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

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.”

Now some might find that story interesting. I suspect that my dad would not have.

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. :ar15:

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

 

[joec]

I read about this guy a few years ago, the Japanese fellow, he was a civilian too. My father would have found this as interesting, as after fighting the Japanese with the 4th Marine division he had a great deal of respect for them as fighters and soldiers. Funny how that works sometimes.

 

[Lia]

Extremely interesting post... wonderful pictures.

 

[waybomb]

Made in America; Tested in Japan.

 

[brazospete]

Boy that nuke sure took a long time to kill him!