Tsutomu Yamaguchi has a story that no one would ever want. He is the only person officially recognized by the Japanese government as surviving both atomic bombings in World War II. The 29-year-old engineer was in Hiroshima on a work trip for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries when the first atomic bomb hit on August 6, 1945. It was his last day in the city before going home to his wife and baby son in Nagasaki.
That morning, Yamaguchi was walking to the docks when he saw an American B-29 bomber flying above. He watched the plane drop a small object hanging from two parachutes. All of a sudden, the sky lit up with what he said looked like the lightning of a huge magnesium flare. Using his naval air raid training, Yamaguchi threw himself to the ground, rolled into a nearby ditch, covered his eyes with his fingers, and stuck his thumbs in his ears. The blast threw him into the air and left him with burst eardrums, temporary blindness, and serious burns on his arms and face. He was less than two miles from where the bomb went off.
