We all have bad days. You might miss a train or spill coffee on your shirt. But one man experienced the absolute worst luck in human history and somehow lived to tell the story.
His name was Tsutomu Yamaguchi. He was a young engineer who experienced something so terrifying that it is hard to even comprehend. He is the only officially recognized person on the planet to survive two separate atomic bombings in a row. He beat the ultimate odds and proved that the human body can endure the impossible.
The First Flash of Light
In the late summer of 1945, Yamaguchi was visiting the city of Hiroshima for a simple business trip. He was actually packing his bags on the morning of August 6. He was excited to finally go home to his wife and baby. As he walked toward the train station, he heard the faint hum of an engine. He looked up and saw a single airplane drop a small object attached to a parachute.
Then the sky completely ripped open. A blinding flash of white light knocked him out cold.
When he finally opened his eyes, the entire world around him was gone. He woke up in a field of total destruction and ash. He was badly burned on his upper body and his eardrums were ruptured. But he was somehow still breathing. He crawled to a makeshift shelter and spent a terrifying night surrounded by absolute nightmare conditions. The next morning, he dragged his injured body to a surviving train station and headed straight back to his hometown to recover.
A Return to the Wrong Place
His hometown just happened to be Nagasaki.
Despite suffering from severe radiation burns and hearing loss, this incredibly dedicated man actually went right back to work just three days later. On the morning of August 9, he stood in the office of his boss. He tried to explain the massive and terrifying weapon that had just wiped out Hiroshima.
His boss refused to believe him. He told Yamaguchi he was crazy and said there was absolutely no way a single bomb could destroy an entire major city. At that exact moment, the room lit up with that exact same terrifying flash of bright white light. The second atomic bomb detonated right over the city of Nagasaki.
Beating the Ultimate Odds
The massive blast blew out the office windows and sent him flying across the room. His medical bandages were ripped right off his body by the shockwave. But because the office building was heavily reinforced with strong concrete, he actually survived the initial blast. For the second time in three days, he crawled out of the smoking rubble of a completely destroyed city.
He was poisoned by radiation and trapped in a ruined landscape. He spent the next week throwing up and suffering from high fevers while his city burned.
But Yamaguchi did not just survive those three horrific days. He went on to fully recover from his terrible injuries and lived a remarkably long and peaceful life. He raised his family and wrote poetry about his dark experiences. He eventually passed away at the age of 93. He spent his final years speaking out against nuclear weapons so that nobody else would ever have to experience his unbelievably tragic and miraculous fate.
References: History Channel, BBC News, The Guardian