“Lucky” may not be the best word to describe Tsutomu Yamaguchi, but it must apply in some sense of the word. Although “hard to kill” certainly is valid, but even Yamaguchi could not avoid the reaper forever and has died at the age of 93.
What makes Yamaguchi notable is that although others have been identified, he was the only person officially recognized to have survived the atomic bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
As the Washington Post explains:
Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip for his shipbuilding company on Aug. 6, 1945, when a U.S. B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on the city. He suffered serious burns to his upper body and spent the night in the city.
He then returned to his hometown of Nagasaki, about 300 kilometers (190 miles) southwest, which suffered a second U.S. atomic bomb attack three days later.
Although it is a tragic chapter in modern history, it would have certainly allowed Yamaguchi to place any daily irritations into a perpective very few of us can comprehend.
T. Keith Edmunds
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thebanana
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Colin