Lucky’s Unlucky Charm: Tsutomu Yamaguchi’s Tale Of Survival 

Hamna Waheed

Lahore: In the ominous August of 1945, as the sinister clouds of World War II loomed over the horizon, the United States unleashed the horrifying power of atomic bombs upon the unsuspecting cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leaving behind a trail of destruction and claiming the lives of at least 100,000 souls.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a naval engineer, was caught in one of history’s darkest moments at 29. Yamaguchi had just finished a problematic three-month business trip for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, where he had been working on a new oil tanker design.

Exhausted but eager to see his wife and infant son again after months apart, he was looking forward to the end of his journey on August 6, 1945.

As the sun set over Hiroshima, a tragedy unfolded. At around 8:15, Tsutomu Yamaguchi set out for Mitsubishi’s shipyard, unaware of the horrors awaiting him. Suddenly, an American B-29 bomber appeared and dropped a dangerous object attached to a parachute, signaling impending disaster.

Yamaguchi saw a bright light illuminate the sky, and chaos followed.

He quickly jumped into a nearby ditch to avoid getting hurt by the blast that threw him up in the air like a ragdoll. He watched as everything around him crumbled from a distance of less than two miles. 

“I didn’t know what had happened,” he later recounted. “I think I fainted for a while. When I opened my eyes, everything was dark, and I couldn’t see much. It was like the start of a film at the cinema before the picture had begun when the blank frames were just flashing up without any sound.”

Yamaguchi was hurt and covered in burns, standing amidst falling ash while a huge mushroom-shaped cloud of fire loomed in the sky above Hiroshima. 

Yamaguchi had no idea that what he had just experienced was only the beginning of an unbelievable story of survival. On his journey back to Nagasaki, fate again showed its unyielding power.

 On August 7, he made his way to the train station, surprisingly still functioning amid the devastation. The city, once lively, was now destroyed. Fires continued to burn, buildings lay in ruins, resembling skeletal structures, and the streets were filled with the haunting sight of burned bodies.

The atmosphere was heavy with unbearable sorrow. The bridges, once symbols of unity, were now twisted and destroyed.

Yamaguchi, tired from his journey, finally made it to the station. The train was full of passengers who looked exhausted and distressed. Yamaguchi boarded and settled in for the overnight ride to Nagasaki, his hometown. Despite feeling battered and emotionally drained, he was glad to be on his way home.

Yamaguchi found comfort with his wife and child upon returning home, but the world focused on the devastated Hiroshima. On August 8, Tsutomu Yamaguchi arrived in Nagasaki, his hometown, amidst an eerie morning light. He entered a medical facility, his appearance altered by severe burns on his hands and face.

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Later, when Yamaguchi, wrapped in bandages and feverish, returned home, his family struggled with disbelief. His mother experienced mixed emotions, torn between joy and disbelief, overwhelmed by the surreal situation.

On the morning of August 9th, Tsutomu Yamaguchi struggled to get out of bed. Later that morning, a company director asked him to describe what had happened in Hiroshima.

This was a difficult task for Yamaguchi, as the events he had witnessed were beyond comprehension. While he was trying to explain what had happened, the world outside suddenly changed again.

The landscape, which looked post-apocalyptic, was suddenly illuminated by an explosion of white light. Yamaguchi sensed that something terrible was about to happen and quickly dropped to the ground. Moments later, a shockwave shattered the office’s windows, and the air crackled with chaos.

 After the explosion in Nagasaki, Yamaguchi, who survived both atomic attacks, found it hard to understand what had happened. “I thought the mushroom cloud had followed me from Hiroshima,” he whispered; the words describe how Yamaguchi’s experiences serve as a haunting reminder of a life profoundly affected by the terrifying effects of nuclear destruction.

 Yamaguchi survived two nuclear explosions because the land and a substantial staircase shielded him. Despite being close to both blasts, he didn’t get badly hurt. Luck was with him both times.

As Yamaguchi approached his destroyed house, he feared the worst. But he found his wife and son alive amidst the wreckage, with only minor injuries. His wife had been looking for medicine when the Nagasaki explosion occurred. By seeking shelter in a tunnel, they unknowingly escaped a fate of tragedy that had already marked them in Hiroshima.

Surviving two atomic bombings took a toll on Yamaguchi’s health. He suffered from radiation effects—losing hair, developing gangrenous wounds, and constant vomiting.

Despite staying in a bomb shelter, he managed to survive, becoming a living reminder of Hiroshima and Nagasaki’s horrors. When Japan surrendered on August 15, he felt neither happy nor sad, almost feeling like he was close to death.

Despite his struggles, Yamaguchi showed remarkable resilience, slowly rebuilding his life. He expressed his haunting experiences through poetry and released a memoir in the 2000s, sharing his tale of survival.

In 2006, he stood before the United Nations, advocating for nuclear disarmament, stating that it was his destiny to speak out after surviving two atomic bombings. “Having experienced atomic bombings twice and survived, it is my destiny to talk about it,” he proclaimed.

Yamaguchi was the only person officially recognized as a “twice-bombed person.” He received this distinction in 2009, a year before his death at 93.

Despite facing indomitable historical forces, Yamaguchi remained resilient, leaving behind a legacy etched into humanity’s darkest chapters and transcending time and suffering. He stands as a poignant reminder of the human spirit’s strength in the face of adversity. But was surviving through fire twice, while everyone else burnt around him, fortune or misfortune? 

Hamna Waheed is an undergraduate student at Forman Christian College University.