Jesus Christ. Goddamn. The reaper is probably walking a little bit differently today. With a limp and only one good eye. The only man to survive both the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bomb blasts died on Monday.
Just think about that. Think about the horror of surviving one atomic bomb blast, then coming back, still reeling from it, and encountering another. I can’t fathom it. Nobody can, except someone who’s lived through it.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi was only two miles from the epicenter of the blast at Hiroshima, there on a business trip. He was blinded temporarily, lost the hearing in his right ear, and was burned badly. He then went back home to Nagaski, and was telling his supervisor about the experiences he had when the second bomb was dropped. He then didn’t talk publicly about his experiences until about 2005, after his second son died of stomach cancer. He later spoke out against nuclear weapons, lending his voice to the UN documentary, Twice Bombed, and was visited in the hospital by James Cameron, apparently regarding a movie about his life.
He suffered from radiation poisoning and had medical problems for most of his life. But there are some of us made of something stronger than sinew and bone. This man was one of those.
Rest in peace, Tsutomu.
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