Luckiest / Unluckiest Man in Japan

On August 6, 1945 Tsutomu Yamaguchi was visiting Hiroshima, Japan on business when a United States B-29 dropped the world’s first atomic bomb.

Yamaguchi, who suffered two burst eardrums and serious burns, must have said to himself, “Holy, crap! I’m getting out of here and back home to Nagasaki where it’s safe!”

He got there just in time for the world’s second atomic bomb to be dropped. Ooops.

I think we can all agree that getting hit twice was rather unlucky —but hey, surviving? Tsutomu Yamaguchi went on to live to the ripe old age of 93 when he passed away this week.

We still debate today over whether dropping those bombs was necessary, but this is worth mentioning: Mr. Yamaguchi worked as an engineer for for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, purveyor of aircraft and ships to the Japanese government.

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