Atomic Bomb Survivor Dies at 93

A fascinating sample of the odd news I get in my email in-box because of my Google alerts set to notify me of streetcar news:

Wednesday, Jan 6, 2010 @09:48am CST

A man who survived both atomic blasts in Japan has died of stomach cancer.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi was 93 when he died Monday in Nagasaki.

On August 6th, 1945 Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip when the first bomb was dropped.

He was getting off a streetcar two miles from ground zero when the "Little Boy" bomb detonated, killing 80-thousand people and destroying the city.

Yamaguchi was burned on the upper part of his body and his eardrums were ruptured.

He returned to his hometown of Nagasaki the next day.

On August 9th Yamaguchi was in his office telling his boss about the Hiroshima blast when the second bomb called "Fat Man" detonated, killing 70-thousand people.

Yamaguchi later worked for the American occupational forces and became a teacher.

In later years he became an outspoken opponent of nuclear weapons.

Last June Yamaguchi said he wrote a letter to President Obama urging him to ban all nuclear arms.

Yamaguchi's funeral expenses will be paid for by the Japanese government.