A 93-year-old man who has been fighting for years to have himself officially listed as a double A-bomb victim ID has achieved his goal:

“As far as we know, it is the first time that a dual exposure to atomic bombings has been entered into an A-bomb survivor’s ID,” said officials of the prefectural and municipal governments of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has not confirmed the existence of a dual hibakusha.

According to the Nagasaki Municipal Government, Yamaguchi was three kilometers from Ground Zero in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, while on a business trip as an engineer for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works. He sustained heavy burns on the left side of his upper body.

On the following day, he was exposed to residual radiation when he passed through an area within two kilometers of Ground Zero in order to catch a train to evacuate the city.

He returned to the city of Nagasaki on Aug. 8, only a day before he was again exposed to the atomic bombing at about three kilometers away from Ground Zero. On Aug. 13, he entered near Ground Zero to search his relatives and was exposed to residual radiation. His dual exposure to both atomic bombings was newly verified by accounts of another atomic bomb survivor.

The new status, however, will not entitle him to more aid benefits than he had previously received as a non-dual hibakusha.

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