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This 1950s TV Show Put a Hiroshima Survivor Face-to-Face With One of the Men Who Dropped the Bomb

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05.10.2026

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This 1950s TV Show Put a Hiroshima Survivor Face-to-Face With One of the Men Who Dropped the Bomb

In 1955, Kiyoshi Tanimoto was blindsided on ‘This Is Your Life’ when producers introduced Robert Lewis from the ‘Enola Gay.’

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On May 11, 1955, Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto—a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing a decade earlier—appeared on the American TV series This Is Your Life. Tanimoto was there to discuss the Hiroshima Maidens, a group of 25 women who were disfigured in the attack. However, the show’s host, Ralph Edwards, had his own agenda that day. 

Early on in the broadcast, Edwards says that he’s been working behind the scenes to put together Tanimoto’s life story. Through the door located to the left of them, Edwards explains, will come many people who helped shape Tanimoto’s destiny.

Although........

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