Hiroshima survivor meets enola gay pilot
He was never forgotten, however, and never would be. Here, some of the people still try to remember and honor those who have served, and those serving now.When Paul Tibbets died in January 2007, he had been retired from the Air Force since 1966. Memorial Day in California is nothing, just a day off. "People here in the South appreciate the military and veterans more. Three years ago, he moved to Stone Mountain after spending 28 years in California. "I found out private industry can be a lot like the military - a lot of politics - but DuPont was good to me, and I'm still living on my pension from them," he said. He earned degrees in chemical engineering and went to work for DuPont. Only this time, he flew just one mission.Īfter the war ended, Van Kirk said he considered staying in the service, but after seeing commands going to young West Point graduates rather than experienced war veterans, he decided to leave and go back to college. So after 58 bombing missions in Europe, he was back off to war, this time in the Pacific. I said, 'Sure, we've all heard that one before.' But he told me this was really different," Van Kirk said. "He asked if I wanted to be in on something that could end the war. Soon after, Van Kirk was contacted by Tibbets, who had been chosen to select crews for the atomic bomb missions being planned. Dwight Eisenhower on missions to North Africa, and then were sent home and broken up to train new crews. bombing missions over Europe from England. They trained together and later crewed together in B-17s flying the first U.S. There he first met pilot Paul Tibbets and bombardier Thomas Ferebee. Soon he found himself in Florida with the 97th Bomber Group, 340th Squadron. He was going to volunteer to fly for Britain, but a captain talked him into staying in the Army and going to navigator school instead. He wanted to be a pilot but washed out in training. I didn't want to get drafted into the infantry, so I joined the Army Air Force," he said. "I could see the war in Europe and knew it was coming to us. Van Kirk grew up in Pennsylvania and went to college for a year before enlisting about a year before the U.S. That's because their teachers and parents don't know. That's when we and the Germans fought the Russians.' One boy waved his hand and said, 'I do, I do. "I went to a high school not long ago and asked the students if they knew anything about World War II. "I probably speak three or four times a month now," Van Kirk said. Now, Van Kirk, the last surviving member of the 12-man crew that flew to Hiroshima that day, speaks to veterans groups, high schools, civic clubs and any others who will listen to his story. casualties if Japan's home islands had to be invaded and conquered with ground forces. They were going to have to invade Japan, and the losses, ours and theirs, would have been so much worse."Įstimates at the time were that there might be a million U.S. There's not a GI who was over there in the Pacific then who will say we shouldn't have dropped it. "It was war, and all war is awful, but it ended the war. In the years since, many have questioned the morality of the United States' use of the atomic bomb.īut Van Kirk has never doubted it was the right thing to do. It didn't immediately, and three days later a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki by another crew in another B-29. It was hoped that the weapon developed in the top-secret Manhattan project would bring an end to the war.
that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. Van Kirk was the navigator for the special crew of the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress Bomber captained by Paul Tibbets Jr. He went to Middle Georgia last week to commemorate another Memorial Day weekend, his 88th, to help others remember and to be sure the record is straight. to meet people and sign books about the Enola Gay. Veteran Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk will be at Majestic Frames, 2507 Moody Road, in Warner Robins today from noon until 2:30 p.m.
Though he left the military soon after World War II, he's never forgotten those days or his final bombing mission. It has been nearly 64 years since Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk helped make history and end a war.