Posted on 11/05/2007 7:46:16 AM PST by WrightOnTarget
Retired Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets, Jr., who piloted the aircraft Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb used in war, died last week at the age of 92. The life story of Tibbets, Jr. ends with a bit of what I consider a tragedy that should never again befall an American hero.
When somebody says "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" these days, they could be referring to Michael Moore and Dennis Kucinich, but 60 years ago, devices sporting those seemingly innocuous monikers caused historically unmatched destruction, and ended a long war.
There are many who believe this makes the United States the bad guy (more than usual). Example: In a special to the Los Angeles Times on the death of Tibbets, the writer could barely wait until the third paragraph before saying this:
The pilot never apologized for unleashing the devastating explosive force and insidious nuclear radiation that leveled more than two-thirds of the buildings in Hiroshima and immediately killed at least 80,000 people.
It's implied almost immediately that Tibbets should have apologized. He never did. He never even came close. Why can't Congress step in to make Enola Gay-bashing a hate crime and start a fund to give those seeking apologies for the war a free plane ticket to Tokyo where they can sit and wait for a post-mortem "I'm sorry" to emanate from the shrine of Tojo?
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
Tibbets said he doesn’t want a headstone so that protesters can use it as a target.
I think we should just apologize for the founding of this country and all the lives we saved in Europe from 1914-today fighting imperialism, Nazism and Communism.
We should apologize for sending more money overseas than we spend at home on the same programs.
We should just apologize for everything I guess.
Geez.
“The pilot never apologized for unleashing the devastating explosive force and insidious nuclear radiation that leveled more than two-thirds of the buildings in Hiroshima and immediately killed at least 80,000 people.” .................. He was given an order to accomplish a mission and he complied. It was an order from the President. That’s all there is to it. Boxcar did the same, but who remembers Carles Sweeney
Ooooops “Charles”
Second Ooooops. “Bockscar” or “Bocks Car”.
Remember, we bombed IMPERIAL Japan. Don't the peace freaks hate imperialism? Their government were milutarists, Tojo was Prime Minister. If the peace freaks were intellectually honest, they condemn them. These people allowed their government to torture people, vivsection POWs alive, use POWS and civilians for chemical and biological experiments to develop Weapons of Mass Destruction, raped Nanking and ordered the Bataan Death March.
Look at who the peace freaks side with and you'll see that they hate America every bit as much as Tojo did.
At least Tojo swung from a rope.
And oh yeah, they violated the Geneva Convention...
And oh yeah, the Japanese were racists. The considered other Asians inferior, especially the Koreans and Chinese.
Tell us What you REALLY THINK......keep in talkin’ brotha!!!!!
Tibbets has requested his ashes be scattered over the English Channel by aircraft. The area he specified is near the French coast along the route he flew as leader of the first American bombers to attack a target in Nazi occupied Europe ... August 1942. Three years before Hiroshima.
You left out “cannibals”.
He flew a plane named The Red Gremlin on those bombing runs over Europe.
In a conversation with my husband, he said he had even more pride about those raids than the one he made over Hiroshima.
You are correct. Had the full extent of Japanese behavior been known in ‘45, the question would be why didn’t we have and drop 15 of the bloody things...
I believe the present tense is more appropriate. Also it is apprlicable to most of the Asian tribes.
I imagine those missions were much more dangerous. Japan put up no defense against the Enola Gay.
And in the division of labor, the US got the daylight runs. I mean, we did night runs as well, but the burden of the daylight runs were largely ours.
WWII was the first time anyone was able to mount large scale bombing efforts. Between the wars it was generally thought here and in Europe that any formation of 'modern' bombers, each with ten or more .50's in flexible mounts, would be invincible.
Didn't quite work out that way.
And in the chill dawn when Tojo was hanged, someone said,
“Hmmm. There’s a little nip in the air this morning.”
(Paul Tibbets is an American hero. His detractors are evil.)
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