Pilot of Plane That Dropped A-Bomb Dies

Associated Press ^ | November 1, 2007 | JULIE CARR SMYTH

[NCDragon]

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Paul Tibbets, who piloted the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Thursday. He was 92 and insisted almost to his dying day that he had no regrets about the mission and slept just fine at night. Tibbets died at his Columbus home, said Gerry Newhouse, a longtime friend. He suffered from a variety of health problems and had been in decline for two months. Tibbets had requested no funeral and no headstone, fearing it would provide his detractors with a place to protest, Newhouse said. Tibbets' historic mission in the plane named for his mother marked the beginning of the end of World War II and eliminated the need for what military planners feared would have been an extraordinarily bloody invasion of Japan. It was the first use of a nuclear weapon in wartime.

[ozzymandus]

There’s a movie about Tibbets starring Robert Taylor. It may appear on one of the movie channels soon.

[driftdiver]

Was at the air and space museum yesterday. Saw the plane there. They had a large plexiglass shield on the walkway over the plane. Not sure what that shield is for but its sad they needed it.

It was humbling to stand next to it and realize how much it changed the world.

[Cacique]

btt

[Kirkwood]

The Japanese has a very odd and distorted sense of history. I have many Japanese friends and have spent some time there. They were initially very shocked that I as an American knew far more about their history than they ever learned themselves in school. If you visit their museums, you will learn about mythological figures in their “history” - but almost nothing about specific real people. It would be as if we went to the Smithsonian and saw displays on Santa Claus, Johnny Appleseed, and Paul Bunyan, but nothing on George Washington or Daniel Boone.

You will see displays on samurai, tea ceremonies, theater, and calligraphy, but any information beyond the most superficial explanations are usually missing. When you ask questions of the museum personnel about the history of their military, of their shrines and religion, or the basis of everyday culture, you get a lot of blank looks and embarrassment because they simply don't know.

[Barney Gumble]

The “Greatest Generation” and their parents would have been enraged to discover a cabal satisfied their moral orthodoxy by condemning over 500,000 Americans who might otherwise have been saved.

How many Americans would have been saved in Iraq had we not taken a harder line... finish Fallujah on the 1st go, etc.

Tibbets was a hero who did a job that need to be done but certainly wouldn't be easy.

Requiescat In Pace, General Tibbets.

[RaceBannon]

I agree, but what most people don’t emphasise enough, IMHO, is that our methods of bombardment and invasion preparation would have killed so many more Japanese than invaders, the A-Bombs saved Japan.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“He was 92 and insisted almost to his dying day that he had no regrets about the mission and slept just fine at night.”

My kind of guy. He saved countless lives in the long run.

My Grandpa, a Machinist from Milwaukee, WI worked on building those bombs. :)

[Sam Clements]

Is there any doubt that the final bombings of Japan saved many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of American and Japanese lives. People who were there seemed to have realized this. Current day critics don’t know what they are talking about.

I have often noticed that modern Germans seem to carry unnecessary guilt for their country’s roll in WW2. I also notice that modern Japanese seem to carry little or no guilt. What is the reason for this? It may be cultural and it may be partly racsist in the sense that America is largely built on the European culture and Americans are not reluctant to blame others from the same culture. While many Japanese descendants are Americans, the European descendants among us are not willing to blame or judge actions of a different culture. Seems to me that Germans should lighten up on their burden a little, and Japanese should be more willing to own up to their responsibility in WW2 and to denounce it. Then we all move forward.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

There was huge, huge hospital built in Fort Clayton, Canal Zone, known as “Building 519.” It was in preparation to receive the wounded as we went island hopping in the Pacific to finish the war against Japan.

But then, a wonderful thing happened. We dropped a bomb on Hiroshima and few days later on Nagasaki.

Building 519 never had to be used as a hospital. There was a little outpatient clinic at one end, and the rest was used as an office building.

Thank goodness for the atomic bomb.

[wtc911]

http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V1/ch13.htm

It's a long read but a good look at Operation Downfall and its components, Olympic and Coronet. It's a damn good thing we never had to follow through...

[onedoug]

He should be buried at Arlington. Let the pinkos and reds protest there.

Thanks, Paul Tibbets. I may not have had the chance to live without you.

"...I put out my hand,
And touched the face of God."

[2CAVTrooper]

Rest in peace sir.

[RayChuang88]

Farewell to a great American military veteran who may have saved over one million American lives and maybe 12-14 times that in Japanese lives.

[Fresh Wind]

Paul Tibbets was a member of the greatest team fielded by the greatest generation. Farewell, you will not be forgotten.

[BuffaloJack]

Our country has lost someone who actually was a hero.

[Doomonyou]

RIP

[Cailleach]

maybe there was a reason for you not being able to send the “family” 1st Halloween costume for the little man, and the only choices at the costume shop so last minute were a skunk or a WWII bomber pilot. He was adorable in his little goggles last night!

[Doomonyou]

[back row (L-R) ] Major Ferebee, Captain Van Kirk, Colonel Tibbets, Captain Lewis

Staff Sgt. Caron, Sgt. Stiborik, Staff Sgt. Duzenbury, Pvt. 1st Class Nelson, Sgt. Shumard

[Freee-dame]

God bless you Paul, we owe you a lot.

Because of you, my WW2 Navy father came home from the Pacific alive. Rest in peace.

[Freee-dame]

I have often noticed that modern Germans seem to carry unnecessary guilt for their country’s roll in WW2. I also notice that modern Japanese seem to carry little or no guilt. What is the reason for this?

Hitler made so many movies of his atrocities that it is hard for people to be unaware that he was extremely evil. Stalin and Hirohito did not do that kind of documentation, thus many younger people have not seen pictures of their barbarism. Perhaps this is part of the reason that two generations do not know much about Japanese or Soviet war crimes.