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About a million German civilians died in Allied bombing over a period of several years. The vast majority of these were after March 9 1945. The last survivor of its crew, Theodore Van Kirk, died on 28. It is estimated that 600,000 Japanese civilians died In the B-29 campaign, 80 of those from non-nuclear attacks. I don't want to hear any discussion of morality. Since 2003, the entire restored B-29 has been on display at NASMs Steven F. "I remember the shock to our nation that all of this brought. I remember Pearl Harbor and all of the Japanese atrocities." The next interviewee is Commander Frederick Ashworth, who was part of the crew that dropped the second atom bomb on Nagasaki. The Colonel then describes his experiences in a very calm way. He was a radarman on the Enola Gay and performed the same duties on Bockscar.īeser would later write that "No, I feel no sorrow or remorse for whatever small role I played. The clip opens with an interview with Colonel Paul Tebbits, the officer in charge of the bomb group that dropped the Hiroshima Bomb. Jacob Beser would be the only one to see the aftermath of both explosions. 9, when a B-29 called "Bockscar" dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki.Īrmy Air Forces 2nd Lt. The crew also hoped that the bomb would never be used again but it was, three days later on Aug.
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Such a terrible waste, such a loss of life." Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk, of Northumberland, Pa., later said that "I honestly believe the use of the atomic bomb saved lives in the long run, but I pray no man will have to witness that sight again. troops who were then preparing for the invasion of Japan.Ĭapt. It had hastened the end of the war and saved the lives of U.S. Lewis, Caron and the others, however, would later say they had no regrets about dropping the bomb. "I honestly have the feeling of groping for words to explain this or I might say, my God, what have we done?" Everyone on the ship is actually dumbstruck even though we had expected something fierce." ''If I live a hundred years, I'll never quite get these few minutes out of my mind. He was on the crew of the Enola Gay, which dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan. He was keeping a log of the flight, scribbling on the backs of old War Department forms. Theodore 'Dutch' Van Kirk dies in Georgia at age 93, his daughter confirms. It was about that time that Tibbets turned the airplane around, so that everybody could get a look at it." Flames in different spots would be springing up. "And fires, I could see fires spring up through this undercast, or whatever you would call it, that was covering the city. It looked like bubbling molasses, let's say, spreading out and running up into the foothills, just covering the whole city." I could see the city, and it was being covered with this low, bubbling mass. "As we got further away, I could see the city then, not just the mushroom, coming up.