American Hero, Paul Tibbets, Has Died

[KenH]

US pilot who dropped Hiroshima bomb dies

Thu Nov 1, 2007 12:30pm EDT

CHICAGO, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the U.S. bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan on Aug. 6, 1945, died on Thursday at age 92, a newspaper reported.

Tibbets, who died at his home in Columbus, Ohio, had suffered strokes and was ill from heart failure, the Columbus Dispatch said in its online edition.

An experienced pilot who had flown some of the first bombing missions over Germany during World War Two, Tibbets was a 30-year-old colonel commanding the Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress bomber named for his mother.

After a six-hour flight to Japan, Tibbets' crew dropped the bomb, code-named "Little Boy," over Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m.

- rest at
www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN01432398

 

[hillclimber1]

I wonder what his spiritual condition was.

 

[KenH]

“I viewed my mission as one to save lives. I didn’t bomb Pearl Harbor. I didn’t start the war, but I was going to finish it.” - Paul Tibbets

Amen. Rest in peace.

More at www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/obituaries/01cnd-tibbets.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&hp&oref=slogin.​

 

[Magnetic Poles]

I don't know that I would call his act heroic. I have mixed feelings over the US using nuclear weapons on civilians, even in this case. Tibbets place in history was probably more a matter of circumstance & timing than anything else. Even though the bombing hastened the war's inevitable end, I would have a hard time justifying and living with having dropped this horrible weapon on the population of a city.

 

[Baptist Believer]

Even though the bombing hastened the war's inevitable end, I would have a hard time justifying and living with having dropped this horrible weapon on the population of a city.

While the bomb took many lives (perhaps up to 100,000 per city over the years), it saved millions of Japanese lives, American lives, and the lives of those who were living under the brutal reign of the Japanese military.

The fire bombings of Dresden and Tokyo killed more people than the atomic bomb attacks. The atomic bomb merely signaled to the Japanese leadership that Americans could now destroy cities with just one plane and one device instead of swarms of planes over the course of hours.

The Germans and especially the Japanese began the targeting of civilians during World War II (the Japanese massacred enormous numbers of Chinese civilians) and the United States and Britain eventually targeted the industrial and political centers (including cities) of enemy nations in an effort to cripple the ability and the will of the enemy nations to pursue war.

As a child, my mother lived under German-controlled areas and spent long hours in the bomb shelters under the barrage of Allied bombing. She has never forgotten the fear and intensity of those times.

But I am convinced that the dropping of the atomic bombs was a horrible thing, but unfortunately, quite necessary. The Japanese did not have any intention of surrendering before the bombs were dropped, and were dismissive of the ability of the Americans to drop a second bomb. It was only after a second bomb was dropped a couple of days after the first that surrender was even considered. And the emperor had to break the stalemate with his decision to surrender.

 

[Aaron]

I don't know that I would call his act heroic.

Never thought I'd agree with anything you said.

It was a necessary act, but this wasn't an act of heroism. If hero status goes to someone for bombing Japan, it should go to Truman.

 

[rbell]

Tibbet's son lives about 10 minutes from me.

His father never thought of himself as a hero. As his son says, "He was just doing the job he was given to do." I'm sure that attitude served him well in dealing with it over the years.

Did you know that Japan actually put a price on Tibbet's head? He received special protection for years after the war. (forgive me if that's in the article...can't get the link to fire. Gene (his son) said on one occasion that his dad took the threat in stride.

Hope the protesters will keep away during this time. Regardless of how one feels about nuclear weapons, I hope they will let the family bury their dead. (or cremate & spread ashes...which is what they plan to do).

 

[carpro]

Even though the bombing hastened the war's inevitable end, I would have a hard time justifying and living with having dropped this horrible weapon on the population of a city.

I wouldn't and don't. In the end it saved lives, Japanese and American.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

Tibbets has requested an unmarked grave, to prevent vandalism & other attacks.

I think he accepted his place in history with grace.

 

[webdog]

Never thought I'd agree with anything you said.

It was a necessary act, but this wasn't an act of heroism. If hero status goes to someone for bombing Japan, it should go to Truman.

I never thought I would agree with you! :laugh:

 

[Joseph M. Smith]

Part of the aftermath of the war continues to be spiritual confusion in Japan. Shinto is being replaced by all kinds of things. Here is an interesting article on the dozens of new religions that are springing up in Japan.

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19806/japan-cults

 

[KenH]

Tibbets is a hero to me. I think that knowing what his plane was carrying and knowing they had best hurry out of the way after it was dropped would have been extremely unnerving to we lesser mortals.