A Hero to Remember ~ Brigadier General Paul Tibbets
The Passing of a Hero
Paul Tibbets
February 23, 1915 - November 1, 2007
This morning the early news told me that Paul Tibbets had died. He was 92 years old, so it is the death of the aged. But, it was also the death of one of my heroes.
Last year, I stood in front of the Enola Gay at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum and discovered a catch in my throat and the beginning of tears. I was looking at something that represented so much - including the fact that I was born and standing there. My father was a bombardier scheduled to be sent to the Pacific where bombardiers were not known for longevity.
Paul Tibbets left his second year of medical school to join the Army Air Corps. What he really wanted to do was fly. In 1942 he was named commanding officer of the 340th Bomb Squadron of B-17 Flying Fortresses, which operated out of Britain against Nazi Germany. In September 1944, Tibbets, then already a colonel, was chosen to head the special air unit that would carry out "Project Alberta" – the codename for the plan to deliver the atomic weapon that was being developed at Los Alamos, New Mexico, under the ultra-secret Manhattan Project. He set up the training of 1,500 enlisted men and 200 officers to prepare for the ultra-secret mission.
On August 6, the Enola Gay - named for Paul Tibbets mother - a B-29 Superfortress, with her cargo of the atomic bomb 'Little Boy", took off from Tinian island in the Northern Marianas for the six-hour flight north to Hiroshima. History was made that day.
"I'm proud I was able to start with nothing, plan it and have it work as perfectly as it did," he said years later. "You've got to take stock and assess the situation at that time. We were at war, and you use anything at your disposal. There are no Marquess of Queensberry rules in war". And, he added, "I sleep clearly every night."
Paul Tibbets retired as a Brigadier General in the Air Force in 1966. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1996. His awards include Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, Purple Heart, Legion of Merit, European Campaign Medal, Joint Staff Commendation Medal, American Defense Service Medal, W.W.II Victory Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, American Campaign Medal.
Today the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have become quite controversial. It was a controversy that was not lost on Paul Tibbets. He requested no funeral and no burial. He did not want an event or a place that would provide detractors with a place to protest. He requested his ashes be scattered across the English channel where he flew so many missions.
Detractors were nothing new for Paul Tibbets. After the war, he was dogged by rumors claiming he was in prison or had committed suicide. "They said I was crazy, said I was a drunkard, in and out of institutions," he said. "At the time, I was running the National Crisis Center at the Pentagon." Today's childish criticism can only be waged without the prism of history. His actions saved hundreds of thousands of American troops, Japanese troops and Japanese civilians, preventing an invasion of the Empire of Japan. And, allowing even more of us to be born at all.
If you would like to have a sense of this amazing American, I strongly recommend the book DUTY by Bob Greene. This is an amazing peak into the lives of the men who won the war .
Last year, I stood in front of the Enola Gay at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum and discovered a catch in my throat and the beginning of tears. I was looking at something that represented so much - including the fact that I was born and standing there. My father was a bombardier scheduled to be sent to the Pacific where bombardiers were not known for longevity.
Paul Tibbets left his second year of medical school to join the Army Air Corps. What he really wanted to do was fly. In 1942 he was named commanding officer of the 340th Bomb Squadron of B-17 Flying Fortresses, which operated out of Britain against Nazi Germany. In September 1944, Tibbets, then already a colonel, was chosen to head the special air unit that would carry out "Project Alberta" – the codename for the plan to deliver the atomic weapon that was being developed at Los Alamos, New Mexico, under the ultra-secret Manhattan Project. He set up the training of 1,500 enlisted men and 200 officers to prepare for the ultra-secret mission.
On August 6, the Enola Gay - named for Paul Tibbets mother - a B-29 Superfortress, with her cargo of the atomic bomb 'Little Boy", took off from Tinian island in the Northern Marianas for the six-hour flight north to Hiroshima. History was made that day.
"I'm proud I was able to start with nothing, plan it and have it work as perfectly as it did," he said years later. "You've got to take stock and assess the situation at that time. We were at war, and you use anything at your disposal. There are no Marquess of Queensberry rules in war". And, he added, "I sleep clearly every night."
Paul Tibbets retired as a Brigadier General in the Air Force in 1966. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1996. His awards include Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, Purple Heart, Legion of Merit, European Campaign Medal, Joint Staff Commendation Medal, American Defense Service Medal, W.W.II Victory Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, American Campaign Medal.
Today the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have become quite controversial. It was a controversy that was not lost on Paul Tibbets. He requested no funeral and no burial. He did not want an event or a place that would provide detractors with a place to protest. He requested his ashes be scattered across the English channel where he flew so many missions.
Detractors were nothing new for Paul Tibbets. After the war, he was dogged by rumors claiming he was in prison or had committed suicide. "They said I was crazy, said I was a drunkard, in and out of institutions," he said. "At the time, I was running the National Crisis Center at the Pentagon." Today's childish criticism can only be waged without the prism of history. His actions saved hundreds of thousands of American troops, Japanese troops and Japanese civilians, preventing an invasion of the Empire of Japan. And, allowing even more of us to be born at all.
If you would like to have a sense of this amazing American, I strongly recommend the book DUTY by Bob Greene. This is an amazing peak into the lives of the men who won the war .
When author Bob Greene went home to visit his dying father, he learned about his father, about his generation from the quiet man who lived just a few miles away, a man who had changed the history of the world. It is much a portrait of the ingrained sense of duty and honor of the generation that fought WWII. The loss of Paul Tibbets has inspired me to read this book again. It is a connection to another time, another sense of honor and duty - yet one I see so clearly in the warriors of today.
Thank you, Paul Tibbets. Thank you for what you did for our country, thank you for ending the war, thank you for all of the lives you saved and all of us you allowed to be born. You will always be my hero. Farewell, and Walk with God.
Thank you, Paul Tibbets. Thank you for what you did for our country, thank you for ending the war, thank you for all of the lives you saved and all of us you allowed to be born. You will always be my hero. Farewell, and Walk with God.
5 comments:
SO well done, Flag Gazer. Thank you!
You said: I stood in front of the Enola Gay at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum...
The Udvar-Hazy annex has been high on my "To Do" list ever since it opened. Maybe this year, or next, I'll finally move it to the top of the priority list. Time is getting short.
Well worth the trip - it is an amazing place!
It's sad that Tibbets felt he had to be cremated and his ashes scattered so that anti-war loonies wouldn't be able to protest at his grave.
The two atomic bombs dropped on Japan saved countless lives and helped us create a deterrent that prevented another World War with the Soviets.
I guess it would be expecting too much for these "peace" loons to realize just how messed up their outlook is. The only "peace" they would give us is the peace of the grave.
Mike -
It is a shame, but I respect him for refusing to give into them even in death.
Paul Tibbets knew more about peace than the whole lot of the angry, violent peacenics do.
The Japanese and the protesters ought to consider how many died in the fire bombing of Tokyo, et al, compared to the relatively few to died from the nukes. And, of course, there are all those Japanese that didn't die because we had to invade Japan.
BTW: No Pearl Harbor no Nukes on Japanese cities.
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