Another Legend Gone

Brigadier General Paul Tibbetts died last week, at the age of 92. He was known to many as the pilot of the Enola Gay, the airplane that dropped the very first atomic bomb in 1945. Actually, he was much more than that. In 1944—when he was not yet 30 years old—Tibbetts was given the job of building, preparing, and commanding the team of pilots and aircraft that could drop such bombs. More than 20 years ago, I had the pleasure and honor of introducing General Tibbetts to an aviation audience. His speech that day fortified me to handle a question put to me by daughter Melanie years later. As a young adult, Melanie called one night from Germany with an interesting question. "Why," she asked, "did America drop the bomb on Japan after the war was already over?" I came back with the obvious question, "Who told you that?" "Some German students," she answered. "Melanie," said I, "you tell them the war was not over. The Germans had surrendered, but the Japanese had not. They fought fanatically on and many Americans were killed by the Japanese after Germany surrendered." It was expected that another million Americans would be killed if we had to invade Japan. Also, Melanie, remind them that we had the bomb and nobody else did. It was maybe the only time in history that one country really could have taken over the world. We didn’t. We used the bomb to end a war and never used it since. Well, Melanie went on, they say it was a racist thing. That we wouldn’t have dropped it on Caucasians. The fact is, I told her, that Paul Tibbetts was instructed to prepare a team to drop the bomb on Japan and on Berlin. Then Germany surrendered before the bomb was ready. Melanie was highly excited to get this information and eager to tell it to the German students. Before she hung up, though, she asked one more question. "Where’d you get all this information?" "Melanie," I said, "I got it first hand from General Paul Tibbetts, the man who built the team and flew the Enola Gay." Her response was gratifying. "You did not!" Yes, I did. I really believe that conversation impressed Melanie more than anything else I ever did. We'd love to post your comments. Please click the comment tab at the top.