Last Surviving Crew Member of the Enola Gay Passes Away

[Misty44]

Originally Posted by zabdart

We will forever be ambivalent about the atomic bomb, its use against Japan and the age of fear it ushered in. As someone who lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis, I am grateful every night that the bomb was never used again.

I know what you mean, but there was little or no ambivalence concerning those fighting the war at the time. Someone from my generation asked my father (a carrier fighter pilot in the Pacific) about his feelings regarding the bombs and his response was - I believe - typical of his generation: thank God for the Manhattan Project and Truman's resolve to drop what it wrought; they saved untolled lives (on both sides), and the President would have faced impeachment if he hadn't used what was at his disposal to prevent American deaths, regardless of means.

The ambivalence is ours, not theirs: by any means necessary. LeMay and his B-29's have the dubious distinction of killing more people in a single raid than any other during the war on any side: 100,000+ during the firebombing of Tokyo, perhaps a million more left homeless after that. Crude but effective firebombs mass produced by the thousands. If he hadn't exhausted the stockpile, he claimed he would have burned down the entire country. Of course if Japan had won the war, LeMay would have been charged as a war criminal for Tokyo alone.

[Silly Moustache]

The bombing of civilian targets started in WW1 - my grandfather was decapitated on June 13th 1917 -a victim of the first bomber aeroplane raid on London.

My parents went all through the battle of Britain when Britain stood alone, but prevailed.
Later in that war, the allies carpet bombed Germany and occupied cites killing thousands.
To this day the justification for this is argued.

Then, about two weeks before the Japanese would have had to retreat from China, and other areas, the A bombs were dropped killing so many.
This would have been a major war-crime - had not the Japanese lost.

As we write, bombs and missiles are killing civilians in the middle east.

As appalling and questionable as this strategy is - very few wars have not killed civilians ..... which doesn't justify it.

[Tony from Tulsa]

War has never been a tidy business. Especially when warring factions hide behind and blend in with the civilian population.

[Wadcutter]

The last time I looked the purpose of war is to break things and kill people, and that's exactly what we (USA) did to win the war against global tyranny.