The vast majority have expressed gratitude that the 509th Composite group consisting of 1,700 men, 15 B-29s and six C-54s were able to deliver the bombs that ended the war. Tibbets: “In the past sixty years since Hiroshima I have received many letters from people all over the world. We have no regrets.†They have steadfastly taken that stance for the past six decades.Ĭomments Brigadier General Paul W. Jeppson (weapon test officer), have repeatedly and humbly proclaimed that, “The use of the atomic weapon was a necessary moment in history. “Dutch†Van Kirk (navigator) and Morris R. The surviving members of the Enola Gay crew, Paul W. To spare the world a horrific invasion and to save American, Allied and Japanese lives was literally the only course of prudent action. The availability of those weapons in the American arsenal left President Truman no choice but to use them. The second atomic weapon was delivered over Nagasaki by the B-29 Superfortress Bocks Car three days later. On August 6, 1945, the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on the island of Hiroshima hoping to expedite the end of World War II. Winston Churchill concurred with the decision saying, “To avert a vast, indefinite butchery (the invasion), to bring the war to an end, give peace to world, to lay healing hands upon its tortured peoples…at the cost of a few explosions, seemed after all our toils and perils, a miracle of deliverance.†An invasion that would have cost tens of thousands of Japanese and Allied lives. It was his decision and his hope to avoid an invasion of the Japanese homeland. Truman approved the order to use the atomic bomb. Secretary of War Henry Stimson wrote, “The decision to use the atomic bomb…was our least abhorrent choice.†While it is certainly unfortunate this course of action was necessary, for the Allies, at that moment in time, there was no other choice. Together with Great Britain’s Churchill, and Russia’s Stalin, the President of the United States urged the Japanese to “… proclaim the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces…The alternative,†they said, “for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.†Ignoring the obvious military situation, the Japanese Prime Minister Baron Kantaro Suzuki issued the Japanese refusal to surrender which included these words: “… there is no other recourse but to ignore it (the surrender demand) entirely and resolutely fight for the successful conclusion of the war.†President Truman made one last demand, one final appeal. The summer of 1945 was indeed an anxious one as Allied and American forces gathered for the inevitable invasion of the Japanese homeland. This year, 2005, marks the sixtieth year since the end of World War II. On this occasion, the surviving members of the Enola Gay crew would like the opportunity to issue a joint statement. Tibbets, Theodore “Dutch†Van Kirk, & Morris R.