General Paul Tibbets died at age 92 November 1.
     The most famous pilot of the Second World War, General Tibbets was also considered the best pilot in America when he was selected to be commander of the Enola Gay, a B29 named after his mother that dropped the first atomic bomb above Hiroshima, Japan on August 6,1945.
     Today while few remember the name of the man who piloted a second B29 above Nagasaki three days later on August 9, 1945, Paul Tibbets in many quarters is still a household name. whenever the subject is raised.
     Although he lived longer than almost anybody else from that era, General Tibbets avoided the spotlight and didn’t go on to further fortune.
     General Tibbets also never said that he was sorry for his part in Hiroshima.
     In fact when General Tibbets was 87 he went on the record about Hiroshima with the writer Studs Terkel telling why he had no regrets, and why he wouldn't hesitate to use atomic weapons again. Tibbets also revealed that he had been ordered to drop a third A Bomb above Japan.
     “I got into the air corps to defend the United States to the best of my ability.
     “That's what I believe in and that's what I work for.
     “At 29 years of age I was so shot in the ass with confidence I didn't think there was anything I couldn't do.
     “Of course, that applied to airplanes and people.
     “So, no, I had no problem with it.
     “I knew we did the right thing.
     “I thought, yes, we're going to kill a lot of people, but by God we're going to save a lot of lives.
     “We won't have to invade [Japan].
     “Later after no word of surrender from Japan even after Nagasaki I got a phone call from General Curtis LeMay [chief of staff of the strategic air forces in the Pacific].
     He said,” "You got another one of those damn things?"
     I said, "Yessir."
     He said, "Where is it?"
     I said, "Over in Utah."
     He said, "Get it out here.
     “You and your crew are going to fly it."
     I said, "Yessir."
     “I sent word back and the crew loaded it on an airplane and we headed back to bring it right on out to Tinian.
     “By the time we reached California the war was over.
     “I wouldn't hesitate (given) the choice to do it all over again.”
     General Paul Tibbets, a patriot and the ultimate warrior, was laid to rest in Illinois at a simple gravesite without headstone.
Geoffrey

Endpiece

     It occurred 89 years ago on the 11th day of the 11th month at 11 O’Clock—the exact moment that the “war to end all wars”—WW I was officially over.
     My Gramp told me he believed “that was it,” for armed conflict returning home from France to Toledo, Ohio while dumping his uniform for civilian clothes.
     My Dad came back from WW II and took off his U.S. Navy uniform and was sure of the same thing—“there can never be another war like this,” he said.
     When I came back after having been drafted for two years into the U.S. Army, my Gramp was watching down from above and both my Dad and I were not so sure of anything anymore.
     Now my Dad and Gramp are somewhere else and I think I’m damn glad my boys are old enough not to have to go to war.
     I read what the guy who dropped the big bomb says here and know I cannot pretend to be that tough or defensive.
     Outside, the leaves crunch under my feet and a breeze blowing down all day from Canada has the air filled with an autumnal snap like the first quaff of 2007 Beaujolais Nouveau that Lufthansa just jetted into my town.
     It is good to be alive in New York City today.
     I’m proud and glad to be an American and to have served this wonderful country although I wish all our armed forces were safe in our embrace right now.
Geoffrey