Paul Tibbets; Someone everyone should know

Posted By Deebow

The world is an emptier place today.  AP wires carried this story a little over an hour ago.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Paul Tibbets, who piloted the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Thursday. He was 92 and insisted for six decades after the war that he had no regrets about the mission and slept just fine at night.

Paul Tibbets lead and participated in one of the top 5 (in my opinion) events of the 20th Century and probably one of the top 10 events in human history.  He was genuinely low key about it.

"I knew when I got the assignment it was going to be an emotional thing," Tibbets told The Columbus Dispatch for a story published on the 60th anniversary of the bombing. "We had feelings, but we had to put them in the background. We knew it was going to kill people right and left. But my one driving interest was to do the best job I could so that we could end the killing as quickly as possible."

The entire story is here.  Der Spiegel did an interview in 2005 with Theodore Van Kirk, the navigator of the Enola Gay that is pretty good.

And even in his waning hours, Paul was low-key.

Tibbets had requested no funeral and no headstone, fearing it would provide his detractors with a place to protest, Newhouse said.

And we all remember the revisionists wanted to ensure the Smithsonian didn't have anything positive to say about this historic event that saved the lives of millions of our fighting men who would have perished in trying to invade Japan.  The hippies from the Baby Boom generation who scream about "NO NUKES!" and protest the war in Iraq will never know the sacrifices made by these men to ensure their liberty to disrespect their country.  Many of the men that would become their fathers would not be here today without dropping these bombs.

Although there are those, thankfully in the majority, that chose another path.  It is also another point to my theory that warriors are born to warriors.

Tibbets is survived by his wife, Andrea, and two sons, Paul and Gene, as well as a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A grandson named after Tibbets followed his grandfather into the military as a B-2 bomber pilot stationed in Belgium.

He knew the cost of war and what he was doing.  He also knew that he could save lives by dropping this bomb. 

Is there any doubt that he was part of the "Greatest Generation?"  He retired from the Air Force in 1966 at the rank of Brigadier General and then ran his own air taxi service, from which he retired in 1985.

This is one of the last pictures of General Tibbets with this immortal aircraft in 2003.

God rest your immortal soul Paul, and thank you for ensuring that "this nation shall not perish from this earth."

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Paul Tibbets; Someone everyone should know

The world is an emptier place today.  AP wires carried this story a little over an hour ago.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Paul Tibbets, who piloted the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Thursday. He was 92 and insisted for six decades after the war that he had no regrets about the mission and slept just fine at night.

Paul Tibbets lead and participated in one of the top 5 (in my opinion) events of the 20th Century and probably one of the top 10 events in human history.  He was genuinely low key about it.

"I knew when I got the assignment it was going to be an emotional thing," Tibbets told The Columbus Dispatch for a story published on the 60th anniversary of the bombing. "We had feelings, but we had to put them in the background. We knew it was going to kill people right and left. But my one driving interest was to do the best job I could so that we could end the killing as quickly as possible."

The entire story is here.  Der Spiegel did an interview in 2005 with Theodore Van Kirk, the navigator of the Enola Gay that is pretty good.

And even in his waning hours, Paul was low-key.

Tibbets had requested no funeral and no headstone, fearing it would provide his detractors with a place to protest, Newhouse said.

And we all remember the revisionists wanted to ensure the Smithsonian didn't have anything positive to say about this historic event that saved the lives of millions of our fighting men who would have perished in trying to invade Japan.  The hippies from the Baby Boom generation who scream about "NO NUKES!" and protest the war in Iraq will never know the sacrifices made by these men to ensure their liberty to disrespect their country.  Many of the men that would become their fathers would not be here today without dropping these bombs.

Although there are those, thankfully in the majority, that chose another path.  It is also another point to my theory that warriors are born to warriors.

Tibbets is survived by his wife, Andrea, and two sons, Paul and Gene, as well as a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A grandson named after Tibbets followed his grandfather into the military as a B-2 bomber pilot stationed in Belgium.

He knew the cost of war and what he was doing.  He also knew that he could save lives by dropping this bomb. 

Is there any doubt that he was part of the "Greatest Generation?"  He retired from the Air Force in 1966 at the rank of Brigadier General and then ran his own air taxi service, from which he retired in 1985.

This is one of the last pictures of General Tibbets with this immortal aircraft in 2003.

God rest your immortal soul Paul, and thank you for ensuring that "this nation shall not perish from this earth."

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» Into The Wild Blue Yonder from Op For
Brigadier General Paul Tibbets, the pilot of Enola Gay, slipped the surly bonds today at the age of 92. B5 has a good post and good links. He ought to be remembered for what he was-- a fine American who... [Read More]