However, he added, "If you had any brains, you knew you were working on the atomic bomb." Van Kirk, 86, who now lives in Stone Mountain, Ga., said that while the 509th was training in Wendover, Utah, no one in the know ever said anything about an atomic bomb. Pilot Paul Tibbets, who recruited Van Kirk for the Enola Gay, died Nov. Of the nine crewmen, only Van Kirk survives.
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Morris Jeppson, of Las Vegas, Nev., one of three non-crewmen aboard the Enola Gay attached to the Manhattan Project, and responsible for arming the bomb. "There's only two left, and they ended the war for us," said event promoter Martin Fasack, referring to Van Kirk and Lt. An estimated 70,000 people lost their lives in the attack on Hiroshima, but many thousands more died of the effects of radiation in the years that followed. Drake, 62, of Bolton, Conn., referring to the 509th Composite Group, a unit formed to deliver the atomic bomb.ĭrake, who lost an uncle he never knew during the invasion of Leyte Island in January 1945, credited the dropping of the atomic bomb with ending the war quicker and with less loss of life. "This man right here, and what he did as part of that 509th Group, saved so many lives it's unbelievable," said Ike J. That's exactly what it is, and there never would've been an end (to World War II) if we hadn't done this." Air Force captain who flew transport planes during the Vietnam War, said, "War is hell. "I'm convinced that what they did was a selfless act that ended up saving more lives than it took," said Earl F. "Dutch" Van Kirk had nothing but praise for the plane's navigator and his role in helping bring hostilities to an end. 6, and Nagasaki three days later to end World War II, attendees at the show who sought autographs and photos from Theodore J. In spite of the historical controversy surrounding the destruction of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, drew a crowd today at the Gun & Knife Show at the Big E's Better Living Center. By DAVID SPRINGFIELD - The last surviving crew member of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the world's first atomic bomb on Aug.