PDA

View Full Version : RIP Paul Tibbets



JB in so cal
11-01-2007, 09:35 AM
Enola Gay B-29 Pilot Was 92
It was one moment in time, that brought about an end to war... the annihilation of a city, and a large portion of its population... and both fame and infamy to Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. The dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 8, 1945 changed the world forever -- and left Tibbets, who flew the B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay" that dropped that bomb, with no regrets.
"I knew when I got the assignment it was going to be an emotional thing," Tibbets recounted to The Columbus Dispatch for a story 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."
Tibbets passed away Thursday in Columbus, at the age of 92, according to friend Gerry Newhouse. To the very end, Tibbets had to ward off protestors who criticized him for his role in the destruction of a city, and the loss of between 70,000 and 100,000 people.
Per his own request, Tibbets will have no funeral, and no headstone -- so as not to give those protestors a place to gather.

Jbb
11-01-2007, 09:37 AM
F**k the protesters....RIP Paul Tibbets, Jr

HocusPocus
11-01-2007, 10:16 AM
http://www.danzfamily.com/archives/blogphotos/06/393-tibbets-enola-gay.jpg
RIP

BarryMac
11-01-2007, 10:23 AM
A true American Hero, RIP Mr. Tibbets...

Tremor Therapy
11-01-2007, 10:39 AM
F*ck the protesters! I remember reading somewhere in the history books that they were projecting huge numbers of casualties if we would have had to invade Japan to end the war....numbers that were staggering in the wake of what the bombs actually did! Hell if we wouldn't have dropped the bombs, god only knows how many of these protesters might never have been born!
Another serviceman doing what was best for his country, and getting questioned for it....f*cking loosers!
RIP Mr. Tibbets, and I hope you find peace from all who have questioned you.

yopengo
11-01-2007, 10:42 AM
A true American Hero, RIP Mr. Tibbets...
Agree 100%

Trailer Park Casanova
11-01-2007, 10:58 AM
He was a teriffic person, with a great personality and super sense of humor.
Though he declined interviews over the past several decades, he did do a final analysis and gave his his takes recently for the History Channel. Very frank and to the point, and very good.
A Sea invasion of Japan would have been far more brutal.
We're loosing all our remaining WW2 vets at about 800 per day.
Wife predicts my dad will be gone in about 30 months to Prostate Cancer.

partytime
11-01-2007, 11:10 AM
[QUOTE=We're loosing all our remaining WW2 vets at about 800 per day.[/QUOTE]
God speed.

Her454
11-01-2007, 12:12 PM
RIP. This is a generation of my husbands family on his fathers side.

OGShocker
11-01-2007, 12:24 PM
R.I.P.
92 years is one heck of a run!

JB in so cal
11-01-2007, 12:34 PM
My dad - 84 years and counting - was a B-29 A/C running a 4 ship training squadron. He got a call to be ready to rotate with his crews to join the 509th BG - Tibbet's group. The day the bomb dropped, he was signing the planes over to a new group commander and getting ready to ship out to Tinnian (sp).
Never had to go.
Here he is checking out a B-17 last year out at March.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/2271DSC00896.JPG

058
11-01-2007, 12:34 PM
F*ck the protesters! I remember reading somewhere in the history books that they were projecting huge numbers of casualties if we would have had to invade Japan to end the war....numbers that were staggering in the wake of what the bombs actually did! Hell if we wouldn't have dropped the bombs, god only knows how many of these protesters might never have been born!
Another serviceman doing what was best for his country, and getting questioned for it....f*cking loosers!
RIP Mr. Tibbets, and I hope you find peace from all who have questioned you.
Well put, may he rest in peace.

DCBob
11-01-2007, 01:58 PM
Definately, an American hero.

superdave013
11-01-2007, 02:19 PM
We're loosing all our remaining WW2 vets at about 800 per day.
Wife predicts my dad will be gone in about 30 months to Prostate Cancer.
And that's the last real generation that was not scared of hard work. Women and children did what they had to do when the men went to war. Now we just sit back and cry from the easy chair. We won't do the job and get pissed when the beans do it.
I have a lot of respect for people from the WW2 era. Life was not easy back then.

Keith E. Sayre
11-01-2007, 02:56 PM
Alan, I'm 100% in agreeance with your analysis. Actually, I'm convinced
that it would have been a nightmare without the bomb.
RIP Mr. Paul Tibbets--you're a true hero!
Keith Sayre

Trailer Park Casanova
11-01-2007, 06:42 PM
His website:
http://www.theenolagay.com/
--------
http://www.nndb.com/people/709/000022643/

Schiada76
11-01-2007, 06:51 PM
FU CK the filthy protestors!
Put up the headstone, let them gather to protest and kill their slimy ass's.:D

Riverkid
11-01-2007, 06:53 PM
He was a teriffic person, with a great personality and super sense of humor.
Though he declined interviews over the past several decades, he did do a final analysis and gave his his takes recently for the History Channel. Very frank and to the point, and very good.
A Sea invasion of Japan would have been far more brutal.
We're loosing all our remaining WW2 vets at about 800 per day.
Wife predicts my dad will be gone in about 30 months to Prostate Cancer.
My dad fough on Iwo Jima and died at 59 in 1986. My uncle fought in Korea and died 10 years ago... Another uncle died in Vietnam...
They gave all for the rest of us...

Flyinbowtie
11-01-2007, 06:54 PM
The man should have his remains entombed in a place of high honor at Arlington National Cemetary. I cannot believe that people would be able to desecrate his grave were he there.
I am ashamed he had to plan for his final resting place with those concerns on his mind.