A few days ago, a 93-year old man passed away in Georgia. The widower was retired from the DuPont Corporation and left behind a loving family. When the news of his death came over the Associated Press Twitter feed, I read the article and read the replies by people in the Twitterverse. I hardly ever do that. Everyone has opinions about the news of the world, and Twitter provides a platform for sharing. However, something told me that I needed to read these.
Some examples:
“Good”
“Rot in Hell”
“Mass Murderer”
What could lead to such hatred toward an elderly man who had just passed away?
Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk was the last surviving crew member of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and introduced the world to nuclear weapons. Tens of thousands of people died instantly and more died from the radioactive effects. In the years that followed, more destructive weapons were developed, and two Super Powers pointed them at each other during the Cold War. People lived under the shadow of the bomb, and little kids learned to “Duck and Cover” at school.
It was a momentous event in history and, obviously, was not humanity’s finest hour. However, I was taken aback by the hatred aimed at “Dutch” Van Kirk, who was a 24-year old navigator following orders.
Each May, a few other teachers and I lead a field trip class to New Mexico and, as part of the trip, visit Los Alamos, the place where the atomic bombs were built. We sit outside of a museum housed in one of the original buildings and discuss the Manhattan Project. During this discussion, we talk about the bombings of Japan and their aftermath. At some point, I ask them what they would have done if they were part of the decision-making process. Undoubtedly, they say that they would not have done it.
Then, I ask them to put themselves in the places of the people involved. Take away 70 years of hindsight and make a decision. When I read the Twitter responses, I tried to put myself in the place of Van Kirk.
World War II began in 1939 when he was 18 years old. He probably heard news reports of the war in Europe where Germany was bombarding London, invading Russia and killing civilians. He may also been reading about the Japanese advances in Asia and their killing of civilians. He could not have known about the Holocaust.
In 1941, Japan attacked the Pearl Harbor, but it was not only an attack of the naval base. It was an attack of the island of Oahu, which probably killed civilians. Van Kirk was 20-years old. Did he volunteer? Did he get drafted? I do not know, but I know he was trained as a navigator for bombers.
During his time in uniform, Van Kirk flew 25 bombing missions over Europe and North Africa. Undoubtedly, these were harrowing missions. I have no idea of his targets, but I know that the Allies bombed German cities. Dresden was bombed into oblivion, and over 100,000 people were killed. That is more than were killed at Hiroshima.
What does all of this mean? By 1945, Van Kirk had spent 25% of his life with the world fighting the largest war in history. It was a war where the killing of civilians became military practice for all sides. It was a war that every side tried to win at all costs.
At some point, Van Kirk found himself training in the Pacific and being told that the mission being planned could end this war – a war that had cost millions of lives and people wanted to bring to an end. In August of 1945, the orders came through to complete the mission. The man who had given the order was President Harry Truman.
What was Truman thinking?
He had become president a few months before and around the same time Germany had surrendered. It was then that he learned of the Manhattan Project and the weapons that it had created. As the war in the Pacific went on, the American people were getting restless. Germany had been defeated. When is the same thing going to happen to Japan?
Allied forces were getting closer to the Japanese mainland, and Truman’s advisers were telling him that an invasion could lead to a million casualties. A man that I know said that he was training for that invasion, and he, along with everyone training with him, knew that they were training to die. He never liked Truman, but, when he heard about the bombing, he loved Truman.
Truman had a decision to make. He could ask the American people to sacrifice more men in a battle like the world had never seen, or he could use a weapon that tax dollars had been spent to build.
What would happen if he agreed to the invasion, and Americans later learned that it could have been avoided?
He chose to use the atomic bomb.
Van Kirk and the rest of the Enola Gay completed their mission by dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. A few days later, another plane, Bock’s Car, dropped another bomb on Nagasaki. With that, World War II came to an end, and the Cold War began.
Did Harry Truman make the right decision? I have no idea. I am not trying to justify it. I am saying that we should put ourselves in the past before judging decisions with hindsight.
Should Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk be vilified on Twitter for the actions of his crew? I do not believe he should. He came to age during the worst war in human history and was told that he had the chance to end it. For 69 years, he lived with the memory of that mission. I have no idea what he thought about when he looked back. He was in that place at that time and did was he was ordered to do.
Maybe the people on Twitter would have done it differently, but they do not know that for a fact.
SBI: A Thinning Crowd 
It’s easy to let the blame fall at the bottom of the pyramid, if there is blame to assign. This is truly a case of blaming the messenger.
I agree. The decision was made by the powerful people. Don’t blame the people who received the orders. If that crew had not done it, then another one would have.
The trouble is that when you have spent millions of dollars developing a weapon then eventually you have to justify the expense by using it. Some say WW1 started in the same way – Germany had to use the battleships it had built. Nasty business the Atomic bomb but using it in 1945 and demonstrating what it could do has probably prevented anyone else using one since? Maybe.
Maybe. That is the problem with every arms race, whether it be ships or bombs. If it is available, then it will be used. I feel the same about guns. If you have one you might fire it. If you don’t have one you will not fire it.
The Japanese and German governments were evil. Governments run by tyrannical megalomaniacs that had no consideration for any other humans and who considered themselves superior to fellow humans – with the right to murder and overtake other countries. They surprised attacked and murdered millions – then tortured, executed, practiced genocide, etc to untold millions more. They were monsters. This is not propaganda – it’s fact. Nobody here wanted to bomb or kill anybody. But the means to end the war and vanquish an evil enemy who started it became available – and was taken. It could have gone on much longer with many more murdered and maimed. A horrific decision that no one would want to have to make …
When the Axis Powers started killing civilians, there was no going back. I would think that no one wanted to kill thousands of people in a few seconds, but that was the situation that the world found itself in.
May he be in peace now.
So many people today rush to post cruel comments on the web…most have not experienced such a time of war like they did in that era.
People who did not live through it can never know what it was like. We like to pass judgments on people for decisions of the past, but we never know what we would do in the same situation.