A No Brainer!

"The Smithsonian describes Truman’s decision to use atomic bombs as “controversial”; what I assume the Smithsonian means, and what it ought to say, is that the necessity of killing to save lives is unfortunate."

The Smithsonian is filled with PC weenies these days. During the war the only decision that would have been “controversial” would have been NOT to drop the A-Bombs. If you know any WWII Vets who were waiting to invade Japan, they will tell you that dropping the A-Bombs saved their lives! m/r

Visiting the Enola Gay | National Review Online

By Josh Gelernter  Aug. 9, 2014

The Enola Gay and her brave crew saved many more lives than they destroyed.

Lsst week I visited D.C.’s Air and Space Museum and the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb. The Enola Gay is housed at the museum’s annex at Dulles airport; it has been beautifully cleaned up, and I couldn’t help feeling a shiver of American pride at seeing it. Few things this side of the polio vaccine are responsible for saving as many lives as the Enola Gay and her sister ship, Bockscar. The Smithsonian describes Truman’s decision to use atomic bombs as “controversial”; what I assume the Smithsonian means, and what it ought to say, is that the necessity of killing to save lives is unfortunate. The Enola Gay’s navigator gracefully summed up this logic in a New York Times interview.

Theodore Van Kirk guided the bomber to Hiroshima; the Times asked him if, given the chance, he would do it again. “Under the same circumstances — and the key words are ‘the same circumstances’ — yes, I would do it again,” said Van Kirk. “ . . .  We were fighting an enemy that had a reputation for never surrendering, never accepting defeat. . . . I believe that when you’re in a war, a nation must have the courage to do what it must to win the war with the minimum loss of lives.” An invasion of Japan would have been enormously bloody; Van Kirk and his colleagues made an invasion unnecessary.

Van Kirk was a remarkable man. During the Second World War, a bomber crewman’s tour of duty was 25 missions, after which he would be moved to a less deadly assignment; bomber missions were exceptionally dangerous. Van Kirk flew his 25, then another 25, and was eight missions into a third tour when he was brought back to the United States to serve as an instructor. In Europe, Van Kirk — along with his pilot, Paul Tibbets, and his bombardier, Tom Ferebee — crewed their bomb group’s lead aircraft, with the responsibility for finding and hitting the target. Back in the U.S., Van Kirk was reunited with Tibbets and Ferebee as handpicked members of the crew that would drop the first atomic bomb.

On August 6, 1945, after seven months of training, Van Kirk guided the Enola Gay to Hiroshima, where “Little Boy” was dropped. 

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