Soldier of Fortune honors pilot in atomic bomb raid

When local youth think of "Hiroshima," they may think of the rock band that plays periodically at Arizona Charlie's hotel-casino.

But to the generations that experienced World War II first hand, it is a name forever etched into their memory.

Especially the memory of retired Air Force Gen. Paul Tibbets, the man who dropped the first atomic bomb in an act of war that soon forced Japan to surrender.

"(World War II) history is not taught in school anymore," laments Tibbets, who, though 83 years old, cuts a dapper figure with his wavy white hair and his rigid, military bearing.

Tibbets has said almost from the day he dropped the bomb out of the Enola Gay onto the city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, that he has no regrets and he has not lost a night's sleep over the deaths of an estimated 100,000 mostly-civilian Japanese citizens.

It was a job he felt had to be done to bring an end to the war; a job which saved possibly a million more lives.

The publishers of Soldier of Fortune magazine agree. So Wednesday morning at the Sands Expo Center, where the publication's 19th annual convention was getting underway, Tibbets was made the recipient of the publication's first Humanitarian Award.

"By agreeing to drop the bomb, Paul Tibbets was directly responsible for saving the lives of at least a million Americans and millions of Japanese, preventing the total destruction of Japan," said Soldier of Fortune Publisher retired Army Lt. Col. Robert K. Brown. "Today, generations of people throughout the world owe their family trees to the pilot of the Enola Gay."

At the ceremony Tibbets recalled the moments immediately following the dropping of the bomb, which had the force of 20,000 tons of dynamite.

"I had seen 2,000 ton bombs explode, but I didn't know what to expect with a 20,000 ton one," he said.

But when he felt the shock waves from the atomic bomb strike the Enola Gay with a g-force of 2.5, he knew what had happened even though he couldn't see it.

"When I felt that thing kick us in the fanny, I knew devastation reigned supreme," Tibbets said.

Asked the same questions endless times over the past 50 years, Tibbets said that at the moment of the explosion the thought running through his mind was how could any nation stand up to such a weapon.

Tibbets said he would be in favor of nuclear disarmament today if all nations would disarm and "play fair."

But he doesn't think that will ever happen and that we should take advantage of the so-called "smart" bombs that have been developed in recent years to counter terrorism.

"We have the ability to be the greatest terrorists in the world, if we would do it," said Tibbets.

He noted that the atomic bomb that hit Hiroshima, and another that hit Nagasaki, were "non-discriminatory."

They killed everyone, civilian as well as military. But smart bombs allow specific targets to be hit.

"I don't necessarily like to see humans suffering, but there are casualties in war. Women and children took a beating in that case," he said.

Tibbets, a resident of Columbus, Ohio, will sign copies of his book "The Flight of the Enola Gay," during the convention which runs through Sunday.

The general public is invited to attend the trade show, which includes a wide variety of weapons and other military equipment. Admission is $8.

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