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An Appreciation Of Paul Tibbets

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 6, 2007

A few years ago, while visiting the Tribune editorial board, former Rep. Sam Gibbons, Hillsborough County's longtime congressman and a World War II veteran, mentioned how relieved he was when two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in August 1945. His feelings were shared by millions of servicemen who would have been part of a planned invasion of the Japanese islands.

Paul Tibbets, the pilot who dropped the first A-bomb on Japan, died last week at the age of 92. Because of the massive second-guessing of his mission by later generations, Tibbets decided not to have a funeral or a grave lest it attract protesters. He will be cremated and his ashes scattered in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The morality of bombing civilians is certainly worthy of debate. But war is a horror and Tibbets was right when he said dropping the A-bombs saved many lives, and not just Americans.

More than 140,000 Japanese were killed by the two bombs, which forced Japan to surrender unconditionally. In the months before that, however, 123,000 Japanese and American soldiers and perhaps 100,000 Okinawans were killed on Okinawa. Projected casualties for a ground invasion of mainland Japan ranged from more than 100,000 to 1 million U.S. soldiers, and Japanese deaths probably would have been in the millions.

President Harry S. Truman decided to use the new atomic weapon. Tibbets simply followed orders, skillfully executing a dangerous mission. No one was sure a plane would even survive the explosion.

For doing his duty, this brave man was subjected to a lifetime of condemnation and couldn't even leave behind a tombstone. He deserved better. Much better.

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