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Hiroshima was a priority because the 6th Army Corps of Japan had its headquarters in the center of the city. Three targets were selected, including Nagasaki and Hiroshima, but one, Kyoto, was dropped due to its cultural and religious significance. We were going to drop the bomb as soon as the weather was OK." President Truman approved the use of the bomb later that month. "They sent us men and pictures to tell us what to expect. "They told us as much about it as they could," Van Kirk said. In July, the first plutonium bomb had been tested in the New Mexico desert. The Enola Gay carried out its Hiroshima mission from that island. Marines had wrested the island away from the Japanese. "We had landing fields there that were very costly to the Marines," Van Kirk said. Later in June, the Enola Gay was flown to Guam, where it received a bomb bay modification, and from there to Tinian in the Mariana Islands. We believed it was going to be something big." We were told it would help shorten the war. "It was always 'the gimmick.' We knew everything about the bomb that we could be told. "We never used the word 'atomic,' we never used the word 'nuclear,'" Van Kirk said. All our objectives were carried out safely."įifteen B-29s and 15 crews trained to drop the first atomic bomb. I am proud to say that the 509th never lost or injured a man. This was all done at high altitudes, in B-29s stripped down for altitude and speed. So that's what we trained for, to get nine miles from the explosion. "Some said it was farther than that, some said you couldn't get far enough away. "The scientists told us the plane would be safe nine miles from where the bomb detonated," Van Kirk said. There, Van Kirk underwent training and met with scientists from the Manhattan Project, the group that had developed the atomic bomb.
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The 509th was based at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah. "We still argue about whether I volunteered," he said. Later, after returning to Monroe, La., Van Kirk was contacted by Tibbets with an invitation to join the 509th. "It was small compared to the invasion force at Normandy," he said, "but looking at it, you knew it was unstoppable. He said jokingly that he and Tibbets, while flying in North Africa, racked up the record for the most ammo expended "without hitting a darn thing." He recalled watching the American fleet "steaming through the Straits of Gibraltar" at night. That was the most dangerous time for them, we'd shoot at anything."
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"The Royal Air Force flew us in and met us coming out. His first missions were flying over German-occupied countries in Europe. He spoke briefly about his experiences in the European Theater and in North Africa. If you still don't think so, I don't know where this country will go from here." "I know a lot of you young people out there think these things never really happened," Van Kirk said, referring to documentary scenes of concentration camp victims.